Wise to hatch/raise from current flock in the same location? Safe to eat if culling makes more sense?

[Imissmyducks]

Hello! I am trying to figure out the wisdom or stupidity of both eating any birds I cull as well as hatching/raising from their eggs and continuing to keep chickens in the same location - 1/3 acre fenced with stationary night lockup buildings.
I just had a sick hen euthanized and necropsied by my state lab who just sent me test results but no insights on these questions and the vet is currently unavailable. I plan to cull my rather hen abusive 5 year old rooster this Saturday as he has shredded the backs of several hens and smacks around several others for no apparent reason when they respond to his tid bitting calls. I have been collecting eggs to fill my incubator for over a week.
Now I get the results that my sick hen tested positive for:
*Infectious Bronchitis (Despite never having witnessed any respiratory symptoms in any of my 15 chickens)
*Infectious Bursal Disease
*Reovirus

I have noticed very watery poop from several hens all of which are not laying. The oldest one was treated a couple years ago for laying wrinkled eggs and she now has a very distended abdomen but seems content to poke around all day like all the others. She actually looks better this year than she has in the least 2 years. I have a 2 yr old EE that may never have laid an egg in her life or has laid a couple that were soft shelled and dropped from the perch overnight. The EE had good weight but has recently dropped condition. I have several others who look bright and active but have gone to bed with empty crops or have had spongy crops that have since gone back to normal in the couple weeks since I turned in the sick hen for testing. My oldest birds are 5 years old and the youngest are 2 years old, including the necropsied hen.
I looked up each disease and see that it likely will be impossible to sanitize my particular set-up. And my understanding is that very young chick's exposed to what lingers here will likely succumb to it or be poorly productive survivors. So culling the declining ones and quitting chickens on this property makes sense to me (not sure I can bring myself to kill my sweet hens!). But I can't find out how to know if a particular culled bird is safe to eat.
Any thoughts on either topic would be greatly appreciated!!!
Thanks!!!

 

[Eggcessive]

Sorry for your loss. The infectious bronchitis virus may have been in your flock for a few years. It is very common. When a chicken recovers from it after a month or so of sneezing and congestion, and laying wrinkled egg shells, they remain contagious for 5 months up to a year. If you have more chicks or get new chickens within that time, they will also get the IB virus. IB virus also can cause some of the reproductive diseases that kill them early. Those include salpingitis, and unusual egg shells.

I am not very familiar with infectious bursal disease, also called Gumboro disease. But after some reading, it sounds like it is unlikely that you would be able to get rid of the disease from your environment, since it can remain there for a long time. Here is some reading:
https://www.merckvetmanual.com/poul...-disease/infectious-bursal-disease-in-poultry
So I would be inclined to cull your hens when they become sick, and not try to hatch eggs or get new chickens on your property. So sorry.

Here is some reading about reovirus, which causes viral arthritis in poultry.
https://www.thepoultrysite.com/publications/diseases-of-poultry/200/reovirus-infections

 

[BigBlueHen53]

@Eggcessive, this sounds pretty devastating from the standpoint of keeping chickens, but what about the other question? Are these birds safe to consume, either before they actually show symptoms, or after they get sick?

 

[Imissmyducks]

Sorry for your loss. The infectious bronchitis virus may have been in your flock for a few years. It is very common. When a chicken recovers from it after a month or so of sneezing and congestion, and laying wrinkled egg shells, they remain contagious for 5 months up to a year. If you have more chicks or get new chickens within that time, they will also get the IB virus. IB virus also can cause some of the reproductive diseases that kill them early. Those include salpingitis, and unusual egg shells.

I am not very familiar with infectious bursal disease, also called Gumboro disease. But after some reading, it sounds like it is unlikely that you would be able to get rid of the disease from your environment, since it can remain there for a long time. Here is some reading:
https://www.merckvetmanual.com/poul...-disease/infectious-bursal-disease-in-poultry
So I would be inclined to cull your hens when they become sick, and not try to hatch eggs or get new chickens on your property. So sorry.

Here is some reading about reovirus, which causes viral arthritis in poultry.
https://www.thepoultrysite.com/publications/diseases-of-poultry/200/reovirus-infections

Thank you so much! I hadn't discovered thepoultrysite in my research efforts. That's a really graphic site, but that's reality that we all have to face if we are to prove to be good stewards of our animals. Not happy to hear that you agree with me that culling makes the most sense, but it will surely make those days more bearable to know that those with more knowledge/experience than myself weighed the facts and agreed that the sad hard road was the wisest. Farming has some really DOWN sides, huh?
What makes no sense to me is that I have not ever had any visible signs of respiratory issues with any of these chickens. I've had laying issues and lameness and fluid filled abdomens and one hen with a chronic head tilt. Definitely had some weird stuff here amongst my chickens, but only a once or twice a year sneeze of any kind across the whole flock. I do see in the Merck Manual that some of these diseases can be so mild as to go unnoticed. I guess I can vouch for that now...
But I'm still questioning how to know if a particular bird is too ill to be safe to eat. Perhaps today the state vet will have time to visit that topic with me. I've been making a point of checking crops lately because I've got a couple more doing watery poop and sleeping away from their usual friends. One has now gone to bed twice with an empty crop. Not good.
Thanks again for the sympathy and support!!

 

[Eggcessive]

I would not eat the meat. If any of those chickens were to wind up at a processing plant, they would dispose of them.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I would not eat the meat. If any of those chickens were to wind up at a processing plant, they would dispose of them.

Thank you.

 

[Imissmyducks]

Thank you. I put in another call to the state lab vet this morning and will post her answer if I ever get a response. She must be really busy because she has historically been very informative and educational. She necropsied a goose for me a few years ago that tested positive for chronic exposure to Zinc despite our having been vigilant from day one about finding any and all dropped galvanized hardware. She was very thorough in talking to me about that so I am hopeful she will get back to me sooner than later.
Thanks ... it's gonna be a harder sell with hubby to cull when I tell him we have to waste the little life entirely. He never wants an animal to suffer, but he simply doesn't look that closely at my birds so that when I tell him what various sources say is best, I get pushback which makes the hard correct decision that much more lonely and guilt ridden....

I would not eat the meat. If any of those chickens were to wind up at a processing plant, they would dispose of them.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Plant a tree where you bury the bird?

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Plant a tree where you bury the bird?

I mean, so it would not be a total loss. Maybe a fruit tree. I really am sorry for your situation.