Hi all, it pains me to write this but I also need advice.
We just had a visit from the county Ag lady to do swabs and take a couple of bodies back with her to test for diseases. She is suspecting mycoplasma. The 20 young chicks I have will probably need to be culled. I am suspecting that one of them brought it with them.
I am hoping that my layer flock and pullets will be safe, but there has been more than normal sneezing among them. But no deaths yet.
I got some chicks from a local person and they did well for about 2 weeks then all died, and all the chicks in the brooder have been slowly, and not so slowly, dieing. Some struggle to breath, some have crusty eyes, not too much sneezing but definitely lethargic. Unfortunately, I had been free ranging the layers and they did have access to the chicks. They do not live in the same area, but when they are out they get in the stall the brooder is in. When the chicks started dying I stopped letting the layers out, but it might have already been to late. We should know by next week. We tested both groups separately.
I am ok with culling the chicks, I have not had time to get as attached to them, and have been avoiding them since they started acting sick. But I am not looking forward to having to cull my layers and pullets. And the broody hens with babies. Those are the first chicks we have hatched and they are now two weeks old. Even my fiancé is attached to those babies.
On the other hand, i do not want to keep a closed flock. I was planning on hatching and selling marans chicks. And I have a friend giving me a great deal on what she calls Lamborghini chickens(the black ones) and had plans to breed and sell them as well. So keeping MG birds is not an option.
I am waiting to hear from the Ag department to decide, but am fearing the worst. I may need to find someone else to cull the layers if they have been exposed. What is the best way to disinfect a horse stall and the run/coop? The studies I have read say that the bacterium is really fragile and lasts at most 16 days in the environment. And most studies say 5-6 days.
But the Ag lady was recommending leaving it empty for a couple of months. What have y'all done?
Thanks for reading all this!
We just had a visit from the county Ag lady to do swabs and take a couple of bodies back with her to test for diseases. She is suspecting mycoplasma. The 20 young chicks I have will probably need to be culled. I am suspecting that one of them brought it with them.
I am hoping that my layer flock and pullets will be safe, but there has been more than normal sneezing among them. But no deaths yet.
I got some chicks from a local person and they did well for about 2 weeks then all died, and all the chicks in the brooder have been slowly, and not so slowly, dieing. Some struggle to breath, some have crusty eyes, not too much sneezing but definitely lethargic. Unfortunately, I had been free ranging the layers and they did have access to the chicks. They do not live in the same area, but when they are out they get in the stall the brooder is in. When the chicks started dying I stopped letting the layers out, but it might have already been to late. We should know by next week. We tested both groups separately.
I am ok with culling the chicks, I have not had time to get as attached to them, and have been avoiding them since they started acting sick. But I am not looking forward to having to cull my layers and pullets. And the broody hens with babies. Those are the first chicks we have hatched and they are now two weeks old. Even my fiancé is attached to those babies.
On the other hand, i do not want to keep a closed flock. I was planning on hatching and selling marans chicks. And I have a friend giving me a great deal on what she calls Lamborghini chickens(the black ones) and had plans to breed and sell them as well. So keeping MG birds is not an option.
I am waiting to hear from the Ag department to decide, but am fearing the worst. I may need to find someone else to cull the layers if they have been exposed. What is the best way to disinfect a horse stall and the run/coop? The studies I have read say that the bacterium is really fragile and lasts at most 16 days in the environment. And most studies say 5-6 days.
But the Ag lady was recommending leaving it empty for a couple of months. What have y'all done?
Thanks for reading all this!
