How do you know your chickens are healthy?

[Somshine]

@Somshine -what exactly are you worried about? Specifically? And, what illness is present in the eggs?

Well nothing presently. Just reading about all of these diseases and what deadly, ridiculously contagious creepers they can be. So far I've hatched chickens to keep but if I were to sell fertile eggs or chicks (or even thin a few young layers) I would want to know I wasnt risking other people's flocks. There just doesn't seem to be a way to assure that unless you've got a lot of time and money.

 

[Somshine]

I actually did have several buff orpingtons for about a month last year I decided I did not want to waste food and space on as well as one of my hens I hatched to a friend of a friend who already had a flock. They were in between chick and pullet age. And they came back months later for a rooster so I guess that's a good sign. But that wasn't really about selling it was more about managing the flock I was building. But yeah if I sold anyone anything that by all intents and purposes I thought was healthy only to find out it annihilated their flock I would be mortified!

 

[Somshine]

Not to mention a couple years ago when I decided to add a rooster to my flock I brought home two different roosters who presented with respiratory symptoms and died both within a week. Now they were in quarantine and none of my other chickens got sick. But this feather dust blowing in the wind and things living in the soil forever... I poisoned the ground around the quarantine coop of course. But...

 

[Acre4Me]

Not to mention a couple years ago when I decided to add a rooster to my flock I brought home two different roosters who presented with respiratory symptoms and died both within a week. Now they were in quarantine and none of my other chickens got sick. But this feather dust blowing in the wind and things living in the soil forever... I poisoned the ground around the quarantine coop of course. But...

Not necessarily. Something’s only contaminate for a short while.

 

[Somshine]

Not necessarily. Something’s only contaminate for a short while.

My quarantine coop is small and movable. And I have honestly only needed to use it when introducing a rooster, so three times. I hit a spot in the woods just beyond the yard and rake all of the leaves into a low barrier around it. But two died in there. Afterwards I soaked the ground all around it with a veterinary kennel sanitizer (I'm a dog groomer), loaded the ground down with diatomaceous earth and pulled the leaves back over and have put it in a different location each time. But the feather dust in the wind and the 7-year ground contamination... I feel like it because I've had two roosters die in quarantine my entire property and possibly my chickens could secretly be contaminated without me knowing.

 

[SilverBirds]

My quarantine coop is small and movable. And I have honestly only needed to use it when introducing a rooster, so three times. I hit a spot in the woods just beyond the yard and rake all of the leaves into a low barrier around it. But two died in there. Afterwards I soaked the ground all around it with a veterinary kennel sanitizer (I'm a dog groomer), loaded the ground down with diatomaceous earth and pulled the leaves back over and have put it in a different location each time. But the feather dust in the wind and the 7-year ground contamination... I feel like it because I've had two roosters die in quarantine my entire property and possibly my chickens could secretly be contaminated without me knowing.

The disease living for 7 years only really applies to Marek's disease.

 

[Somshine]

I know but then there's that one that can go through the egg. I guess my point is how do you really know if you have a healthy flock or a contaminated flock with great immune systems month to month? Other than testing? Maybe every chicken keeper wonders this just want to be responsible with liabilities now that my flock is almost built and I may not be keeping many more. Also want to do a breed I'm in love with sometime soon.

 

[Momma-Hen-Misti]

No egg withdrawal on Aquasol!

 

[Somshine]

I feel I'm totally a vigilant chicken mama and flock manager and I'm constantly trying to learn but I'm also not rich or a scientist... So I don't know how to grow and make sure it's responsible. And the more research I do the more I realize this is a spectrum. Or more like, a Pandora's box... So I guess you talk to people and decide.

 

[MrsEarthern]

My opinions: specifically about bird flu. Take them for what they are worth. I've included a bunch of links (mostly from the CDC and USDA) to support my points. If they make sense to you, you might get some real value:
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If you are worried about the sudden rise in government/media hyperventilating about HPAI/H5N1/Highly pathogenic avian flu, the single best answer is to turn off the TV. All of the scaremongering is based on one person who got bird flu... from a cow. His primary symptom... pink eye.

Want to know how you recognize it in your flock? Most of your flock will be dead within 48 hours, often with very visible symptoms pre-death. It doesn't get any easier than that. Want to be sure your eggs are safe? Put them on a rotation and don't eat them until they are several days or a week old. Any laid several days ago and your birds aren't dying cannot have any traces of HPAI in them.

HPAI is a real thing, but the current media scaremongering sounds exactly like 4 years ago. Remember when they said Covid had a 3.4% fatality rate, but it turned out to be well under 1%? Be afraid! You have no control. Be afraid! Be afraid!

So take control. Use appropriate measures to protect yourself and your flock. Even if your birds end up sick, the odds of you getting sick as a result are very low (but not 0%). HPAI has been detected a number of times in the wild, in backyard flocks and in commercial operations in the US, but only one human has contracted it that way to date. There is no absolute protection, but living in fear and depression is definitely not the right answer.

Here is another way to look at it:
-Average deaths per year from bee/hornet/wasp stings in the US: about 70.
-Average deaths per year from HPAI in the US: 0.00 (2 infections in 3 years)

The USDA has some good info on how to recognize the disease and protect your flock.

My primary concern about Avian Flu is not about human transmission, I am concerned about the spread in and effect on wild bird populations and the policy of culling whole flocks based on a single positive result.
It's insane to me that billions, maybe trillions, were spent to figure out "Why pigs stink?" to find A: They don't if you provide them with their natural hygiene routine, access to space and a wallow.
Gotta cull 'em all though, 'cause those tests are worth a whole dollar each.
PSA- Wild bird populations are down by ~70% globally since the 1970's. If you feed the wild birds, keep a bird bath for them, hang hummingbird feeders, suet feeders, and/or birdhouses PLEASE maintain them and clean them periodically with a disinfectant.