How long do most contagions last?

[fowlfam]

We have been battling some time of respiratory illness for most of the summer. I am to the point of culling the flock, deep cleaning and starting over. My question is, how long do most contagions last? When would it be safe to start again? Best things for cleaning?

 

[Pyxis]

It depends on what you're dealing with. If you're culling, I'd send one off for necropsy to determine what disease it is, and then from there you can find how long it lives, how best to kill off any lingering viruses/bacteria, etc.

 

[WaterWindStone]

Bacteria like MG or MS, in the right conditions, can live in the soil or other surfaces for long periods of time. However wild birds can carry many respiratory issues as well. So it may or may not be in your soil from your own birds but being brought in from the outside? Just a thought.

I had a wicked bacteria run through my flock years ago and after cleaning up the flock the best I could with long term antibacterial medications (Mycoplasma's can take 12 to 16 weeks of treatment to kill off completely), I moved my entire operation to new grounds. Built a new coop and didn't let the birds free range where they did when they were sick. Years later and the bacteria is gone and nobody has any reoccurring illness.

 

[fowlfam]

We do have a lot of wild turkey around our home. They actually do go right in our yard, and I free range the chickens now and then.

I am not sure what we have....we have had little silkies just croak for no apparent reason, we had broilers that had puffy faces snotty noses. (We culled the whole lot to hopefully prevent anymore sickness) We now have, in our egg chickens.chicks, sneezing, coughing, some have had a funky eye, stuck shut mostly. I have treated with oxytetracycline, and now on to tylan 50. I have cleaned so often, and am so tired of killing my sick ones, or finding them dead.

I am not sure what else to do but cull them all, clean, and wait until Jan and try again.