Eastern Tennessee Thread

[stanglover2001]

I always try vitamins first and a vitamin B12 shot. You can use the liquid Vit. B12 off the shelf too. Did she do the worming and de-lousing when she got him? I have lost a couple,,like Bario just did, for not apparent reason. It could have even been injured internally. Was it like this when she looked at it?

I have a little mille fluer DU that I quarantined for a month cause she started acting very lethargic. I cannot find 1 thing wrong with her. She eats and drinks like a little dainty lady. But she sleeps ALOT. When I go out at mornings or have treat she perks up to get hers then back to sleep. I tried putting her back with the flock and they pick on her so...she is by herself now again and seems to be happy as a lark.

Unfortunately, the more I ask questions the more it seems there isn't any hope, she thought since he was acting lively at the show he was ok.. she picked him up at some time this week and he's mostly bone, he may not have been eating or drinking for quite a while and this is one from the show, from the guy with sick chickens... We treated with as much stuff as we all had collectively (Sulmet, Vetrx, wazine, and penicilin), but it may be too late... Says he won't eat or drink and she has had him since Sunday and hasn't seen any poop. I'll tell her to try vitamins, but I hate for it to be something he'll never recover from and her put more money into him... You think it's too late? She said he has feather loss, but she didn't say anything about any external parasites, and I can't go over to put my hands on him and she says he looks normal..

 

[tennesseeckn]

OK, guys.

I've been dreading having to make this post. It's been a sad week around here.

Last week I had a Wyandotte hen get sick with an upper respiratory infection. She died during the night. The next day two more hens were showing the same cold-like symptoms, so I decided to take the first hen to UT to have a necropsy done. (You can never be too sure, ya know?) Well that night those two hens died. That was last Thursday.

I got the results of the necropsy Monday and it was the worst diagnosis you could imagine. My flock has been hit with ILT, or Infectious Laryngotracheitis.

It is a truly horrible disease. The birds can't breath and cough up bloody mucus. Their faces swell. They don't eat or drink. It's a horrible way for them to die. It seemed to go from showing subtle symptoms to killing the birds within twenty-four hours. Out of my seven Wyandotte hens, I lost four.

Right now everyone seems to either have recovered or died. A couple of orps have puffy faces but no one in the wheatie pen has shown any sign of sickness. The incubation period is 4 to 12 days, so I'm not out of the woods, yet.

Some states require flocks diagnosed with ILT be completely culled. Birds that are actively infected (show signs of infection and then recover) are considered carriers for life. That means they will always have the virus and COULD potentially infect other birds. I had to make some serious decisions with very little time to weigh my options.

I decided to close my flock. No birds coming in, no birds going out. I got the vaccine in the mail and plan on vaccinating everyone this weekend. The vaccine will let the birds I have now live out the rest of their lives in comfort but I won't be hatching any more. As these birds die of old age I will consolidate coops until they're all gone.

The good news is that the virus does not infect humans. So, I can still pet them and eat their eggs and not worry about getting sick. The bad news is that I have to be EXTREMELY careful and avoid contact with other flocks. I won't be going to any poultry shows while I'm not sure this has completely run its course. Even after I'm sure no one is actively shedding the virus I still have to be very careful.

I have no idea how this happened. I am really careful about biosecurity. I haven't been to a show since the spring Newport show. I've been to the feed store but only wear my coop boots in the coop, so I don't think I tracked anything in. I always meet people away from the house when I'm delivering chicks or eggs.

I've spent hours and hours researching ILT and I have two theories... one is that a wild bird brought in into the flock. My flock free ranged almost every single day and there are dozens of crows on our property which makes this seem most likely. The only other way I can think it happened is if I had a bird that contracted the virus that showed signs so subtle that I didn't notice and they became carriers.

I'm hoping a couple of things come out of this post.

1. To make everyone aware that ILT is in our area.
2. To encourage everyone to vaccinate their flocks. I am about as anti-medicine as they come, but if I had it to do over and I knew ILT was around, I would definitely have vaccinated everyone before now.
3. To encourage anyone else who has had an unexplained illness hit their flock to find out what it is and to let other people know.

