A friend had a bunch of birds die from an illness.

[reveriereptile]

I have a friend that I usually give my extra birds to that is having a problem with her flock. I'm not even sure how many she has but she said she has had about a 100 die. She thinks it came from some birds she bought at a auction that spread it to the rest of her flock. She has a chicken book but can't figure out what to give them to get rid of it or how much. All her animals are all mixed together. Only her chickens and turkeys have it. She also has sheep, goats, horses, a donkey, llamas, pot bellied pig, ducks, geese, pigeons, peafowl, rabbits, dogs, cats, and guinea hens. I suggested for her to have the vet look at one of the sick ones. These are all pet animals. She doesn't eat any of them and usually hatches their eggs during the summer to keep. She might sell some or give some roos away once in a while but they are mostly pets. I've looked at them and they only seem to have a runny nose, sneezing, and become sluggish. Any ideas of what it might be?

 

[ArizonaDesertChicks]

Taking a few birds to an avian vet is the best idea - especially, when she has such a large number of birds to lose. There's many illnesses chickens can get that have the symptoms you mentioned.

You need to make sure to not wear the same shoes at your place that you wear at hers (or wash them very well when coming home), otherwise, you might bring the illness to your own chickens. Hopefully, she's not giving any more of them away - once infected, the chickens will stay carriers and can infect other flocks.

 

[Clay Valley Farmer]

You could try looking up IB,MG,CRD,ILT and Coryza under chicken deseases. It will certainly take some detective work to figgure out which or these or maybe a few other respritory disorders may be aflicting the flock.

As posted above I would be super cautious about keeping my flock safe from hers.

 

[mypicklebird]

100 birds die? She is looking at books to figure out what to do? I applaud book reading- knowledge is great- but she needs to do more than that and fast. Call the state veterinarian and get someone out there. From your description, I am worried a bit about a hoarder type of situation- with that many many species all mixed together- a brewing pot for sure. Does she take care of them well? If not, consider calling the county to have someone go out and make a well pet check.

I would NOT go there without taking special precautions- gloves, disposable booties, park OFF the property, don't touch anything you don't have to, change clothes ect before going home. Something that kills 100 birds would probably like to hitchhike back to your farm on your shoes or hands.

http://www.agmkt.state.ny.us/AI/disease_rep.html

read this page, there are some phone numbers you can call and explain the situation- see if they recommend sending someone out to take samples, or sending in a victim. High mortality rate is a red flag. There is probably something worse than CRD there. ...

 

[mercedes]

I think mypicklebird has a very good point."Hoarder" was the first thing that came to my mind when I read the OP.

 

[donrae]

Absolute hoarder. Also makes one wonder what disposal method has been used for a hundred diseased chicken corpses? The state vet needs to get involved ASAP. And you need to practice strict biohazard precautions as already outlined. Things like this just make me sick, people who won't take care of their animals.

 

[WiscoChiko]

Easy let them give you more info... Ingnorance can be a ______ as well?? Wisco
I'm just saying I have an older women that lives close and has maybe 200 birds, she has 18 wheeler trailers with pens and runs set up inside and outside its a sweet setup. She breeds her own in the spring every year she gets more! She takes wonderful care of her birds, Could only imagine if she got one from an auction(which I am against) and had 100 die! She would have no clue what to do! She has the birds as pets and for eggs only!

 

[reveriereptile]

She definitely does love her animals. Once she noticed them getting sick she didn't sale any. She didn't want the same thing to happen to someone else. All her animals look healthy. The poultry are free range at different times of the year.She keeps their coops pretty clean and during the summer she seperates some of them into groups depending on what she wants. She has been trying to get large breeds for the eggs lately. She will get rid of some of the animals if she can't afford that many. All her kids and their family live around her house and help take care of the animals. She has buildings that all her animals stay in during the winter. She is going to take some of her birds to the vets to have them looked at. She usually treats her birds when she starts seeing them get sick but this time the same medicine didn't work. She takes in a lot of animals mainly for feeling bad for them. Usually this time of the year she gets rid of most of her roos to have extra space for the winter but she wasn't going to this year from them being sick. She is definitely going to have the animals checked out. Most of her non poultry animals are usually fenced up in a different area expect for her pig lives with the poultry. Once in a while some might sneak out and get in with the other animals.

 

[Clay Valley Farmer]

She takes in a lot of animals mainly for feeling bad for them.

Its nice in theory to take in these rescues but sounds a bit like she might not have a good handle on the numbers she has. Also it just becomes a huge risk to the flock. When taking in rescue chickens from unknown sources it is not a question of if they will become deseased but a question of how long until you get some nasty chronic desease in the flock.

IMHO if she intends to ever sell live chickens she likely will need to cull the whole lot and start over resisting the temptation to take in any birds from unknown sources. Getting some of the dead/sick ones tested would go a long ways to isolating just what desease(s) she is dealing with.

Again, I would stay clear of the situation to avoid any contact that could transmit infection to my birds.​

 

[Tdub4chiks]

I would definately get ahold of Cornell University for help.