At a loss with this sickness

smoore7489

Songster
6 Years
Mar 25, 2017
210
144
171
Can sickness or viruses target only ONE breed? Im at a loss with whatever os effecting my flock. My blue laced golden wyandottes have slowly died one by one. They first start to "sneeze" which then turns to a more violent "honk" and they begin to hide and stay away from the flock. They still eat and drink, but never stop with their "sneezing". Ive not noticed any liquid coming from their nasal passages or mouth. Ive had zero survivors so far so we've decided to cull when the "honking" begins so they don't die miserably and slowly. I know I need a necropsy to ultimately determine what's going on, but at this time I have zero means to do this. I'm at a loss with this. I have Orpingtons, mixed breeds, and EEs. None of them have shown these symptoms. Even the new chicks I've hatched have not shown anything. It's ONLY the wyandottes. They are not a year old yet but will be soon.
Does anyone have any insight??
 
I also want to add, this has been going on for a few months now. Seems like every month or so, another one gets it and slowly disintegrates. The first 2 died from.. whatever this is.. and it took a couple weeks to take its toll.
 
Do you think you could do an at home necropsy? That might give some clues

Edited to add that I know you mentioned necropsy in your post but I was thinking you meant sending the remains off to a lab
 
Where did the Wyandottes come from? Do you have birds that are younger than these? Were the Wyandottes vaccinated? The possibilities are plentiful unfortunately.
 
Do you think you could do an at home necropsy? That might give some clues
I can definitely try.not exactly sure how to do this. Could you point me in the right direction on learning this?

And to answer you on where they came from, it was TSC. I believe their birds are vaccinated. They recieve them from Murray MCmurray hatchery I believe.
 
@azygous has posted some links to at home necropsies before but unfortunately I didn't save them. I imagine between the three ladies that have been tagged, someone will have a link to some very helpful instructions. If you take pictures and post them as you go, I'm sure they'll be happy to help you figure everything out and/or ask for more pictures of certain organs. It's probably going to be easier to have an extra set of hands to take pictures and read if anyone asks for better pictures of anything. I sure hope you can get to the bottom of this 💜
 
I can definitely try.not exactly sure how to do this. Could you point me in the right direction on learning this?

And to answer you on where they came from, it was TSC. I believe their birds are vaccinated. They recieve them from Murray MCmurray hatchery I believe.
There are several videos on YouTube on how to necropsy if you want to look those up. It seems everyone has a slightly different method, the key if you do it often is to find a method that makes sense to you and always repeat it, if you go about it randomly each time, you'll more than likely miss something. I start by first doing a visual inspection of the outside of the bird. Examine the eyes, mouth, apparent muscle mass, etc. Then I lay the bird flat on it's back with wings extended. I pop the hip joints so the legs will lay flat and out of the way. Then I take the skin right below the keel bone and pull it away and make an incision. From there you can cut/tear (depending on how old/big the bird is) the skin up towards the head. Then the ribs are cut and the breast is popped back towards the head. From there I examine the overall appearance of the inside of the birds, checking out the color and placement of everything as well as the appearance of the air sacs. Then I work through the digestive tract; making sure to make an incision in the small intestine and checking out the appearance. Look at the appearance of the liver: is it the right color, smooth, or there spots, etc. Once I'm through with the digestive tract I look at the heart and lungs, then the reproductive tract.
 

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