# Mt. Healthy Hatchery Warning! 2015



## simeo

I wasn't going to say anything, but we just had another of our ducklings die so I thought I ought to speak up...

We were on the first order from Mt. Healthy Hatchery this year for baby ducklings. We ordered 15 to try them out as this was the first time we've ever had ducklings. They sent us 16 which was nice!

We do raise chickens and obviously goats. We had raised rabbits until we just decided to bless a friend of ours with them as we had enough animals ourselves. 

Upon arrival one duckling died the next day. No cause of death. Simply tired and died. It happens. We didn't realize they sent us 16 until we counted a couple days later and noticed we still had 15 left... oh good, so they did pack an extra!

A week after that two ducklings died from known causes (not illness).

A couple weeks later another of our ducklings died. It has become tired, then overnight it passed.

This past week 3 of our ducklings died from illness. We noticed very watery poop and what turned out to be discharge coming from the eye. We woke up to see two dead ducks. A third one fell asleep and died by late morning and by the evening a fourth one died in the same manner.

All had watery poop and a few had discharge around the eye. By this time we were down to 9 ducklings from our original 16, 6 of which died from some sort of mystery illness which caused watery diarrhea and discharge. In the past 3 years I've never had this issue in hatching out about 30-40 chicks and ordering from where I normally would order from, McMurray Hatchery.

Sure one or two chicks would die because they were weak, or shock, or accidentally drown themselves, etc. But not just be walking around and then fall asleep forever.

I called Mt. Healthy Hatchery confused what I must be doing wrong. Was it my Southern States feed? Is there a supplement I'm missing? What could be wrong?

After I finished leaving a message for Mt. Healthy I did a little research and I found this:

http://www.thepoultrysite.com/diseaseinfo/130/salmonella-gallinarum-fowl-typhoid

http://www.mypetchicken.com/backyar...I-tell-if-my-flock-is-infected-with-H138.aspx

And most importantly this:

http://www.fox19.com/story/25474745/nationwide-salmonella-outbreak-linked-to-mount-healthy-hatchery



> "The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said a multi-state salmonella outbreak has been linked to a Mount Healthy hatchery.
> 
> The CDC said 60 people in 23 states have become ill with 31 percent hospitalized, as of Wednesday. No deaths have been reported."


And this:

https://www.avma.org/KB/Resources/Reference/Pages/Chicks,-Ducklings-and-Salmonella.aspx


> "A total of 28 people in 15 states were infected with Salmonella Johannesburg, and 22 were hospitalized. The outbreaks were traced to Mt. Healthy Hatchery in Ohio."


Finally this might be useful for ANYBODY who might want to order from this company:

http://www.cdc.gov/salmonella/live-poultry-05-12/



> A total of 195 persons infected with the outbreak strains of Salmonella Infantis, Salmonella Newport, and Salmonella Lille were reported from 27 states.
> 
> The number of ill persons identified in each state was as follows: Alabama (4), Arizona (1), Arkansas (1), Delaware (1), Georgia (5), Illinois (4), Indiana (6), Kansas (1), Kentucky (11), Louisiana (1), Maryland (5), Maine (4), Massachusetts (7), Michigan (2), North Carolina (15), Nebraska (1), New Jersey (5), New York (23), Ohio (42), Pennsylvania (16), Rhode Island (2), South Carolina (2), Tennessee (11), Texas (2), Virginia (9), Vermont (3), and West Virginia (11).
> 
> 34% of ill persons were hospitalized. *Two deaths were reported.*
> 
> 33% of ill persons were children 10 years of age or younger.
> 
> Epidemiologic, laboratory, and traceback *findings linked this outbreak of human Salmonella infections to contact with live poultry from Mt. Healthy Hatchery in Ohio.*


And this might explain why I have had curious symptoms of food poisoning last week my family didn't experience (stomach cramps, nausea, diarrhea, fever...). Turns out it wasn't food poisoning, but I believe Salmonella poisoning. I am the only one who cares for the ducklings. My 4 year old, 1 year old, and pregnant wife do not and the children are never allowed to play with ducklings or chicks.

Then I contacted Mt. Healthy Hatchery again. "I believe you might have accidentally sent me ducklings with Salmonella poisoning. I hope you're checking out your facility." I really was not upset or irritated. I wanted them to look into this because I was the first shipment of the year and hopefully they could nip this in the butt before more people get sick this year... like last year and in 2012 and in 2013...

The man who called me back on the phone was very irritable proclaiming "Ducklings and Chick *DO NOT DIE* from Salmonella." Oh really? That's not what _*every source*_ I read told me. He also informed me the type of Salmonella I have is not the type of Salmonella my ducklings have. (???)

He also informed me that their hatchery is checked every month by the Ohio Department of Health and his poultry is clear from all salmonella poisoning. He suggested my ducklings received salmonella from wild birds or rodents.

He then went on to tell me all poultry has salmonella. :hammer:

I let him know I was just trying to extend a courtesy that they should check their facilities before sending more out so others don't get sick like last year. He told me the news blew everything out of proportion and last year really wasn't bad. (Really? The CDC reported 2 deaths...!) He tried to get off the phone with the final statements of "Ducklings die, it just happens and it's part of raising animals." Sure they do... but I'm not an idiot and this isn't my first rodeo. 4 don't just drop dead in one day for no reason.

