Hey JPadronMiami. Hope all is well with you. Thanks for your response, I hope you have a cooler climate and laying hens now.
It has taken a while for the lab reports to come back, and because I was worried I may have had a Mareks outbreak, the lab did some extra tests, which took some time. The final results came in end of last week.
To cut a very long story short, both Mimi and Squeak had tumors in their livers and Mimi also had tumors in her brain. Mimi had an enlarged heart and she had some different form of tumors in her spleen, but none of the tumors were listed as the cause of death initially. The first lab report stated E.Coli as the cause of death in both hens, which I would agree with, as they both had secondary infections. However, in the second lab report the considered cause of death changed to a possible retrovirus, namely Avian Leukosis. This conclusion does seem to fit with the symptoms in both hens, and unfortunately the remaining six hens seem to now be showing signs of the affect of the virus. I am seeing a drop in laying and also a high number of rubber and misshapen eggs across all hens, when they do eventually lay.
All very sad, and I am at a loss to know what to do next. The flock I believe has to remain closed, as I can’t breed from any of them in case of a vertical spread of the virus from mother to chick.
I haven’t the heart to cull the remaining girls, but neither do I want them to get sick, so I will wait and see what the next months bring.
Hello Daphy i apologize for such a delayed response, it almost like forever that Ive been in the Forum, missed it, terrible news about your hens, we get so attached to them, and things like this occur, feels like one failed them when the truth is there are things we cannot control or cure no matter how good our intentions, stay positive, stay focused, you might start looking for ways to disinfect and clean up the coop and surrounding area, if you have a pile of things in the yard that your looking to burn include the old nesting boxes, old roosting perch, water containers, food dish's things like that where the bacteria or virus can over winter to try and get ahead of it.....prayers go out to you. As for my situation here, the temperature seems to be getting slightly less hot, even a few degrees is an improvement, am still using frozen water bottles in the water bins, the rain is also less in the last 3 weeks or so, hens are laying little better, most of them are either ending their molt or coming close to the end of it, my Austrolorps havent laid an egg since late August, their coop and run are covered in feathers, looks like chickens exploded in there. All I can do is keep plenty of clean fresh water available at all time for them, still give them regular helpings of veggies, herbs and mealworms, I continue ti give them the Kalmbach Henhouse Reserve 17% protein, and Purina All flock 20% protein. this time of year i occasionally freeze bluberries, watermelon, etc, turn them into ice cubes and put them in a large separate water bowl, they enjoy those treats. Horses are ok, this time of year they drop some weight due 2 the heat, I reduce the amount of Alfalfa I give them which of course is there favorite hay, I found a source for some good quality Orchard Grass, and T&A locally, they also get their daily ration of Omolene 200. So bout the only new thing is that i had bought 5 Olive Eggers, and 5 Easter Eggers about 6 months ago, I recently introduced them into the rainbow egg flock, al seem to be doing well and thriving, these pullets should be laying sometime in November, am looking forward to First Egg Day! thank you for your message, stay in touch, Holiday greetings to you and your family.