Best approach for possible gizzard impaction

[azygous]

That is correct. If your flock carries LL. you should be maintaining a closed flock.

LL is passed to the embryo directly from the hen who laid the egg. This is called "vertical transmission". Most of these embryos die before they hatch. LL virus can also be passed to chicks that hatch from eggs a broody with LL incubates even if they are not ones she laid if her viral load is high and she's shedding it. This happened to me.

As a rule, day-old chicks bought from a hatchery and introduced into an LL flock will acquire resistance during their first few weeks if exposed to very light exposure to the virus. I brood new chicks from day one in my run alongside the adult flock. One year, a gentle old hen adopted a new batch of chicks I was brooding. They were around three to four weeks old when she began covering them at night. It was so sweet and tender at the time.

Unfortunately and unbeknownst to me at the time, she was in a symptomatic state with the virus, soon to die from it, and the chicks were exposed to a lethal viral load as she shed the virus while covering them at night. One chick chose to sleep next to the hen and not under her so she took three years to die of the virus, but the other three acquired symptoms around age five months and died before they were one year old. Lesson learned. I will never permit this again.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

@azygous .... if one should ... cull their entire flock and wait a couple of years... would it be possible ever to have a healthy flock some day? Or does the virus live in the soil forever, so any chickens brought on to the property, ever, will be exposed? This sounds like a dreadful disease, and you seldom hear of it, unlike Marek's, which is well known.

 

[Lillith37]

That is correct. If your flock carries LL. you should be maintaining a closed flock.

LL is passed to the embryo directly from the hen who laid the egg. This is called "vertical transmission". Most of these embryos die before they hatch. LL virus can also be passed to chicks that hatch from eggs a broody with LL incubates even if they are not ones she laid if her viral load is high and she's shedding it. This happened to me.

As a rule, day-old chicks bought from a hatchery and introduced into an LL flock will acquire resistance during their first few weeks if exposed to very light exposure to the virus. I brood new chicks from day one in my run alongside the adult flock.

Alright noted. Thank you for the information. Now I just need confirmation or a different answer from the vet.

My broodies have hatched six clutches of chicks between them in the same coop and yard as the rest of my flock and I’ve never had any chicks noticeably suffer. I hate to think that I’ve unknowingly introduced it to other peoples’ flocks though.

I guess fingers crossed it’s some isolated cause for Lorraine and not a flock-wide issue but if it is, it sounds like it could be much worse.

 

[azygous]

No sense worrying about it until you get confirmation. Then you simply go from there. You'll have all the support you need from us here.

As for regrets from mistakes made in the past, that's wasted emotion also. LL happens to be one of the most common viruses in flocks all over. Most flocks carrying it, the owner is never even aware of it. One reason is that hatcheries have been successfully breeding susceptibility out of the most popular breeds for many years now. They've been also trying to do the same with the Marek's virus but have not been nearly as successful.

 

[Lillith37]

As for regrets from mistakes made in the past, that's wasted emotion also. LL happens to be one of the most common viruses in flocks all over. Most flocks carrying it, the owner is never even aware of it. One reason is that hatcheries have been successfully breeding susceptibility out of the most popular breeds for many years now. They've been also trying to do the same with the Marek's virus but have not been nearly as successful.

I know, it’s just that momentary “oh god…” when you think of all the possible consequences and of course my mind tends to go to the worst conclusions first.

The more I learn about chickens the more I realise how much there is to learn about chickens.

Viruses are so weird like that how they can be so devastating under some circumstances and fairly innocuous under others.

I’ll report back when I have some clarity from the vet.

 

[azygous]

@azygous .... if one should ... cull their entire flock and wait a couple of years... would it be possible ever to have a healthy flock some day? Or does the virus live in the soil forever, so any chickens brought on to the property, ever, will be exposed? This sounds like a dreadful disease, and you seldom hear of it, unlike Marek's, which is well known.

See post #34. No, it's not necessary to cull your flock nor is it recommended, although it is always an option that belongs to each flock owner. It's entirely possible to keep a healthy, happy flock that lead mostly normal healthy lives and many can be expected to reach even exceptionally old age. I've had hens in my LL flock live to be ten, eleven years and one was nearly fourteen when a tumor finally caused neurological complications, and she had to be euthanized.

If one does decide to cull the entire flock for whatever the reason, LL is relatively short lived in the environment, and in a few months, as compared to a few years with Marek's, the virus is no longer viable and a new flock can be started with confidence.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

See post #34. No, it's not necessary to cull your flock nor is it recommended, although it is always an option that belongs to each flock owner. It's entirely possible to keep a healthy, happy flock that lead mostly normal healthy lives and many can be expected to reach even exceptionally old age. I've had hens in my LL flock live to be ten, eleven years and one was nearly fourteen when a tumor finally caused neurological complications, and she had to be euthanized.

If one does decide to cull the entire flock for whatever the reason, LL is relatively short lived in the environment, and in a few months, as compared to a few years with Marek's, the virus is no longer viable and a new flock can be started with confidence.

Thank you.

 

[Lillith37]

I finally have all the results from the vet & histo labs about Lorraine. The tissue in question was not her kidney but actually her ovary. The white lesions/nodules were in fact regular healthy ovary follicles but they presented differently because Lorraine was on the contraceptive implant. The vets had mistaken the ovary for the third lobe of the kidney.

The vet said it wasn’t Marek’s disease as Lorraine’s nerves and other organs were all fine, and that it was unlikely to be avian leukosis but they can’t completely rule it out due to the possibility/nature of silent carrying.