Of Life and Death (A Sad Post)

So this is a sad post. You might cry; I know I did. Feel free to skip on over if you’re not up for it.

So remember how we just bought 3 Barred Rock pullets at the auction? And I wrote a short note about how they weren’t adjusting well? (Yes, yes, you know where this is going.)

Well, the good news is we managed to catch the bugger that fled and was living in the raspberry bushes. She survived 36 hours in the wild with no worse for wear.
Anyway, so before the auction started I was going through all the small animals and found this UPS box with 3 chickens literally stuffed into it. I pulled the chickens out and looked them over and they seemed young and healthy, although one of them was MUCH smaller than the others.

I bought them, took them home, and put them in a stall away from my flock to watch them. The small bird appeared to be missing her tail in addition to just being small. She also slept ALL THE TIME. The others also seemed tired and stressed, but she gave the impression of Mono in chicken form.

The next day I let them out in the chicken pen to get them some fresh air and meet the flock. They hung out there for a few hours. The small one, once again, falling asleep every few minutes. I picked her up and went over her very carefully and found several troubling things. First, she fell asleep in my hand while I was holding her. Second, she sneezed twice. I picked some crusty stuff off her nose and a trail of mucus came out. And most horrifying to me, she had a large fluid filled sac on her breast. Roger was standing next to me, and I just said, ‘Rog, I think we need to dispatch her.’ And he went and got the ax and I held her until she fell asleep and we killed her.

I’m worried about the other two, as one of them had some crusty stuff on her beak after close inspection. The other did not. I think they have more than a 50% chance of recovering if they also have whatever it was… they do not have any blisters on their skin and I haven’t heard them sneeze at all. I am worried about my flock, as they have been exposed. It was minimal exposure in a large grassy area, but they are also being kept in the same barn, although divided by a wall. My flock has been vaccinated for Marek’s (the most common fatal chicken malady) and is on a medicated feed to prevent Cocci, another horrible fatal disease. After consulting my chicken health book, I believe they have a cold, the flu (yes, the bird flu), or bronchitis.

All of which have a low mortality rate in healthy chickens. So it’s most likely the worst thing that can happen is everyone gets sneezy for a week and recovers. And no, the bird flu usually does not transfer to humans, unless it’s very severe. If the whole flock dies, I’ll start worrying about catching bird flu. I did add a broad spectrum antibiotic (tetracycline) to the water in case it is bronchitis.
I also discovered what the blister was. It’s called a breast blister, and it’s from rubbing on a cage or the ground constantly. She was very small and lacking her tail, so I wonder if she was crowded in a battery cage. Poor girl had a really horrible life.

Please buy your eggs from people that raise their chickens well. Even some 'local' or 'free range' places raise sick birds or keep them in crowded or stressful places.