Chicken lesson learnt the hard way

[froginthepond]

Last week i went to an independant animal rescue shelter to get 3 chooks. I had spoke to the owner online who said that he could sell me 3 hens that used to belong to an organic chicken farmer they would be £5 each. So i went, got 3 nice looking birds (animal sanctuary was not very clean should have rang warning bells i know) I gave the guy £10 a bird so that he could put it towards rescuing more animals. The birds settled straight away but the following day they all fell ill It started by them all sneezing then foam bubbles on the eye and bubbly beaks. I fed them up and gave them ACV in their water and poultry spice in their food every day to try and perk them up. Finally had to take one of them to the vets tonight as i thought they were on their way out. The vet shook his head when i said the place i got them from, he then turned the girl upside down and showed me the bare skin and bone on the underside of her and said there was no way this bird came from an organic farm and that the guy i bought them from knew this and the condition they were in I contacted the guy i bought them from at the weekend to tell him the birds got sick as soon as i got them home. He told me i could bring them back if i wanted even if they were infectious rather than me having to go through the cost of treating them or killing them . The vet was surprised when i told him this and told me not to get anymore birds from this place again. Im just so angry about it all. All 3 birds are now being injected with tylan and "young laying birds" that only 1 of them are laying we cant even eat the eggs for the next month, not that we get much anyway. This has been a big eye opener and i have learnt my lesson in not trusting all independant chicken sellers.

Seriously - did you think you were getting a bargain? organic POL hens for £5 each. No chance.

Call trading standards.

Not supporting the dealer, but most chickens when moved can get ill - all of mine generally come down with sniffles when they arrive and most/ some require Tylan.

It sounds like mycoplasma which will rear its head in times of stress and require treatment. If your chickens are on Tylaninjections then there is a 28 day withdrawal period only because the injectable form has not been tested on poultry- however if its the stuff you add to water there is no egg withdrawal as it is recommended for poultry (most vets that are used to working with chickens would use tyaln in the water as it is less stressful for the chickens and its easy to treat the whole flock- unless a chicken is really really poorly - eyes shut, tail down, not eating or drinking as stress can kill chickens too).

Mycoplasma can be transmitted by wild birds and is very common in backyard flocks. If they are Hybrid chickens they should bounce back pretty quickly- even if they are organic free range chickens- Defra only requires them to have 1sqm of space for producers to put this on the box so they would still have very close contact with other chickens.

Chickens will also go off lay in times of stress, they like to be settled to lay even if they are classed as POL that does not mean they are all laying I have had POL birds that have been layers from 17 weeks and some that have waited until they are 30 weeks - do you know how old your chickens are?

I have always found some high protein food helps my girls when they are ill - I either scramble and egg (cooked) or get them some live mealworms this really gives them a boost.

I would also look to worm them when they are better- you can buy Flubenvet in powder form and mix it in the food or marriages do a feed with it ready mixed in.

I have dealt with many dealers in my chicken keeping years and many vets - most vets have no clue about chickens and after spending £100's on my flock I have now found a great farm vet who has yrs of experience. But the fact the dealer would let you return them is a good sign. I really hope your girls get better soon and you start to enjoy the antics of being a chicken keeper.