Is it safe to eat a chicken that has an eye or respitory infection?

[karaleenix]

Last fall we got a new hen (who we affectionately call Ugly Hen) and her eye started getting swollen and eventually it closed up, I figured something must of gotten into it, or it was injured, because she kept trying to hide in the brush at nighttime. Well we finally got her to come to the coop at night. Winter happened, and a couple of our other hens came out with sneezes. They never got worse, and six month later they still just sneeze like they have allergies or something, and have no other symptoms. This spring we got some chicks, and put Ugly Hen in with the new chicks to teach them the ropes. And by summer everyone was all together, and Ugly Hen's eye opened back up and she can see out of it. But now three of the now pullets/cockerels each have one eye that is swollen shut, in the last week.

So I started doing some research and found out that the eye infection is usually linked with a respitory infection. But it seems weird to me that the sneezing chickens' eyes are fine, and the half blind chickens don't sneeze. Is it normal for different chickens to show different parts of the disease?

Also from what I understand, even if I treat with antibiotics the chickens will always be carriers. Is this true?

If the chickens will be carriers, we will probably cull them. Would it be safe to eat the chickens with this disease? What if we treat with antibiotics and then wait a little bit? Or would it be best to just dispose of them?

Any advice would be great. I would really like to save the chickens if possible, we have become attached to a couple, and had high hopes for the rest, but I also don't want to sacrifice the future flock for them either.

Thanks

 

[Eggcessive]

Welcome to BYC. Most respiratory diseases are not completely cured with antibiotics, and can make them and even the others that don't become symptomatic, carriers for life. When a chicken gets a disease, such as infectious bronchitis, mycoplasma (MG or CRD,) ILT, or coryza, then they can can get secondary infections, which sometimes are the other diseases listed or E.coli into their air sacs (air sacculitis) which are located all over the body. About the only way to tell for sure what you have going around, is to get a chicken tested--and that can be with a test done by your vet or local NPIP tester, or to sacrifice a sick chicken and have a necropsy performed on a fresh refrigerated body. The state vet will sometimes euthanize the chicken for you, and that is an even better necropsy. I realize that I didn't answer your question, but most poultry houses will condemn carcasses that have diseases such as air sacculitis and respiratory disease. Here is a list of common diseases to read about: http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ps044