Infectious Laryngotracheitis

[speckledhen]

Well, that's the end of my flock. It took me hours to cull them all. Now I begin a massive decontamination effort. I have plenty of bleach and have some Oxine coming. I'll be removing all the bedding from all of the pens - not sure if I'm going to burn that or compost it. Then I'll scrub down and disinfect all equipment and surfaces. I've already started that, actually, as I empty pens.
Does anyone know if I should let the bare ground just sit exposed to the UV light, or should I tractor it a few times and mix things up?

I'm so sorry, Jules. I think I'd lime the heck out of all the grounds with that burning hydrated lime for sure, then till it up, then lime it again, but how long to let it sit, I'm not really sure.

I think I'd burn the bedding in a fire pit, personally.

 

[CowgirlJules]

I still have ducks in the pen, and turkeys near it. I would hate to harm them with the lime. Do you think it would be ok for them if I hazed them into the pigpen, limed it, and then immediately plowed it in?

 

[ivan3]

Here's some info on use of various `types' of lime:: http://www.irishlime.com/pdfs/Practical Guidelines on the Use of Lime.pdf

 

[CowgirlJules]

Thank you, that's very helpful.

 

[WellReadReviews]

I am really sorry for your loss, Jules. How completely devastating to lose so many that have touched your life.

I guess I am a little confused though, and I am a complete newbie when it comes to raising chickens so please forgive me. Is it typical to cull/kill an entire flock when they all come down with something? Are we supposed to cull any chicken that seems ill? For example, I have a chick now that is ill with SOMETHING, but what I don't know. The symtoms (as far as I can tell) sound like the disease you had mentioned killed the flock, but I am not 100% sure at all. Does this mean that even if said chicken makes a recovery that I cannot put her back with her flock?

 

[drdanags]

Thanks for sharing.
Glad I have quarantined my sick pullet (hoping she gets better).
This will really make be observe new bird and sick bird quarantines.
So painful. So sorry for your loss.

 

[CowgirlJules]

WellReadReviews, it depends on what you want to do with the flock. Once recovered from most of the respiratory viruses, the chicken becomes a carrier for the rest of its life. So if you reintroduce it to the flock (or even if the flock already had a carrier) you're going to have an infective flock. If you just use your chickens for pets or small-scale egg production, some people choose to just live with it.

Not all of these diseases have a high mortality rate, but I believe they do all affect productivity, at least while the illness is active. And if you chose to keep an infective flock, you couldn't ethically sell chickens to an unsuspecting customer or take them to a show where they can infect other birds. Any birds that you bring in which aren't already vaccinated for the particular strain of whatever you have, have a high chance of catching it themselves.

And since some of the vectors seem to be wild animals, it's possible that an infected flock could pass it on to neighboring flocks. That may be how I got it, for all I know. I live in an area with high commercial poultry production, and that was one of the factors in my deciding to cull the entire flock. Even though there are plenty of home flocks around here that probably don't care about the commercial producers, I do care, and don't want to have a reservoir of the disease at my house.

I also wanted to show birds, and to be able to bring new birds in. I didn't want to deal with illness the rest of my life either. So, the choice to cull. All birds coming in will be vaccinated for ILT, but of course, there are plenty of other respiratory diseases to which they will still be susceptible. It's a calculated risk for me, but at least I'm controlling the factors that are reasonably controllable.

The lime link was interesting. I think I'll lime the soil and plow it in to help the UV light along in the disinfection process.

 

[Papa Brooder]

WellReadReviews, it depends on what you want to do with the flock. Once recovered from most of the respiratory viruses, the chicken becomes a carrier for the rest of its life. So if you reintroduce it to the flock (or even if the flock already had a carrier) you're going to have an infective flock. If you just use your chickens for pets or small-scale egg production, some people choose to just live with it.

Not all of these diseases have a high mortality rate, but I believe they do all affect productivity, at least while the illness is active. And if you chose to keep an infective flock, you couldn't ethically sell chickens to an unsuspecting customer or take them to a show where they can infect other birds. Any birds that you bring in which aren't already vaccinated for the particular strain of whatever you have, have a high chance of catching it themselves.

And since some of the vectors seem to be wild animals, it's possible that an infected flock could pass it on to neighboring flocks. That may be how I got it, for all I know. I live in an area with high commercial poultry production, and that was one of the factors in my deciding to cull the entire flock. Even though there are plenty of home flocks around here that probably don't care about the commercial producers, I do care, and don't want to have a reservoir of the disease at my house.

I also wanted to show birds, and to be able to bring new birds in. I didn't want to deal with illness the rest of my life either. So, the choice to cull. All birds coming in will be vaccinated for ILT, but of course, there are plenty of other respiratory diseases to which they will still be susceptible. It's a calculated risk for me, but at least I'm controlling the factors that are reasonably controllable.

The lime link was interesting. I think I'll lime the soil and plow it in to help the UV light along in the disinfection process.

Hey there, so it looks that I may be in the same boat as you. Awaiting final results but UCD lab is suspecting ILT on a bird that died. Mine was introduced by birds I bought at an online auction from a very respected source so I am hoping they somehow just got it in transit. Thankfully, none of my other chickens have it. I was freaking out because I had four younger chicks die. none of them had any sign of the infection but I figured I had cross contaminated even though they don't share the same space. Anyway the others that died just died because of poor brooder management when I had a house sitter and likely she didn't give enough food, so the weak ones didn't make it. Now, I am in your boat of culling the my backyard flock, though much smaller and much less painful compared to your experience. So sorry! As my backyard is now a site of infection, I am going to let these infected grow out for a month then have them processed. Thankfully, we are in the process of moving so all my garage chickens will go straight from brooder land to the new property without ever nearing the back yard. I have specific backyard shoes and all kids under strict instruction to now wear shoes into the garage and to wash hands after all chicken handling. I'm still worried about cross contamination and may have to cull some chickens after I move them out in a few weeks just to make sure that none of the younger are affected, but so far so good. Anyway, I am curious to learn more about the vaccine. Where was the best source of information you found? I am trying to decide if I should vaccinate these ones in the brooder and the ones I already have at the new property.

I haven't told my kids that their favorite chickens are now on the chopping block.... Aargh, dreading that conversation for them and me. good thing is there are lots of little cute fuzzies to distract them with prior to any disappearance of the

 

[CowgirlJules]

I'm sorry to hear that. This is the vaccine I have coming. It's the modified live virus type, so I'll have to do a little more research on it, but I was in a bit of a panic and this was the only one I could find.

I think with a whole new place to move your brooder chicks to, you should be fine. Disinfect your equipment well though.

 

[Papa Brooder]

I'm sorry to hear that. This is the vaccine I have coming. It's the modified live virus type, so I'll have to do a little more research on it, but I was in a bit of a panic and this was the only one I could find.

I think with a whole new place to move your brooder chicks to, you should be fine. Disinfect your equipment well though.

Thanks, at this point i'm not even bringing anything from the backyard until I have decided what to do with them. Thankfully the rest of the stuff I have has been in the garage. Even though I do think an extra disinfecting and more thorough one than normal before I put the next hatchlings into the brooder. I'll check it the virus thanks. I was hoping to find the killed vaccine but will hopefully read more on it this weekend.