I know I have some disease in my flock - but just don't know what to do! - Page 2

Quote:

Originally Posted by BritinMO 

Thanks everyone, I will call my vet and find out if they can do a necropsy, or get them to find out where I can get one done. I think its going to be the only way I can find out whats going on. I can pretty much rule out poisoning as the only place they visit occasionally is next doors paddock that my neighbors use as a dog agility training area, I know they don't put anything down in there. They do wander onto our lane at times, but nobody sprays around here. I can't think they are drinking antifreeze (certainly not on our place) and the feed isn't moldy as its kept in its sack in a bin in the barn and my gang go through about 2 sacks of feed a week! Whatever is affecting the guineas isn't affecting the chickens.......................and they share the same coop.

 

 

 

 

Feed can come to you with mold in it direct from the store. I've had it happen and I didn't realize it until most was eaten and two hens were dead from crop stasis-nothing appeared moldy until the bottom of the bag.

Contact a State Poultry Lab. The state vet would be the one to do the necropsy. Could even be free or very reasonable, more so than an actual vet.

Have you wormed your guineas?

High protein feed and some extra carbs will help keep them warmer too.

Good luck with the worming, make sure to keep them locked in with the medicated water being the only source of water that they have while they are being dosed, (if you are using a wormer mixed with water... If you are catching and dosing each bird individually... I do not envy you one bit, lol).

My birds harass the horses while they are eating too, grabbing any stray morsel that they can get and sometimes jumping in the feeders/grain buckets too, pests! Many feed scratch grains for the extra fat and carbs, or rolled/cracked corn, but my birds really don't like either of those feeds unless they have to eat it. So it's not really a treat to them, it's more like hospital cafeteria food, lol. Mine really really like Wet COB (corn oats and barely w/molasses) tho, I guess because of the molasses. Occasionally they will get a couple handfuls of small kibble kitten or puppy food, something that's got decent fat in it and high protein... but not too much (I mainly feed it to my Peafowl as a treat/supplement).

What kind of 1 day wormer are you going to use?

Wazine only treats round worms, and none of all the other nasty worms that cause death/sickness in your flock... so if you can return it and go get a bottle of liquid Safeguard Goat Wormer, that's a much more effective wormer. It is used off label, so there won't be any dosing instructions for poultry on the bottle. I'll send you a PM with the dosage and administration method I use. (You can also do a search on BYC to get more info on dosages and administration methods).

I also use SafeGuard for both my Guineas and my chickens. I use 3cc's (mixed with about 1/8 cup water0 to 2 lbs of feed. I put the feed down and keep it there until it is gone. I don't feed anything else. The nice thing with SafeGuard is that in research there is no case of overdosing so if 1 bird gets a bit more then the others it will not harm it. I retreat in 10 days if I suspect a worm issue. I toss all eggs for 3 weeks after the last treatment. For maintanance I don't do the second dosing.