Well, my adventure in keeping chickens is rapidly coming to an end........................
Since I started with 4-5 week old pullets in May.........I have lost 5 birds, to "unknown causes"! One after the other.
Essentially they just started looking poorly, or standing off by themselves, all fluffed up.........and then dead the next time I saw them.
The 'time-frame' of each one beginning to look poorly until their deaths, was probably about a week or so............
I've lost 5 young pullets since the 1st of May...............that's 1 death every 2-3 weeks or so.
This last one...........my beautiful Splash Ameraucana............started having difficulty breathing last weekend.
Brought her to my vet last Monday, and to end her suffering, it was felt it was kindest to her to put her to sleep, and as this was my 5th sick chicken..........to send her off to the NJ Dept. of Ag. for a necropsy.
Well, the results that came back were quite disheartening, to say the lest!
I spoke with Dr. Weinberg down in Trenton today............about her necropsy report,
and it is not very good news at all....................................................
How it will all play out is currently up in the air unfortunately...................................................:-(
The official dx is that she died of Avian Lymphoid Leukosis.........................a virus very closely related to Marek's.
The reason she was having trouble breathing was that there were 3 huge tumors inside her.........one of which involved
her air saks......restricting their movement. One which was occluding 70% of her stomach. And one in her gullet.
It 'may' have been the cause of the other 4 pullets deaths here as well...........tho' their symptoms were not the same, the tumors may have been in organs other than their lungs.
It may effect the birds I have left, and if not, they are now carriers of this virus..................
They are not sure if the initial mode of infection (beside the 'known' modes of close contact, feces, feathers, contaminated food, etc) is not transmitted thru the egg wall to the unborn chick or not.........but he says this is a possibility. They may have had this virus when they were born..............
My little flock is now officially closed...................no new birds in, no birds out.
He recommended not eating the eggs.........although no human transmission of this virus is known, he says "why take a chance".................????
He said if it were him, he would cull, sterilize, and start over!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
When I told him my birds were vaccinated against Mareks.......................there was a big silence on the other end of the line.
He asked if he could "get back to me", as he wants to do more research before any further comments.
So, that is where I am today........................not in a very 'good' place at all..........
My 8 remaining beauties my be culled.....................
I cannot eat their eggs.................
They are now carriers of this virus................
They may be fine, or may all just die..................
Do I keep them as pets (which they were already anyway, but with the "friends-with-benefits" benefit of eggs!)
and just wait and see if they get sick as well?
Or do I cull everyone?
Not a nice decision to be having to make, to say the least.
I'm very sad................................
Since I started with 4-5 week old pullets in May.........I have lost 5 birds, to "unknown causes"! One after the other.
Essentially they just started looking poorly, or standing off by themselves, all fluffed up.........and then dead the next time I saw them.
The 'time-frame' of each one beginning to look poorly until their deaths, was probably about a week or so............
I've lost 5 young pullets since the 1st of May...............that's 1 death every 2-3 weeks or so.
This last one...........my beautiful Splash Ameraucana............started having difficulty breathing last weekend.
Brought her to my vet last Monday, and to end her suffering, it was felt it was kindest to her to put her to sleep, and as this was my 5th sick chicken..........to send her off to the NJ Dept. of Ag. for a necropsy.
Well, the results that came back were quite disheartening, to say the lest!
I spoke with Dr. Weinberg down in Trenton today............about her necropsy report,
and it is not very good news at all....................................................
How it will all play out is currently up in the air unfortunately...................................................:-(
The official dx is that she died of Avian Lymphoid Leukosis.........................a virus very closely related to Marek's.
The reason she was having trouble breathing was that there were 3 huge tumors inside her.........one of which involved
her air saks......restricting their movement. One which was occluding 70% of her stomach. And one in her gullet.
It 'may' have been the cause of the other 4 pullets deaths here as well...........tho' their symptoms were not the same, the tumors may have been in organs other than their lungs.
It may effect the birds I have left, and if not, they are now carriers of this virus..................
They are not sure if the initial mode of infection (beside the 'known' modes of close contact, feces, feathers, contaminated food, etc) is not transmitted thru the egg wall to the unborn chick or not.........but he says this is a possibility. They may have had this virus when they were born..............
My little flock is now officially closed...................no new birds in, no birds out.
He recommended not eating the eggs.........although no human transmission of this virus is known, he says "why take a chance".................????
He said if it were him, he would cull, sterilize, and start over!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
When I told him my birds were vaccinated against Mareks.......................there was a big silence on the other end of the line.
He asked if he could "get back to me", as he wants to do more research before any further comments.
So, that is where I am today........................not in a very 'good' place at all..........
My 8 remaining beauties my be culled.....................
I cannot eat their eggs.................
They are now carriers of this virus................
They may be fine, or may all just die..................
Do I keep them as pets (which they were already anyway, but with the "friends-with-benefits" benefit of eggs!)
and just wait and see if they get sick as well?
Or do I cull everyone?
Not a nice decision to be having to make, to say the least.
I'm very sad................................
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