Five-month old Australorp suddenly lame. Update: Now another pullet going lame!

[azygous]

I just finished examining the pullets and see no swelling or bubbles on feet, webbing, toes, shanks. No diarrhea, normal poops through all of this. No eye or nare discharges.

Just one symptom - lameness. But they don't seem to hurt when I manipulate the feet or toes or legs. Balance is okay except if they each happen to put too much weight on a sore limb.

I have a flock of 23 birds. None of the others are exhibiting any lameness, except Su-su, but she's been lame for five years and otherwise fine.

I'm going to start the two lame pullets on Tylan 50 orally and see how they respond. It's something to do, and I feel I need to do something.

 

[LaFleche]

I just finished examining the pullets and see no swelling or bubbles on feet, webbing, toes, shanks. No diarrhea, normal poops through all of this. No eye or nare discharges.

Just one symptom - lameness. But they don't seem to hurt when I manipulate the feet or toes or legs. Balance is okay except if they each happen to put too much weight on a sore limb.

I have a flock of 23 birds. None of the others are exhibiting any lameness, except Su-su, but she's been lame for five years and otherwise fine.

I'm going to start the two lame pullets on Tylan 50 orally and see how they respond. It's something to do, and I feel I need to do something.

As all these lame pullets came from the same hatchery, I would suspect a genetic susceptibility to Marek's or some other hereditary weakness, maybe caused by inbreeding.

 

[azygous]

These are not the only pullets I have. There are three eight-month old EE pullets that are behaving normally. I realize Marek's and MS strike young pullets more than adults, but this problem is isolated with the newest Australorp pullets.

There simply are no symptoms other than lameness consistent with Marek's or MS. It's very hard to suspect either when there's just this one symptom and it's limited to just the Australorps.

The hatchery hasn't called back yet, so I'm still waiting to discuss genetic possibilities with knowledgeable staff.

 

[azygous]

Just got off the phone with the breeding manager at Privett. He gave me some more things to throw at these guys, some involve the whole flock.

Proactively worm them all and treat them all for coccidiosis. He said to double the dose of Corid and add sugar to be sure they drink a lot of it and he said the added carbs will benefit them in this cold.

He says to continue the Tylan 50 for the full five days, and add oyster shell because the heat lamp they've been under is stimulating them to reach POL sooner. This latter hadn't occurred to me, but they are developing red combs.

I'm to report back in one week to him and we'll go over any developments.

 

[ackie]

good luck!

 

[azygous]

I finished with the first round of Safeguard, treating all twenty-three chickens. (This is when it really gets driven home how many chickens one has.) And they are all now on their first day of double Corid with sugar.

I have one eight-year old Welsummer hen in a crate inside so I can monitor her poop. She's been acting "sullen" lately, and if any have worms, it will be her. She'll be my indicator chicken for the flock.

Greg, the breeding manager, being with Privett for 30 years and in charge of the breeding program, says that inbreeding is virtually impossible because the program is so huge, and they carefully cull any chickens in the program that show any signs of traits that can interfere with producing perfect chicks.

He agreed with @TwoCrows that Mycoplasma Synoviae could be the issue, and that the Tylan 50 is definitely a good treatment to try. He was puzzled why the older pullets haven't been affected, though, if MS is at the root of this problem.

I'm happy to have these additional things to try. Hopefully, something is going to make a difference.

This is like a big home science experiment where you just mix everything together and stand back behind a barricade to watch what the results will be. Hopefully, no chickens or humans will be hurt in this experiment.

 

[ValerieJ]

I sure hope it all works out!!!

 

[ackie]

I'm glad you have more information and a clear direction to go! I know how much better that feels regardless of whether it ends up being the solution or not.

 

[TwoCrows]

I finished with the first round of Safeguard, treating all twenty-three chickens. (This is when it really gets driven home how many chickens one has.) And they are all now on their first day of double Corid with sugar.

I have one eight-year old Welsummer hen in a crate inside so I can monitor her poop. She's been acting "sullen" lately, and if any have worms, it will be her. She'll be my indicator chicken for the flock.

Greg, the breeding manager, being with Privett for 30 years and in charge of the breeding program, says that inbreeding is virtually impossible because the program is so huge, and they carefully cull any chickens in the program that show any signs of traits that can interfere with producing perfect chicks.

He agreed with @TwoCrows that Mycoplasma Synoviae could be the issue, and that the Tylan 50 is definitely a good treatment to try. He was puzzled why the older pullets haven't been affected, though, if MS is at the root of this problem.

I'm happy to have these additional things to try. Hopefully, something is going to make a difference.

This is like a big home science experiment where you just mix everything together and stand back behind a barricade to watch what the results will be. Hopefully, no chickens or humans will be hurt in this experiment.

Oddly enough, my birds came from Privett and they too were Australorps. MS gets the younger birds, older birds seem to deal with the bacteria easier.

Keep up with what you are doing, if nothing else you can rule out the things that are easy to treat.

 

[Allsfairinloveandbugs]

I assume (but am posting this bcause i didnt want to COMpletely assume) that you are familiar with denagard to treat the mycoplasmas? I dont know how to post links, but there are many studies showing denagard is superior to tylan to treat mg & ms. Denagard (tiamulin) is only approved to treat swine not poultry in the u.s., but it has been used sucessfully in europe for 30 years. Mycoplasmas have shown no resistance to tiamulin. Plus tiamulin isnt used in human medicine, so is NOT one of the antibiotics currently being phased out as available over the counter without a veterinarians prescription. (Veterinary feed directive) I bought some point-of-lay pullets several years ago that ended up having mg. It was my first experience with a serious chicken illness. I first tried tylan, but it didnt work. So i started culling sweet symptomatic pullets. About broke my heart, but they were sick for weeks and i didnt know what else to do. Finally came across denard as a possible treatment. Ordered online asap and it worked! All symptoms cleared within a week. I gave monthy as a preventative for about a year. Never saw any more symptoms. I Still feel sad for the ones i culled, because results of treatment let me know denagard would have cured their symptoms too. (Yes i understood they remained carriers). Anyway, i realize u dont yet know what u r even treating as of now, but if it IS ms, dont overlook denagard.