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- #231
I guess I'm just not understanding something. This thread seems to be 8 months old and even has chicks sent for necropsies and Texas A&M couldn't give you a straight answer on what they are growing in those little petrie dishes that you paid for?
I just don't understand how deaths go on for 8 months and no one knows why really. My best guess would be that your flock has Marek's and that is wiping out everyone's immune system and your chickens are dying from every opportunistic bacteria you have there, cocci, pox, aspergillus, respiratory bugs, etc. No one pill is going to wipe it all out. I remember having 7 pullets that had been 2x vaccinated for Marek's wiped out from entiritis and then a one-eye infection. They had a poor immune system and we had lots of rain.
I would not be hatching any eggs at this time. It will never end if you do.
Hope Hubby is on the mend
Well 8 were tested and all they could tell me was that they had pneumonia, but that everything else was "inconclusive". It seems like finding Mareks should have been pretty easy?? I bought every medicine and antibiotic and tried every regimen they recommended. It made no difference. Every vet I called said they don't see chickens. The State guy I talked to said they only test for pullorum and something else as part of the NPIP certification. He said that I definitely didn't have those issues so he could not help me. I asked if they would come out and test to see what was here and they said they don't do that. He sent me to the Texas A & M folks again. They don't know what else to do except keep sending bodies for necropsy. That isn't cheap - and after 8 tries and no useful info I don't much see the point. I just finally found a vet in Southlake that says they see chickens. The soonest they can get me in is next Monday. I am not hatching anything but I have broody hens all over the place hatching babies. Every "professional" I talk to says that with the various abx I have tried with no effect that it isn't bacterial, and they say that if it was viral it should have been through the flock long ago. The only thing I can think of that is left is fungal and from my reading very few people know much or understand much about that. Most say there is no treatment. Each chicken they examine will be $74 apiece. That is just for the basic exam, not medicine or anything else. So I am going to bring 3 and see which they think it is best to examine - and if I really have to we will do them all. We were able to pull $9K from hubby's life insurance policy which is the only reason I can do this now. He has not worked since Nov 2013 because of the cancer/treatments and it takes 7 months for disability to start. Sure hope they can give me some answers - I am so sick of all this.
