Eastern Tennessee Thread

[tennesseeckn]

Thanks for the condolences, guys. I've had enough requests for information about the vaccine that I'll post it on here.

I decided to use the LT-IVAX vaccine. I looked everywhere and couldn't find a dead vaccine, they were all live. The embryo origin vaccine scared me since it has caused a lot of the vaccinated birds to show symptoms and become carriers. The IVAX is a modified live virus that is tissue origin. It is supposed to be very mild and will not cause the birds that were not infected to be carriers. I bought mine from Twin City but they also sell it at First State.

PLEASE don't let my experience make anyone feel that keeping chickens is not worth the effort. I blame myself for this happening. I held the philosophy that I would let my birds develop natural immunity to anything in their environments or I would let natural selection occur. I should have spent more time researching the viruses we are battling.

Large commercial poultry companies bombard their birds with vaccinations that actually cause the viruses to mutate and make it impossible for backyard flocks to develop immunity. I let my birds free range a LOT and exposed them to every virus in our area without researching what I needed to protect them from.

Once things settle I plan on calling our local extension office to see what they are seeing in our area and then I will vaccinate against those diseases, as well.

That's my plan anyway.

I DO think that there is some natural immunity in my flock. The Wyandotte pen where this started had five non-hatchery girls and two of my original TSC girls. I had only one of the breeder birds survived but both of the hatchery girls barely got sick. None of the orps acted like they were close to death and none of the ameraucanas showed a single symptom.

The good news is that my flock is almost back to 100% health. They are happy and entertaining and still everything I love about having chickens as pets. THEY don't know that they are a closed flock.

PS. Don't get me STARTED about the guy who brought the sick birds to the show.

 

[bairo]

Crap Daphne....

Im not even familier with that one, I will be by the end of the night though. I am so very sorry

edited to take out brain dead statement on wrong name.

 

[bairo]

Daphne, please pass on the info from extension office.

I have looked at some "chicken demographics" lately also from the USDA and see what I already knew...the we are in the chicken and egg producing capitol of the country as far as regions go (SC, NC, tn, GA) so I have a feeling that our area is subject to much greater concentrations of various virus's roaming around. I'm going to take a second look and cross reference with hatchery locations to deduce the lowest risk hatcheries to order from as well.

I try to find mine local.....but if I ever order meaties or need to split an order of egg producers, then the info may prove helpful.

 

[bairo]

Daphne...

Also have you asked yet on how long the virus survives in the ground or in the area once any infectious stock is out of the picture?? That would be helpful to know for the future.

Also curious if you could lock them out of the house and run for a day and spray the ground with activated oxine and fog the coop to lessen the viral load. I know that some of your birds are going to shed it anyway as carriers....but I wonder if it is helpful to lessen the actual load to try and decrease the chance of spread?? Dont know if it would help or not??

 

[TNBarnQueen]

Daphne...

Also have you asked yet on how long the virus survives in the ground or in the area once any infectious stock is out of the picture?? That would be helpful to know for the future.

Also curious if you could lock them out of the house and run for a day and spray the ground with activated oxine and fog the coop to lessen the viral load. I know that some of your birds are going to shed it anyway as carriers....but I wonder if it is helpful to lessen the actual load to try and decrease the chance of spread?? Dont know if it would help or not??

That is funny....I was about to post the same question right before I saw this one. what other vaccines do any of you do on a regular basis. Mine only free range in their runs now and are separated into specific areas according to breed. I do have one section that I rotate some in smaller areas use a couple days a week.

 

[bairo]

Quote: What are you doing up at this hour?? LOL
I thought Nellabean was the only other insomniac in the group (before she abandoned us for rabbits

)

 

[chigger bait]

I have two white leghorn pullets that were laying every day and now both have gone broody one me.

I didn't know that leghorns would set on a nest.

These sure have.

 

[tennesseeckn]

Daphne...

Also have you asked yet on how long the virus survives in the ground or in the area once any infectious stock is out of the picture?? That would be helpful to know for the future.

Also curious if you could lock them out of the house and run for a day and spray the ground with activated oxine and fog the coop to lessen the viral load. I know that some of your birds are going to shed it anyway as carriers....but I wonder if it is helpful to lessen the actual load to try and decrease the chance of spread?? Dont know if it would help or not??

You know how it is... one site says it can live up to six months in the soil, the next site says that it doesn't survive long outside of the host. Most sites say that it's easy to kill, though.

I've been hesitant to spray because the virus is killed by heat and dry conditions. Normal bleach kills the virus on surfaces like feeders, scoops, waterers, and such. I've been adding oxine to their water and I really think it helped keep it from really spreading. Contact with infected mucus is the fastest way to spread the disease. I've been using a LOT of oxine, too. Like a tsp per gallon.

 

[tennesseeckn]

I have two white leghorn pullets that were laying every day and now both have gone broody one me.

I didn't know that leghorns would set on a nest.

These sure have.

How funny. I didn't know they went broody, either. And I thought I was the queen of the broodies. I think you just took my crown.

 

[itsthelaw37801]

Thanks for the condolences, guys. I've had enough requests for information about the vaccine that I'll post it on here.

I decided to use the LT-IVAX vaccine. I looked everywhere and couldn't find a dead vaccine, they were all live. The embryo origin vaccine scared me since it has caused a lot of the vaccinated birds to show symptoms and become carriers. The IVAX is a modified live virus that is tissue origin. It is supposed to be very mild and will not cause the birds that were not infected to be carriers. I bought mine from Twin City but they also sell it at First State.

PLEASE don't let my experience make anyone feel that keeping chickens is not worth the effort. I blame myself for this happening. I held the philosophy that I would let my birds develop natural immunity to anything in their environments or I would let natural selection occur. I should have spent more time researching the viruses we are battling.

Large commercial poultry companies bombard their birds with vaccinations that actually cause the viruses to mutate and make it impossible for backyard flocks to develop immunity. I let my birds free range a LOT and exposed them to every virus in our area without researching what I needed to protect them from.

Once things settle I plan on calling our local extension office to see what they are seeing in our area and then I will vaccinate against those diseases, as well.

That's my plan anyway.

I DO think that there is some natural immunity in my flock. The Wyandotte pen where this started had five non-hatchery girls and two of my original TSC girls. I had only one of the breeder birds survived but both of the hatchery girls barely got sick. None of the orps acted like they were close to death and none of the ameraucanas showed a single symptom.

The good news is that my flock is almost back to 100% health. They are happy and entertaining and still everything I love about having chickens as pets. THEY don't know that they are a closed flock.

PS. Don't get me STARTED about the guy who brought the sick birds to the show.

I ordered the vaccine from Twin City as soon as you told me about it. I haven't vaccinated any, but I let mine free range every single day.

Also, when deciding whether to vaccinate or not, I finally tracked down our extension agent. His response? I don't know. He said "I keep chickens, but I don't know much about them." So hopefully the Knox Co extension agent will be more educated than the Loudon Co agent.