WARNING: this does get kind of lengthy
I apologize ahead of time! But it is worth the read
This was the forum I had posted over a year ago
I HAVE SYMPTOMS!!!! (icky pics) https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=376166
Finally, after a waiting a year, I have results...its unbelievable
Actually, just yesterday we came to several conclusions about the necropsy that was highly unsatisfactory to me. Turns out, the lab that tested me birds did a terrible job keeping things straight. I was having many problems at the time, with adults and chicks. So they suggested that I submit live birds as well as the carcasses for necropsy, which I hesitantly did I was so heartbroken. I brought them a sick hen, roo, and adolescent silkie, and I also brought them 3 chick carcasses (the chicks were the ones with most unusual symptoms, the ones that I really needed tested...they had the diarrhea and then would die at 4-7 days old. About 20 of them...)
When I got the report back, the birds were labeled 1, 2, and 3, not knowing which were which. I called and got that straightened out, but the rest of the report held more inconsistencies that I needed to call and have sorted out as well.
Dr. Butcher, a licensed poultry doctor at UF, has been working with me and trying to help me out with this odd report, and he is just as baffled as I am.
The Results and their Problems:
1) They pooled all the feces samples from all the birds together, and there were a high number of cocci in the results, but we dont know which bird it came from. We can assume it was the younger, as older birds usually have some resistance, but knowing for sure would have helped.
2) The test showed that the conjunctival (eyelid) tissue contained intranuclear eosinophilic inclusions, but then diagnosed it as Pox-virus. Pox, however, can only be intracytoplasmic. They are never the same Dr. Butcher said they are two completely different diseases, and are in no way related. When I followed up and called the doctor who did the necropsy, he or she said they could cause one another. Dr. Butcher said he will try to ignore that comment because it is just not possible I researched it, and hes right. He said he hopes it was just a type-o. But we wont ever really know.
3) The hen and chick came up positive for Mycoplasma synoviae, but the rooster did not. Being from the same coop, every bird should have had MS. As stated by Dr. Butcher, if a few have it, more than likely the rest of the flock has it. It is extremely rare that they will not.
4) The chick carcasses that I submitted were never accounted for. Therefore, I will never know what plagued my chicks and killed almost all of them. This was the result that I really, really needed.
Overall, summed up perfectly by Dr. Butcher, what a mess! I find out now that that lab was a state lab, and probably was not equipped to handle poultry. They treated it all as one case, instead of separating out the birds they through all the samples and collections together, so we wont ever really know who was sick with what, though we can try and guess. The doctor that I spoke with that did the necropsy did not seem very well-versed in poultry medicine based on the answers I received from him or her. The one thing that we know for sure is they had conjunctivitis, which I could have guessed myself. It is really disheartening for me, and I really hope you have better luck.
I want to give a special thanks to Dr. Butcher at UF who was so helpful to me, and so patiently and willingly called me and worked with me through the confusion of this report. He was wonderful to work with. I would have never gotten this far without his help!
This was the forum I had posted over a year ago
I HAVE SYMPTOMS!!!! (icky pics) https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=376166
Finally, after a waiting a year, I have results...its unbelievable
Actually, just yesterday we came to several conclusions about the necropsy that was highly unsatisfactory to me. Turns out, the lab that tested me birds did a terrible job keeping things straight. I was having many problems at the time, with adults and chicks. So they suggested that I submit live birds as well as the carcasses for necropsy, which I hesitantly did I was so heartbroken. I brought them a sick hen, roo, and adolescent silkie, and I also brought them 3 chick carcasses (the chicks were the ones with most unusual symptoms, the ones that I really needed tested...they had the diarrhea and then would die at 4-7 days old. About 20 of them...)
When I got the report back, the birds were labeled 1, 2, and 3, not knowing which were which. I called and got that straightened out, but the rest of the report held more inconsistencies that I needed to call and have sorted out as well.
Dr. Butcher, a licensed poultry doctor at UF, has been working with me and trying to help me out with this odd report, and he is just as baffled as I am.
The Results and their Problems:
1) They pooled all the feces samples from all the birds together, and there were a high number of cocci in the results, but we dont know which bird it came from. We can assume it was the younger, as older birds usually have some resistance, but knowing for sure would have helped.
2) The test showed that the conjunctival (eyelid) tissue contained intranuclear eosinophilic inclusions, but then diagnosed it as Pox-virus. Pox, however, can only be intracytoplasmic. They are never the same Dr. Butcher said they are two completely different diseases, and are in no way related. When I followed up and called the doctor who did the necropsy, he or she said they could cause one another. Dr. Butcher said he will try to ignore that comment because it is just not possible I researched it, and hes right. He said he hopes it was just a type-o. But we wont ever really know.
3) The hen and chick came up positive for Mycoplasma synoviae, but the rooster did not. Being from the same coop, every bird should have had MS. As stated by Dr. Butcher, if a few have it, more than likely the rest of the flock has it. It is extremely rare that they will not.
4) The chick carcasses that I submitted were never accounted for. Therefore, I will never know what plagued my chicks and killed almost all of them. This was the result that I really, really needed.
Overall, summed up perfectly by Dr. Butcher, what a mess! I find out now that that lab was a state lab, and probably was not equipped to handle poultry. They treated it all as one case, instead of separating out the birds they through all the samples and collections together, so we wont ever really know who was sick with what, though we can try and guess. The doctor that I spoke with that did the necropsy did not seem very well-versed in poultry medicine based on the answers I received from him or her. The one thing that we know for sure is they had conjunctivitis, which I could have guessed myself. It is really disheartening for me, and I really hope you have better luck.
I want to give a special thanks to Dr. Butcher at UF who was so helpful to me, and so patiently and willingly called me and worked with me through the confusion of this report. He was wonderful to work with. I would have never gotten this far without his help!
