HELP!! What do I do about coryza!?

[kbow]

I have a beautiful healthy flock of speckled sussex chickens. I wanted to ad a few rhode island reds to my flock for more eggs. A local chicken farmer with 350+ hens was selling his entire flock so i brought 5 home kept them in a second coop away from my other chickens but let them all out to free range for a couple hours the next day. My problem is these hens beaks are damaged and the stink to high heaven and im pretty sure they have coryza. They dont show any other signs however im pretty sure they have it. My question is if i get rid of them in the morning and disinfect and that coop and bathe my other chickens do you think my chickens i first had will catch it? What ddo i do!? These are my pets! What are the chances they caught it that fast?

 

[Eggcessive]

Are they having thick nasal drainage, coughing,eye drainage or swelling of the face or eyes? Coryza is a nasty respiratory disease, but fortunately, It only remains alive on surfaces for several days. I would give them a close exam to try and determine any symptoms they have. A sick bird can be sacrificed, and sent to the state vet for a necropsy to test for coryza. If you believe they are infected, you can cull them, and either bury deeply or burn their remains. Look for posts on coryza, or Google coryza in chickens to read more about the disease and treatment. Sulmet or Dimethox can be used to treat symptoms, but coryza is very contageous.

 

[kbow]

I took the chickens back to the farm in which i got them from. Im sanitizing EVERYTHING they came in contact with. They had very little drainage or any other symptoms other than that stink and 3 of their beaks were damaged. Do you think my flock is in danger!? Im so upset and afraid for my other birds as i dont want to have them get it and i also have babies im raising. Will i have to kill all of my birds? they had very minimal contact but idk if im over reacting like when you read web md or if its likely my birds have contracted it already. Were in a small town in the middle of nowhere and there arent vets or anyone to test 1. Its going to be a real epidemic bc he started with 1200 birds and is selling a few here and a few there to our surrounding area. Im afraid for what this will do to our chickens in this area.

 

[kbow]

I had 3 from my flock start falling over sleeping and sick today
im devastated. I had a polish hen, polish rooster, and my beautiful speckled sussex. One speckled hen was acting a little slow but it could be bc its cloudy today. Should i wait to see if any of my chickens survive or get rid of all of them!? Im so sad and upset that someone would sell diseased birds to people. My beautiful flock is in ruin and ive worked tirelessly to try to disinfect, move our pen, and cleaned food and water constantly. These are our pets and this has all but destroyed our healthy happy flock. Weve done EVERYTHING possible to keep a clean environment for them and this 1 person will destroy many flocks with these diseased birds hes selling. Any advice on what i should do? Ive never had to deal with this so dont know that im equipped to make that decision but i have to do the right thing to contain this from my chicks and the wild birds that csll this place home :'(

 

[Eggcessive]

How are your birds doing today? You need to separate the sick birds, so just in case they have caught something, that it won't keep spreading. What symptoms are you seeing besides sleepiness? Did you cull the new birds or return them? Sulmet, oxytetracycline, or Tylan can be used to treat symptoms of respiratory diseases such as coryza. It would be great if you could warn people about his sick birds, so that others won't buy them. Here is some reading about respiratory diseases coryza and MG:
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/diseaseinfo/82/infectious-coryza/
http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/p...verview_of_infectious_coryza_in_chickens.html
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ps044

 

[kbow]

I took the sick birds back and have been calling around and sharing it with farmers and chicken forums in our area! This is hortible! Ive lost 3 and got an antibiotic. We HAD to cull the birds i pulled bc they were falling on their faces and sounded like knuckles on a washboard when breathing. Im so afraid of the widespread epidemic this will cause for our area! Im devastated when i look out at my flock now and know i may lose every last one of them the 3 yesterday were so ill they didnt even move or run when a shot was missed. Im so so sad. I think i will report it to our county AG department and ive called the feed stores and vets in our area. I have a relative clear in arkansas that had a friend that bought some from this filthy farmer! Im giving them medicated chick starter with their usual pellets. One has a stuffy nose and is sneezy but i think it may be in teaction to all the dust from the new pine bedding or maybe she sucked water up her nose bc she is acting perky and normal. I have neighbors with a flock as well that i warned them about us quarintining our flock for 30 days bc theirs walk over to visit ours and i dont want them to catch anything and am trying the best i can to keep this contained! I dont want anyone else to suffer the loss of their beautiful birds as we have :'(

 

[kbow]

4 more are now sneezing and coughing but are acting pretty normal. No open mouth breathing or anything but sneezing. Should i just cull the flock and get it over with or wait a few days?

 

[Eggcessive]

I am so sorry that your flock is at risk. How many chickens do you have? There are many here on BYC that have gone through a similar experience, and you can read some of their threads by searching at the top of this page. I would not do anything drastic just yet. Your chickens seemed to have been exposed, although they may or may not get symptoms. I would send in a sick or dead bird to the state vet or local extension agent or poultry college, to get a necropsy and testing done to confirm what disease is present. The body has to be frigerated or on ice. Then if you chose to medicate them, you will know what to use. Culling is a personal decision. You could cull all sick birds, and keep others while closing your flock to birds coming in or out. You could also research vaccines for new birds coming in. You are helpful to warn others of these sick birds from this person. Some people are either very ignorant or just plain dishonest to sell sick birds. I have become very cautious, almost paranoid to buy anything other than chicks from a hatchery that I have bought birds from before. Too many people on here have lost flocks from buying birds from unscrupulous breeders. Keep us posted on how they are doing.

 

[kbow]

Unfortunately my chickens are all coughing/choking and have been sneezing and a couple have snotty noses. A couple are doing the zoning out sleeping while standing thing and dont pay any attention even if u pick them up. My leghorn is the only one that is behaving normally now. I think its a matter of time to be honest. I have 6 left and theyre all but the leghorns showing symptoms. how long should i wait for the ground to be disease free before starting over? Im so devastated and sad that this happened

 

[Eggcessive]

I'm sorry. Coryza and MG both only remain on equipment and in the coop for 3 days or so, after the chickens are gone. It might benefit you to get one necropsied just to make sure of the diagnosis. At least speak to your state vet about what you are dealing with. Other diseases may remain in the environment longer. Please update your thread later about what happens.