Avian sarcoma leukosis/diseases of commercial stock in backyard flocks

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I've just learned about it myself. I'd never heard anything about it -past what I learned in poultry science class. I had to look it up and call around to the USDA and to avian pathologists union to learn about it.

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I've not heard about it in turkeys yet just freedom rangers- and the other names for those slower growing meat birds and just this year.

 

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pips&peeps :

From the Merck Veterinary Manual:

most commercial chicken strains are resistant, and lymphoid leukosis virus infection has been largely eradicated from susceptible stocks
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Have a look at the publishing date. Mine says the same thing.
Avian sarcoma leukosis virus -there are different forms of it. I'm just really getting a handle on it myself.

Again, if you've had the leukosis virus show up in your slower growing broilers this thread is for you.
I know there's a bunch of you out there. To date, the only people I've heard from have poultry as a side venture in their larger farm production- largely beef, milk, pork producers- not backyard hobbyists. But I know that there is a wide cross over of peeps that purchase these slower growing birds and have them processed at USDA processing facilities. They'll have learned about it themselves. I'd not heard of it before in any flocks until this year. According to what I've learned subsequently, it's a new strain and not necessarily lymphoid. Traditionally, the birds were vaccinated against it in commercial flocks but there are so many different strains of each of the three different forms of the virus it is now nearly impossible to vaccinate for. Being proactive - treating all meat birds before it becomes a problem seems to be the way to go.

One of the things worth wrapping the old brain around is the sheer numbers of people raising chickens these days. it grows exponentially every year. Hatcheries simply can't keep up. The meat birds raised by Cargill or Hubbard Hill or what have you- they have a different management-so much goes into their protocols= that protocol is not in place for birds sold to the general public. I spoke with a woman that had kept a solid business going for many years selling these slower growing strains about this and she told me it was one of the reasons they couldn't afford to continue -they went out of business once a strain became systemic and they couldn't vaccinate for it any longer. AS Their customer base grew so too did their problems- just too many birds and too many factors to keep their arms around. They sold their breeding stock of uninfected birds to another party and destroyed the rest. That was eye opening. I'd never thought about that before.

This leukosis situation has always been present in the Cornish crosses- it's erythroblastic, and osteopetrotic forms of the virus that have been impossible to eradicate.
The pathologist told me we just don't keep those birds around long enough for the symptoms to appear. It's not something that's going to hurt any human being or necessarily move from even one breed to another. It's vertically transmitted from parent to egg.

It is much more systematic in other countries.​

 

[chrisf]

This virus is prevalent in the Appenzeller Spitzhauben breed....it was in the origional flock that Dr. McGraw imported back in 1959....it is commonly accepted that all Spitz in American have it....there are two ways of transmission...........I am working closely with an Avian Specialist at Cornell University to "create" an LLV free flock of Spitz....it is also very common in many barnyard flocks although it is not tested with NPIP or other typical poultry tests, it requires a special blood test............................................................chrisf

 

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Thanks for your input. I was becoming worried that I was the only person in the world that had heard of it it before- but now that I think about it- Renee Caldwell told me about it being in the Spitzhaubens as well -and long before I learned about it from various farmers this year. What is the second method of transmission? The avian pathologist told me it can be treated with antioxidants -there are algae based products that the major corporations are using.

 

[RHRanch]

I also have heard about the Apenzeller Spitzenhauben & Lymphoid leukosis.

 

[chrisf]

There are two types of Lymphoid Leukosis viruses. One is only transmitted
vertically, that is it passes from the mom to the egg. It will not spread to
other chicks unless they are in the same hatch as the affected birds. The other
is the "J" virus. It can spread through the egg as well as horizontally to
other birds through feces, contact, etc. My Spitz do not have the "J" virus.

If a chicken has LLV, it may develop lymphoid tumors and die. There is no cure.
If it is only a carrier, it could live a long life and never develop tumors. A
lot of my Spitz are pushing seven years old and are fine and healthy.

Do your Spitzhaubens have LLV ? Probably, but you won't know unless blood tests
are performed or a necropsy reveals the tumors. I said probably because LLV
almost always shows up in "fancy" breeds with a limited gene pool that have been
bred within that gene pool for several years (per Texas A&M vet).

You can look up Lymphoid (or Avian) Leukosis on-line and it will give you lots
of information. What I have stated above are the basics and come from extensive
conversations with an avian disease expert (vet) who works exclusively with
chickens. He has written several articles for books and magazine

This was copied from a well know Spitzhauben breeder....she and I are collaborating together to bring back LLV free Spitzhaubens in the States. There are no known anti-viral medications, antibiotics are useless, and there is no known cure............................................chrisf

 

[ChooksChick]

There are strains of Ameraucana and Spitz that have clear versions of the Lymphoma variety, and there is one that is far more virulent than the other of the two known strains we have here. One can wipe them out very quickly at an immature age, while the other waits until point of lay and they die of tumors, most commonly obstructing eating or breathing. Most Spitz have the slower version and appear healthy, some living years and laying, thus dispensing it not only horizontally through shared water and food, but also vertically, to the recipient of the chicks hatched from the eggs. It's bad. Very bad.

On the other hand, antibiotics would be of little help, since the tumors would naturally be caused by the retrovirus and antivirals would be more in line with productive treatment. Ultimately, only a vaccine would be helpful, as we are unlikely to eradicate the virus in our booming chicken populations.

I've just had birds processed at a USDA facility and nothing was said of it there, and my heritage-type birds were all over 14 weeks and showing no signs. I'm hyper about biosecurity, though, so it's not likely ever to enter my facility if I have a say.

I think biosecurity needs to be the utmost priority of anyone wishing to move forward with poultry- and we need to talk about it often so that newbies learn easily. We should all be using a mist of 3% hydrogen peroxide, followed by a mist of white vinegar on all surfaces that might be contaminated by others' fowl. This should never be mixed directly together, though, or you'll poison yourself...

 

[ChooksChick]

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You beat me to it!!

 

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The rapidity of the mutation is making antivirals unfeasible for large flocks. The small family farm is going to really bear the brunt of these developments.
With the slower-growing strains developing a strain resistant to vaccination(s), I wonder how they will manage to guarantee any gain whatsoever. Perhaps the USDA will allow for birds showing the symptoms to be sold as the disease has no effect whatsoever on the person consuming the bird...

 

[southerndesert]

Thank you for more info.... Not a good thing.