Life-long carriers - and now?

[Petra Pancake]

I made the big mistake of buying two sick Leghorn pullets from a bad source a week ago. They are suffering from a severe disease of the upper respiratory tract - it's either infectious bronchitis or infectious laryngotracheitis. I first thought especially one of them was about to die but so far, they both keep going.
- If they survive and get better, they will be long-term carriers of either IB or IL, right?
- Does that mean that they will be constantly shedding the virus or only in times of stress?
- Is there a way of integrating them into my flock without transmitting the virus (if the pullets themselves are symptom-free)?
- If they are merely close to the flock but get their own partition of the run, would that prevent transmission (if they are symptom-free)?
- Or should I just keep the two of them in life-long quarantine?
- What if I want or need to re-home them?

 

[Abriana]

Maybe if they survive you should find a home for them with someone who does not have chickens or visit chicken places or live too near other chickens. Don't put them with your pullets now and be careful when you touch the leghorns or they touch your clothes/shoes that you wash and disinfect to keep everyone safe. And next time be careful to check your sources before purchasing chickens! Good luck!

 

[Impatient]

Keep them separate from your flock until you can't keep them/or they stop laying and then butcher? Personally even if I disclosed their status to someone else I wouldn't necessarily trust then to be stringent with what it entails and could possibly put others birds at risk. Obviously never get chickens from that seller again, but hindsight is 20/20

 

[Eggcessive]

What symptoms are you seeing? There are many different respiratory diseases in chickens. IB is one of the more common and milder diseases, making them carriers for 5 months up to a year, and it really goes through a flock fast causing sneezing mostly for about a month. Others such as MG, coryza, ILT, Newcastles, and others make them carriers for life. Aspergillosis, a fungal disease from mold, is not contagious, but may cause severe illness. I would take them back where you got them, or if they are severely ill, cull them. Did you ever get a diagnosis on the recent losses in your flock?

 

[Petra Pancake]

What symptoms are you seeing? There are many different respiratory diseases in chickens. IB is one of the more common and milder diseases, making them carriers for 5 months up to a year, and it really goes through a flock fast causing sneezing mostly for about a month. Others such as MG, coryza, ILT, Newcastles, and others make them carriers for life. Aspergillosis, a fungal disease from mold, is not contagious, but may cause severe illness. I would take them back where you got them, or if they are severely ill, cull them. Did you ever get a diagnosis on the recent losses in your flock?

One of them showed symptoms already on the day I bought them, the other one a day later. The first one has really difficulty breathing - she gasps for air with an open beak and outstretched neck and makes a gurgling, hissing noise. She also coughs, sneezes and has nasal secretions. The second one merely coughs and sneezes a lot without the gaping. They don't have neurological signs, just are visibly ill and huddled in a corner. They have been like that for about a week now.

Taking them back is not worth the fuel or the time (it's an hour's drive from here). The seller actually offered to replace them with other birds when I called him to complain. But as he keeps all his chickens together in crowded quarters - I reckon even replacements would probably be carriers of something. Also, he'd probably sell "my" sick ones then to another customer. So I'm not going back.

Regarding the losses from my own flock earlier this summer - I had a necropsy done on 2 of the dead chickens. The hen was diagnosed with egg peritonitis and the rooster with coccidiosis. Don't know until today what the others had, I regret not having sent the hen with the puffed up face to necropsy. The survivors are fine now and not showing any symptoms of anything.

 

[Eggcessive]

The one that is gaping could possibly have ILT. I have never seen that, but it supposedly causes bloody mucus secretions from the beak that can be slung around when they shake their heads. Otherwise, the other possiblilities would be MG, coryza, or bronchitis with complications.
I am glad that your others are doing better. It would be hard to have to cull these sick birds, but probably best to stop the spread to other birds.