Help - Possible Coryza infestation - my stupidity

[DawnMarie74]

I'm sitting here in tears. This weekend I pick up two young olive eggers and I brought them home to my flock. The next morning I noticed food sticking to their beaks and noticed they had clear runny noses with a smell. I immediately moved them away from my birds and sprayed peroxide everywhere I had seen them. I cleaned the food and water bowls. I contacted the seller who then came and removed them from my home. (They mention having coryza on their farm before and were going to dispose of the flock) This was Sunday 4-1-11.

I've been so scared praying that my flock is okay and that I caught it in time.. All was fine until now. My buff brahma is now starting with a slight wet nose. And my game X looks perfectly fine and is now starting to cough. What do I do??? I have tetracycline powder, should I put it in their drinking water?

 

[dawg53]

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I recommend you treat with sulmet. Dosage for the liquid sulmet is 1 tablespoon to a half gallon of water. It is full dosage for 2 days, then half dosage for 4 days.
Dosage for sulmet soluable powder- add 2 tablespoons to each gallon of water, medicate for 2 days, then reduce drug concentration to one-half (1 tablespoon) per gallon of water for 4 addtional days. There is a 10 day withdrawal period for slaughter. Excessive dosage may cause toxic reactions, Dont try hatching eggs during medication and for short periods thereafter.
ETA: Your chickens will remain carriers. If they survive, I recommend you close your flock...none in, none out. Keep biosecurity in mind. Good luck.

 

[DawnMarie74]

dawg53

Thank you for replying. Can I get this at TSC? Should I buy medicated feed as well? Where can I have a test done to know for sure that it's coryza? I have seperated my two girls who are starting to show symptoms, do I put them back with the others and just treat them all? Sorry for all the questions, I'm freaking out over here. I'm at a loss of what to do as I have babies in the brooder and neighbors with chickens that I wouln't want to infect. AHHH!!!

 

[speckledhen]

Medicated feed is for coccidiosis, not a bacterial infection. It won't help this. The only thing to do is to cull every bird that shows symptoms of Coryza, disinfect everything, and close your flock. TSC may or may not have Sulmet, depends on the location, really. Sulmet may help the symptoms but won't fix the carrier status of a bird.

 

[DawnMarie74]

A member from th MeetUp site was kind enough to give me information to a lab in Oakwood that I will be bringing my two birds to tomorrow for teasting. They will have to die to be tested, but at least I will know for sure what they have and what to do from there. (hmmm maybe I should just bring one??)The person I got the sick birds from has informed me that they will be having some of their birds tested tomorrow as well. And that Coryza was not a confirmed diagnose of what they may have had before. I pray to God it's not that. The lab also said not to give them antibiotics yet, as it may interfere with the tests. Wish me luck, as I love these girls and can't imagine losing them. Or starting all over again. Or buying eggs again.........oh what a day!

 

[speckledhen]

I sure hope that isn't what they have. I'm so sorry you're having to deal with this.

 

[chickengrl]

Wow, so sorry they sold you birds and they knew they had an illness around. Not cool. Sorry you have to deal with this. You are not the first person to learn this lesson the hard way and you will not be the last. You may have already been told, but when you get new birds it is best to quarantine them for 30 days and watch for illness before adding them to your flock. After we learned the same lesson, I learned all I could about Biosecurity and we no longer will buy adult birds from anyone. The safest birds are day olds form reputable hatcheries and good NPIP breeders or eggs you hatch yourself. It is still possible to get MG from transfer via egg. If a flock is MG positive about 10% of the eggs will carry MG. It's a bad illness, but not as big a killer as some others. Honestly, you are better off culling your sick birds, or you will have to keep a closed flock which can really be a pain in the rear. Good luck!

 

[DawnMarie74]

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Thanks SpeckledHen

 

[DawnMarie74]

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Chickengrl,

They seem genuinely sorry, and I don't think they realized their birds were ill. Maybe I'm wrong, I don't know?? The whole situation sucks. I'm dreading bringing in my two girls this morning knowing that the will be killed. "Brock" my gameX chicken is one of the first birds we ever hatched and she's one of two that I have to bring. It breaks my heart.

 

[chickengrl]

Really sorry, it is truly heartbreaking. It does sound like they did not realize the birds become carriers even when they seem all better. Most folks don't really understand it until something happens. I have been there too. (not selling sick birds, but not knowing the carrier thing) Hang in there.