I told him I didn't want any problems but I didn't get into this for dying ducks. I wanted either a refund or I wanted him to replace my ducklings with ducklings they've certified as being disease free. He opted to refund my money.

Now what *did not happen* on the phone was he was *not* nice about this from moment he was on the phone. He couldn't give two shakes about my diarrhea, vomit and stomach cramps. He didn't sound remorseful one bit over us loosing 4 ducklings in one day. He didn't try to offer helpful suggestions so we don't lose the remaining ducklings. He was not apologetic and did not reassure me they'd double check to make sure other people won't experience the same in the future.

I think this is important. On his behalf he told me those Salmonella outbreaks were linked to another supplier which they stopped working with. Besides "*We supply Tractor Supply Company* so if we had problems you'd hear about this all over the place with the thousands of birds we sell!" (paraphrasing)

So if you're buying from TSC remember you might be buying Mt. Healthy chicks. 

I wasn't going to post something like this informing the world at large so everybody who types in "Mt. Healthy Hatchery Reviews" into google will be able to find but three things cause me to do so now:


Mt. Healthy was not apologetic whatsoever and DID NOT admit any fault or other helpful suggestions.
This morning we had another duckling die from Salmonella poisoning. We're now down to eight from our original 16.
People deserve to know to this company is a serious BUYER BEWARE. I would never buy from them ever again.

And that's my story.

:butting:


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## NyGoatMom

Wow is all I can say...I realize animals get outbreaks of things, but his poor handling and lack of concern for your situation is disconcerting....think I'll stick with Meyers and McMurray...


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## J.O.Y. Farm

Wow... 
My feed store ordered from them this year and that is where we got our 6 chicks from.... :/ they are coming in this week... 
I for sure will be letting my co-workers know this! (I work at the feed store) we all wear gloves to handle the chicks and such anyway, but thank you for posting this!


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## simeo

NyGoatMom said:


> Wow is all I can say...I realize animals get outbreaks of things, but his poor handling and lack of concern for your situation is disconcerting....think I'll stick with Meyers and McMurray...


Yea.... I just got off the phone with the Department of Agriculture here in my state. They kind of rolled their eyes at the company and thanked me for my report.

My call today was "not the first report we've received about Mt. Healthy."

Yikes... So this is an ongoing problem according to my Dept. of Agriculture.

Definitely stay away from Mt. Healthy.

:roll:


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## NyGoatMom

So "Mt Healthy" should change their name :lol:


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## J.O.Y. Farm

Wow...

Lol Stephanie! A girl I work with was mumbling that the other day lol


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## ksalvagno

That is terrible. I will stick with Meyer Hatchery.


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## goathiker

Thank goodness my feed store orders from Ideal hatchery. I always order ducks and geese from Metzer Hatchery. They don't do chicks, just waterfowl and gamebirds.


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## AncientBlue

I'm not sure who Rural King uses, but we seem to have had good luck with their chicks.


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## boeropa

Just for curiosity I would take one of the dead ducklings for necropsy to see the real reason of death. From what I know, it is true that it is not likely that they will die from Salmonella.


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## top_goat

simeo said:


> I think this is important. On his behalf he told me those Salmonella outbreaks were linked to another supplier which they stopped working with. Besides "*We supply Tractor Supply Company* so if we had problems you'd hear about this all over the place with the thousands of birds we sell!" (paraphrasing)
> 
> So if you're buying from TSC remember you might be buying Mt. Healthy chicks.


I really appreciate you telling this experience, simeo. Even more, I appreciate the spirit with which you handled the situation -- firm yet respectful, desiring to believe the best of the company and offering them the opportunity to display integrity. I had wondered who TSC got their birds from. Each of the past two years at each of the three TSCs near me there were multiple sick or dead birds in their hatchling troughs. Still people purchase from them! I'm not dissing TSC - I shop there alot. But if you see sick fish in the pet store tanks, you think twice before purchasing from that store. Similarly, if consumers would vote with their pocketbooks on an issue such as this, then a major retailer such as TSC would have to take notice, and that would likely trickle back to the supplier. I would think they would be forced by simple economics to either clean up their act or go out of business. Thanks for drawing our attention to this situation!


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## simeo

boeropa said:


> Just for curiosity I would take one of the dead ducklings for necropsy to see the real reason of death. From what I know, it is true that it is not likely that they will die from Salmonella.


I offered my ducklings to the Department of Agriculture and the health department. I also offered for them to collect stool samples from them. Both told me the necropsy would be too late after death and because I'm already treating my ducklings it's irrelevant. The health department is taking a stool sample from me even though they said it may be too late as well, there is a small chance something may show up?

It's actually possible for poultry, dogs, cats, reptiles, and equine to be sick, hospitalized or die from Salmonella.



> Morbidity is 10-100%; mortality is increased in stressed or immunocompromised flocks and may be up to 100%. The route of infection is oral or via the navel/yolk. Transmission may be transovarian or horizontal by faecal-oral contamination, egg eating etc, even in adults. The bacterium is fairly resistant to normal climate, surviving months, but is susceptible to normal disinfectants.


http://www.thepoultrysite.com/diseaseinfo/130/salmonella-gallinarum-fowl-typhoid

There's a plethora of other websites once you wade through the sea of CDC and Health Department warnings about humans receiving Salmonella. WebMD even has several articles about Salmonella in dogs and cats.

Anything which severely dehydrates or causes anemia like Salmonella could easily kill anything young or weak.

And welcome to the forum! I see it's your first post here.


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