Coryza or MG? Need advice, large flock

[casportpony]

if you can, take your sick one to the lab, I think they will euthanize her for you (my lab in California prefers love birds).

 

[Kiki]

I tried calling today. I will try again tomorrow. I’m not in college station but close enough to make it work.

We did decide on a plan. We locked down all coops, removed any suspect birds. We will cull the original sick bird, and hope that the others aren’t sick. If they are we will do what we need to do but it is going to suck.

I'm guessing you are in Texas.
There are three different state labs and you don't necessarily have to bring a bird to them for testing.

Call tomorrow...They will walk you through the steps on how to swab to collect for a sample to be tested.

 

[Kiki]

I'm thinking that you're probably overthinking what your ducks are doing/not doing.

The bird pictured above is obviously sick but maybe you're just paranoid that your ducks got sick and they did not.

 

[Kiki]

There is a vet that will see chickens but they couldn’t tell me if they could test for those things specifically.

I think Texas A&M does all the laboratory testing but I haven’t got a clue how that works. I’m not sure if they deal with the public or are just a lab that works with Vets. I’ve been trying to figure that out all day.

The reason I suspected Coryza over MG is because the ill pullet has a odd smell. It’s not pungent or horrid, just kind of nasty. I assumed it was from being cooped instead of free range like my birds.

The ill pullet feels underweight. I see no bubbles in her eyes, but the one is watery. I see what looks like clear liquid coming from her nose possibly and she’s not as energetic as normal for this age. She is eating an drinking fine, and her other eye is clear as day.

The ducks have been in the goat house pen, because it was all we had to separate them.That’s currently the dustiest area of our property, and the ducks had just come out of there when they were making the noises, but one duck has lost its quack.

I walked out just now and noticed one of my oldest hens (1.5) sneezing and appeared to spit something out of her mouth.

I’m pretty sure I’m screwed.

Don't deal with the vet. It's better and cheaper to deal straight with the lab. The lab will deal with you.

 

[Whitnicrob]

I'm thinking that you're probably overthinking what your ducks are doing/not doing.

The bird pictured above is obviously sick but maybe you're just paranoid that your ducks got sick and they did not.

Gosh I hope so, my kids are so attached. The ducks were in the coop with the sick bird at night though. So of all the birds that may be sick, they would be exposed. The coop sits in the free range yard but they don’t share food or water and for the most part the ducks had separate bowls too. I do think they may have tried to drink out of the chick water but would have been hard.

 

[Whitnicrob]

Don't deal with the vet. It's better and cheaper to deal straight with the lab. The lab will deal with you.

Thank you! I will call them tomorrow. Ps I think you helped me learn to hatch, nice to see your name again. Y’all are so helpful.

 

[speckledhen]

Of course, I can't tell you what is going on with your flock for certain and I know nothing about ducks. Bubbles in the eyes can on rare occasion be a secondary bacterial infection to something else or be from an injury, but you have to determine that. The fact that you added new birds without a real quarantine tells me there is a contagion going on, most likely. Some people do cull symptomatic birds and just watch the rest, don't allow others to leave the property from then on out, maybe in the future have them tested. That is a decision that is entirely yours.

 

[Whitnicrob]

Figured I would post an update. I’ve found a lab that will test, but we decided to immediately cull the original ill bird and it’s brooder mates (as they all came from the same farm). We are hoping that by eliminating the possible carrier birds we safe our flock.

The one duck completely stopped coughing today. The second duck looks like she’s maybe dealing more with gapeworm. Holding her mouth wide, extending her neck, shaking her head. The two ducks are in quarantine.
I’ve seen other signs of worms, and have had safeguard on hand in prep, so I figure since the birds are in lockdown, no better time to worm.

Thank you all for your replies. I really appreciate it.
Culling my babies broke my heart, but I felt it was the best decision for my flock, who all have names and are loved.