Portia passed

It happened this morning. She basically got up when I came into her isolation coop, stretched, arched her back ... and fell over dead.  Upon getting a closer chance to examine her, I determined that what I thought were roundworms were, most likely, some kind of early-stage maggot, starting to breed around her back end due to her diarrhea, which she's had for a week or so, ever since she became ill. 

So while I now know it's not internal parasites that killed, her, I'm not exactly sure what did. She was on the older side, and so it's possible some opportunistic disease got to her.  This is the only explanation that I can come up with, since the rest of the flock is parasite-free and healthy. Often worms, maggots or other opportunistic parasites will flourish in a sick bird, which is what I think happened here.

One thing I have realized though, is that when you have a hen who goes into decline this way, the kindest thing to do it cull them, rather than let whatever it is that's ailing them take them to their grave. If you keep chickens as livestock as we do (not pets), a vet call is just not among the treatment options. Portia looked a bit bedraggled at the weekend but I  elected to take a wait-and-see attitude.  Taking into account her age and general state of heath, Big Ag and I should have dispatched her quickly and ended her suffering...and by doing so, also removed a potentially contagious animal from the property. An ailing animal attracts parasites, including those mentioned above, as well as mites, and so keeping a sick animal around helps no one -- not even the animal itself.

Lesson learned.  And now, we have five hens who, God willing, will remain healthy and untouched by whatever got old Portia.  Rest in peace, old girl. You will be missed.

New Food Warnings

Some interesting statistics from the CDC this morning, from USA Today:  

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/01/28/cdc-leafy-greens-poultry-dairy-foodborne-illness/1872557/

The entire article is interesting, but I think there's a definite take-home message from it all:  For maximum food safety, grow your greens, don't buy them; drink  unpasteurized milk from your own animals, or if you are going to buy, buy pasteurized (sigh); and be careful where you buy your meat birds.  

In the age of industrial food production, you can't be too careful.  This is especially true when it comes to unpasteurized milk, sadly.  When we lived in the San Joaquin Valley we saw a bunch of people, including children, become ill from a local raw-milk dairy in the area. They had a great reputation, and I'm sad it happened for everyone involved, including them. I know there are supposed to be nutritional benefits of consuming raw milk, and a lot of people are fans. But if you can get your own dairy products from your own goat, sheep or cow, you would probably be the safest product you could provide to yourself and your family, if you're a milk drinker.  We are actually thinking of buying a milking goat this spring for that exact reason. 

As for chicken, that's a tough one. The worst case of food poisoning I've ever seen from a chicken came from a woman who processed her own birds.  She gave herself campylobactor.  But again, a small grower using a decent butcher would probably be fine, or an individual, if they were extremely well-schooled in how to do it safely.  I know Joel Salatin was giving workshops in how to do it yourself, which is wonderful.

All in all, just another heads up to the fact that, when it comes to your food, the more you know about who grew it and where it came from, the better.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/01/28/cdc-leafy-greens-poultry-dairy-foodborne-illness/1872557/