If anyone wants any details about my experience, from the necropsy to the kind of vaccine I decided to use, just PM me.

 

[bairo]

Quote: I did not read the 17 posts that im behind on

...so it may have already been answered.

UN-activated oxine is a very effective disenfectant all on its own. It releases chlorine dioxide basically (without a big science lesson) when you activate it with citric acid it just releases more of it. The thing is that it releases it in such a high concentration along with some other things from the activation that you have to wear a respirator. Activated is mainly used by food processing and slaughter houses by the cleaning crew when no one else is present. They need the high concentration to make it cost effective to fog a 30,000 sq. ft facility on a nightly basis. As back yard animal keepers though it is cost effective for us and much much safer to use the un-activated form. Many commercial food growers from chicken houses to beef feed lots use it in the water to keep the bacterial and algea growth to a minimum as well as a surface disenfectant and to stop most respitory infections in their tracts. All this can easily be accomplished with out activating it. For example it takes less than 1/8th teaspoon un-activated in a gallon of water to keep it safe and slime free for about 3 days (depending on sun shine on the water and all that stuff) or just a few oz's in a gallon to fog the coop at night so any chickens with a respitory issue will breathe it in. You dont even have to clear out the food and water dishes when you use it un-activated.

excuse all the spelling errors...I was a math/science major

 

[bairo]

Quote: no problem. We may have a few quart mason jars laying around anyway.

 

[bairo]

Bairo, I have been in this chicken stuff for about eight months. I spend more and more every week. My husband was really upset when I bought the $70 valbazen until he realized he could use it on his hunting dogs. THERE IS NO WAY he is going to let me get a fogger for that oxine. Please tell me I can spray it with a regular spray can like we use for bugs. Please. If I say "Tommy, it is only l$300," I'm sure he'll kill me.

LOL....I dont even have a fogger. I dont keep that much money hidden in my tool box to go unnoticed from the wife. Tell him the next time you get a head cold and he does not want to get it and loose countless hours of work or even (lord forbid) hunting, that he needs to scoot on down to wally world and buy you a ultrasonic humidifier (like the ones we used to put vicks in when we were little) except these are the new fancy ones. Guys forget about crap like that in about a week of it being in the closet (I know..I am one) so then you simply sneak it out to the coop to use out there to fog with the oxine that way.

 

[bairo]

Bairo-

I bought my Valbazen from the Coop on Asheville Hwy in Knoxville a few weeks ago. It was comparable in price to what I found online: maybe a little more but not so much as to make ordering it worth it.

Questions about Oxine:

I also found the Oxine but when I read the directions it said in order for it to work as a disinfectant you MUST use the citric acid and of course an approved respirator. So I am confused about it. I don't have a problem investing in a respirator and fogging my coop but so far just normal cleaning & spraying has worked fine. I am going to get a respirator because of chancing breathing the chemicals I already use.

Any opinions on the Oxine would be appreciated.

Check above post please for part of the answer.

I can show you many,many pages of info on the effectiveness of un-activated Oxine. You do not have to activate it at all.

 

[littlechicklet]

Check above post please for part of the answer.

I can show you many,many pages of info on the effectiveness of un-activated Oxine. You do not have to activate it at all.

Thanks. I read the above post. I think I understand the effectiveness of the Oxine without the activation.

 

[bairo]

Quote: Unless he is super super tough...she will probably loose him by tomorrow. I agree with Terry though. With so many things to worry about and not knowing where to start. On a lethargic bird I would probably start with vit. B. then If no improvement in 24 hours, add antibiotics and pray. When they are that bad off I try to stay away from the wormers at first because it can be pretty hard on them when already that weak.

 

[bairo]

Quote: sorry..I meant post number 6203 as well. I can probably dig up some other links for you on using un-activated

 

[littlechicklet]

sorry..I meant post number 6203 as well. I can probably dig up some other links for you on using un-activated

I should have said I have read the previous posts. I ordered a gallon tonight with the citric acid. I have some recipes for cleaning solutions I can use the citric acid for.