Carriers for life?

[WiseOwl5]

Ok, thanks. Good to know. I might consider testing one of them. If they have something that stays for life we might just have to have a closed flock for a few years and then start over.

Can you eat their eggs and meat?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

But say if I were to get one of my flock tested, is there any respiratory diseases that don't make them carriers for life? I thought there was one that I heard of but I can't remember what it was or where I read it.

There may be one or so, for example Infectious Bronchitis (IB) - birds can recover fairly quickly, but IB will make carriers of all chickens who recover for 5-12 months afterward, so don't hatch any eggs until 1 year later. IB does however cause reproductive disorders, so egg production is impacted and egg quality will be poor.

I'm sorry you are having to deal with this.
Unfortunately respiratory illnesses seem to be fairly common. Most viruses can be easily transmitted by wind, dust, dander, poop, from bird to bird or even by shoes/clothing, etc.

 

[Pork Pie]

Can you eat their eggs and meat?

Once the withdrawal period after treating your birds has ended (if, for example you have used an antibiotic), then you can, yes.

 

[WiseOwl5]

Thanks Wyorp, depending on the cost we will call our vet and have one tested. We do have an infected rooster we could test.

Thanks CTKen, good to know.

 

[WiseOwl5]

We had two more die so we called the vet. They said to freeze them and bring them in on Monday. Turns out there is a poultry lab in Alberta and they can send the dead birds off for $40 dollars of shipping. Now we know I guess. We just put put them in our freezer.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Thanks Wyorp, depending on the cost we will call our vet and have one tested. We do have an infected rooster we could test.

Thanks CTKen, good to know. I'm so sorry for your loss and troubles

I am glad you will be able to get them tested. This will hopefully give you much needed information.
If you don't mind, let us know what they find out. It may be helpful to others.

You are welcome for the help. I wish I had better answers.

Keep us posted.

 

[heatherlaw]

We had two more die so we called the vet. They said to freeze them and bring them in on Monday. Turns out there is a poultry lab in Alberta and they can send the dead birds off for $40 dollars of shipping. Now we know I guess. We just put put them in our freezer.

Sorry you've lost more. It's so frustrating when you don't understand why. Crossing my fingers that it's something you can cure!

 

[WiseOwl5]

We sent them in yesterday. The test results will be back on Thursday. The vet said it could be coccidiosis and that the parasite could be dragging their immune system down enough to get pneumonia or so sinusitis. We don't know for sure until the results come back, but the vet recommended that we put them on dewormer and up the dosage of antibiotics for 5 more days.

We had to fill out a government form tracking how many chickens we have, where we got them and how many we sold. I guess that is so they so they can control outbreaks.

Thanks for everyone's help and support in these tough times, it means a lot.