California-Southern

[Phage]

Status as of this morning: sebrite rooster getting better after two days of tylan 50 injections. Swelling in eyes and head went away along with discharge. D'anver hens doing better now too with injections. Once closed eye is now open and both eating and drinking normally in separate cage. Barred rock got her first injection yesterday and is still slow and barely eating. Lastly, my four brown leghorns are very active but make lots of gurgling sounds and will administer injections later today.

Glad they are responding to the antibiotics.
The issue you now have is that you have this in your flock and so it is difficult/morally impossible to sell any birds that have been on your property (including chicks) unless you tell future buyers that you have it, or start over.
Not an issue if you never plan to sell chicks or birds.

I have seen people on BYC who KNOW they have respiratory disease in their flocks and still rehome (for what ever reason) birds that have been in contact with sick birds. That is exactly how these nasty diseases get into and spread in backyard flocks and spread misery and distress.

In this situation the responsible thing to do is to destroy unwanted birds and not assume evey flock is infected and move on birds they don't want.


Sorry getting off soapbox now...

 

[Amelia Egghart]

Glad they are responding to the antibiotics.
The issue you now have is that you have this in your flock and so it is difficult/morally impossible to sell any birds that have been on your property (including chicks) unless you tell future buyers that you have it, or start over.
Not an issue if you never plan to sell chicks or birds.

I have seen people on BYC who KNOW they have respiratory disease in their flocks and still rehome (for what ever reason) birds that have been in contact with sick birds. That is exactly how these nasty diseases get into and spread in backyard flocks and spread misery and distress.

In this situation the responsible thing to do is to destroy unwanted birds and not assume evey flock is infected and move on birds they don't want.


Sorry getting off soapbox now...

Some of these infections only remain active for about a year in the affected birds. If you wait a year after symptoms stop and then introduce a couple more birds (to replace the ones lost originally from the illness), you can monitor those closely for showing signs of infection. Doesn't mean your flock is free and clear but it does help reduce recurrence (as opposed to getting new replacement birds before a year+ is up and getting stuck in a loop of perpetual reinfection). Sucks to wait that long but it is the safest thing given the severity of the illness.

I've got a couple things that go around seasonally. A bit of the sniffles and a cough (virus probably for the former and fungus (vet confirmed) for the latter). But symptoms have never been worse than that and go away after a few days. I have treatment ready and start immediately upon onset of symptoms. No idea if that's helped but I've been lucky so far that it hasn't been anything worse.

 

[jaybud]

Ur not not getting off your box , I appreciate a different aspect as to how to approach these nasty bugs my birds have gotten.

 

[sol2go]

Ur not not getting off your box , I appreciate a different aspect as to how to approach these nasty bugs my birds have gotten.

Having a closed flock is an option.

Sending the deceased birds to CAHFS may help to identify the problem(s).

Here's the link (note, it is no longer free, has reasonable fee):
http://www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/cahfs...on forms/StandardSubmissionForm_11-16_BYF.pdf

 

[jaybud]

Having a closed flock is an option.

Sending the deceased birds to CAHFS may help to identify the problem(s).  

Here's the link (note, it is no longer free, has reasonable fee):
http://www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/cahfs...on forms/StandardSubmissionForm_11-16_BYF.pdf

Thanks for the info, I just might consider doing it.

 

[jaybud]

Some of these infections only remain active for about a year in the affected birds. If you wait a year after symptoms stop and then introduce a couple more birds (to replace the ones lost originally from the illness), you can monitor those closely for showing signs of infection. Doesn't mean your flock is free and clear but it does help reduce recurrence (as opposed to getting new replacement birds before a year+ is up and getting stuck in a loop of perpetual reinfection). Sucks to wait that long but it is the safest thing given the severity of the illness.

I've got a couple things that go around seasonally. A bit of the sniffles and a cough (virus probably for the former and fungus (vet confirmed) for the latter). But symptoms have never been worse than that and go away after a few days. I have treatment ready and start immediately upon onset of symptoms. No idea if that's helped but I've been lucky so far that it hasn't been anything worse.

So I shouldn't be in a hurry then to replace my D'anver rooster I lost for my hens since the bug killed him.

 

[Amelia Egghart]

So I shouldn't be in a hurry then to replace my D'anver rooster I lost for my hens since the bug killed him.

Definitely get an ID on that bug if you can. That'll for sure give you a path forward.

If you can't get an ID, it might be good to wait a year and thoroughly clean everything and watch the remaining flock for recurrent infection.

If you must add new birds right away, I recommend starting with chicks because there's less of a chance of them transmitting anything new to your existing flock.

If you can't do chicks and must get going again with started birds, absolutely quarantine for 5 weeks. At the end of that period if the new birds seem ok, introduce them to a sacrificial bird from the existing flock. If anyone gets sick, you reassess if you want to treat, or just see if they get better, etc. But don't introduce to the rest of the flock. Not until you're sure everyone is ok and not infecting each other left and right.

The problem with a long quarantine is that it's a MESS. It's stressful and dirty and you learn EXACTLY how much poop these critters put out. But it works if you do it right and follow through.

So you have options! Get everyone healthy first and evaluate what you need and what you want.

 

[jaybud]

Just got three more sex links down with the bug now. Already started the tylan 50, **** this bug seems like it's gonna go thru my whole flock now even after I quarintined the sick birds.

 

[Phage]

Just got three more sex links down with the bug now. Already started the tylan 50, **** this bug seems like it's gonna go thru my whole flock now even after I quarintined the sick birds.

Sorry to hear that. This thing sounds nasty. I really do recommend you get a definitive diagnosis on what they have so that you can make informed decisions about the future. .

 

[Sylvester017]

Just got three more sex links down with the bug now. Already started the tylan 50, **** this bug seems like it's gonna go thru my whole flock now even after I quarintined the sick birds.

It must be a bacterial infection since your Tylan injected birds got better. Bacterial is much easier to treat than the virals -- viruses seem to make our birds lifelong carriers. I love it when birds are saved. Thx for sharing!