Do my chickens have Infectious Bronchitis?

[Skyla]

Hello,
My chickens have been laying odd eggs for about 2-3 months now. One of them lays wrinkly eggs, however recently they are not nearly as wrinkly as before, but there is still ridges and 1 or 2 wrinkles. The other hen's eggs have calcium deposits all over it and is often weirdly shaped and/or very long. The wrinkly ones have also just recently been laid with little cracks in it and faint purple veiny looking lines on it. I have a flock of 4 hens, only 2 are laying, all of them are a year old except one who is 4. These egg problems have only started recently and before then I was getting completely normal, smooth, large eggs almost everyday. I can't recall if their laying totally dropped for a week or 2 before I started getting the wrinkly eggs, I think egg production went pretty far down before the weird eggs but I can't be sure. This is the only symptom of Infectious Bronchitis they have. I haven't seen any gasping, nasal discharge, sneezing, or coughing. They seem to be in good health except for one which has an impacted crop that I am having trouble getting rid of. I have also had 2 mysterious deaths this year, one in May one in February, where they seemed perfectly fine in the morning and then the next day they were dead. I still have no idea what caused it, however this was before the weird eggs. Do my chickens have IB? I am getting 4 new young birds in a month that aren't vaccinated against IB, is it a bad idea to bring them into the flock? Thanks for any help!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Wrinkly eggs can be the result of infectious bronchitis and other respiratory diseases.

The next time a chicken dies, send it to a poultry lab for necropsy and then you'll know how to proceed. Obviously what killed those birds had infected the others producing those eggs.

USGS National Wildlife Health Center
6006 Schroeder Road
Madison, Wisconsin 53711-2531
Phone: 608-270-2400

Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory
University of Wisconsin-Madison
445 Easterday Lane
Madison, Wisconsin 53706-1253
Phone: 608-262-5432 ext. 2227

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Recovered birds will be immune but permanent carriers and may never produce normal eggs.
Plus, they'll infect new birds. 100% of the flock will be infected since it is likely the most contagious of coronavirus illnesses. IB can travel over 1.000 yards through the air.

If it were me, I'd send one of the producers of wrinkly eggs to the diagnostic lab for humane euthanasia and necropsy. If it is IB, cull the whole flock, completely vacate the housing, disinfect with activated oxine and let the building rest before bringing in new birds.

 

[Skyla]

Recovered birds will be immune but permanent carriers and may never produce normal eggs.
Plus, they'll infect new birds. 100% of the flock will be infected since it is likely the most contagious of coronavirus illnesses. IB can travel over 1.000 yards through the air.

If it were me, I'd send one of the producers of wrinkly eggs to the diagnostic lab for humane euthanasia and necropsy. If it is IB, cull the whole flock, completely vacate the housing, disinfect with activated oxine and let the building rest before bringing in new birds.

I had wanted to do a necropsy on the bird that had died most recently but after looking into it and calling to see who around me would be able to do it, I couldn't justify spending almost $100 for it, and that's not including the price if they would have to send anything off to get tested. I can imagine the labs you listed above would also have a steep price. Is there a way to test the birds for IB without having them put down first? I have to admit, I don't know if i'd be able to cull my whole flock if it were IB, they are basically pets with benefits to me, and seeing as they don't seem to be suffering with it I find it hard to cull them for it. Though at the same time, I would really like to expand the flock past the 4 birds and since I'm trying to sell my eggs having wrinkly ones isn't great, though they taste fine. There is no one else around me with hens so I don't know how much of a danger they pose to them, although it is probably the responsible thing to cull them. We are actually in the process of building a new coop for them and moving the run to a different so cleaning won't be an issue. Do you think IB is what killed the 2 hens that died without warning? They didn't show any symptoms.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I had wanted to do a necropsy on the bird that had died most recently but after looking into it and calling to see who around me would be able to do it, I couldn't justify spending almost $100 for it, and that's not including the price if they would have to send anything off to get tested. I can imagine the labs you listed above would also have a steep price. Is there a way to test the birds for IB without having them put down first? I have to admit, I don't know if i'd be able to cull my whole flock if it were IB, they are basically pets with benefits to me, and seeing as they don't seem to be suffering with it I find it hard to cull them for it. Though at the same time, I would really like to expand the flock past the 4 birds and since I'm trying to sell my eggs having wrinkly ones isn't great, though they taste fine. There is no one else around me with hens so I don't know how much of a danger they pose to them, although it is probably the responsible thing to cull them. We are actually in the process of building a new coop for them and moving the run to a different so cleaning won't be an issue. Do you think IB is what killed the 2 hens that died without warning? They didn't show any symptoms.

It is usually less expensive at the state labs. A vet will take the bird, maybe do a cursory necropsy for anything obvious and either send the carcass to the lab for further lab work or just organ specimens. They'll pass on the lab charges to you and then tack on a substantial service charge. You can bypass the middle man by calling directly to the lab. They will do all the work and the lab I use will e-mail a Fed-Ex label to me for shipping. I can do all this from home and 2 days later, they'll have the preliminary results. A couple days later, I get the complete histology report.
Every state has a different price, I think they are free in CA. It costs me $100 in MO but I have an extremely rare breed and it is imperative that I know what killed a bird. Luckily no infectious diseases yet.
But not knowing your enemy and how to proceed, you may end up continuing to buy and lose birds to the hidden enemy lurking.