carrier birds???

[bkterry]

Okay so I am thoroughly confused!!! I'm pretty sure coryza was introduced to my flock. We culled the birds that showed severe symptoms (the original carrier that brought it in died) and we have the remaining ones on antibiotics. Only a couple of them show any mild symptoms (just a runny nose) and the rest don't show any symptoms. My question is since all of my chickens were exposed to the disease will they ALL be carriers now??? I found this on http://www.ext.vt.edu/pubs/poultry/factsheets/31.html about coryza...

"birds which recover from severe infections become carriers and seem to become ill often - sulfa drugs have been a satisfactory treatment"

So does this mean that only the birds who really got sick will be carriers or is it a possibility that all of my birds will be carriers now??? I don't want to cull all of my birds, but I want them to be healthy too. Adivce PLEASEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE I'm so distressed!!!! un

 

[DuckLady]

That's a good question.
I know some members have dealt with this. Hopefully one or more will be along soon to answer. you.

 

[speckledhen]

I have always read that they will all be carriers. gumpsgirl had a vet tell her that only the ones who came down with symptoms after antibiotic treatment should be culled because they are the carriers. And they can keep showing up for probably a year, if I remember correctly. You will never be sure unless you do cull them, IMO, hard as that is. And just know that antibiotics only stop the secondary infections, basically. They dont wipe out the disease permanently.

 

[bkterry]

yeah i hate to cull but then again i hate to have sick, miserable chickens either. i think i will give the ones who haven't had any symptoms some time. we won't be able to get chicks from cackle til spring anyway. im just overwhelmed by all of the information i've found on coryza and i want to make sure i can get as many of my facts straight as possible. i also don't want to keep all these birds and add any new ones if i know that all my chickens are now automatically carriers. does anyone know if some chickens have a natural or built up immunity to coryza?? i know the majority of my chickens which were bought from our local feed store were given antibiotics as chicks and they are the ones who haven't shown symptoms at all.

anyone who has dealt with this before you're advice is DEFINITELY welcome!!!

 

[PeeperKeeper]

gumpsgirl has given me her protocol for caring for a flock with coryza. I've had to cull 4 of the original 50 new chicks that got it from an older hen. I will not be able to sell any of this stock nor will I be able to add any new without them being exposed to the microbe.
If I had a smaller flock..I might have culled them all and started fresh. The anti biotics (gallimycin) and the vaccination and syringes have been costly.
The good news is, one hen of the original dieseased flock started laying the most beautiful eggs last week at 30 wks old. The diesease and the vaccination tend to lower egg production but the microbe does not pass the egg barrier. So eggs are edible.

 

[prariechiken]

Are you sure it is Coryza? This is a bad time of year for bronchitis too, and it being a virus, antibiotics will only keep down any secondary infections. If your fowl are exposed to wild birds/fowl, then breeding for resistence is your best option. Vaccinations are the only sure way, and even then, some of these will cause your birds to show up as carriers on a blood check. Unless raised in a hermetically sealed environment, our fowls are exposed to all sorts of stuff...scary to think about huh....

 

[bkterry]

i'm not ABSOLUTELY sure that it's coryza because i haven't had any luck finding a vet that we'll see our chickens around here. the ones wtih the runny noses have snot that smells like rotting meat though so that's what's made me really think it's the coryza.

 

[speckledhen]

Does sound like Coryza-that smell is indicative of the disease, along with those other symptoms. Sorry you're having to deal with it.

 

[bkterry]

this really sucks because i love ALL my chickens. i went from 25 down to 17. Now we have 5 that have runny noses completely separated and as soon as the sulmet gets here I'm going to start them on that. The other 12 have not shown any symptoms whatsoever so I'm hoping they are not carriers! I'm not going to cull them all only ones that whose symptoms do not clear up with the antibiotics. We will just keep the chickens we have for layers since we still have all hens and just 2 roosters left. We don't eat our birds so this is just a question out of curiosity...does the coryza infect the meat? I've read in a lot of places that it does not infect the egg so they are safe to eat, but I haven't seen anything about being able to eat the chickens if you wanted to. Just curious.

Thanks everyone for all your help. If I can give any newbies out there any advice, please do not buy chickens from just anyone, even if the chickens look healthy they may not be! I learned the hard way...

 

[speckledhen]

does the coryza infect the meat

I honestly dont know the answer to that. Certainly, if they've just been on antibiotics, you shouldnt eat the meat for a while, but I just dont know if the disease directly affects the meat.​