Canker - how to prevent spreading

[Katepd]

Hi there - I am a newbie member and a newbie chicken keeper in the UK.

I bought a flock off a (what looked like)- reputable breeder 10 days ago and one of the hens has already died of oral canker. It should be mentioned here that they all developed infectious bronchitis the day after I picked them up.

I have checked the others for signs of canker and can see none, and from day one their water was treated with ACV. Apart from the last three days when it was treated with sodium salicylate for the bronchitis. The water has been fresh each day.

My question is two fold.

Firstly how long does the infection take to show up and secondly how do I best prevent my other birds from developing the disease. I have gotten copper sulphate and have seen a post suggesting that this should be added to water with ACV as a preventive for 4 days - but other posts say it is hard on the chickens. HELP

The others seem good and healthy and I am checking them regularly for signs,

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Read this THREAD especially all the posts by @dawg53 Hopefully he will chime in with his thoughts.

You want to buy and use ACIDIFIED COPPER SULFATE that is labeled for use in livestock/poultry. I have seen where some people use copper sulfate they find at the garden center (root killer) then add ACV, but personally I would not do that - why risk making a concoction when the right stuff is fairly reasonably priced.

Were you able to get a necrospy performed to ensure what the chicken died from was CANKER ? From what I understand birds affected birds are carriers and it can be transmitted through water, feed and mating.

It's unfortunate that you also encountered what you feel is Infectious Bronchitis. What are your goals for chicken keeping?

 

[Katepd]

Thanks for this. I got my information from pets4homes.co.uk but will look for the acidified copper sulphate as suggested.

As for my goals in chicken keeping... at the moment I will settle for keeping this diseased bunch alive past teatime. It is kind of ironic because I chose not to by my flock from a local auction as I wished to buy my first birds from a reputable breeder. Ha. So much for that.