how to clean up after infectious bronchitious

[syble]

sorry my spelling is bad. We had some chicks in the house with IB. They have been culled, their brooder burnt. i have more chicks due to hatch shortly.. how do i dissinfect the house. spray lysole in the air? wipe everything down with lysole wipes? any idea how long that stuff can remain infectious in the air?
Thanks
sib

 

[chickengrl]

I did a quick google and I found where it says it is a "fragile virus" and easily killed with common disinfectants. it spreads by the birds sneezing and coughing and from surfaces being contaminated. That sounds to me like you don't have to worry about it in the air unless you still have sick chickens around. This is what I would do. Wipe everything down with 50/50 bleach and water. All hard surfaces where it won't hurt anything that is. I would open the house up and let it air out naturally. Some Lysol spray in the air shouldn't hurt either. When the babies are about to hatch, I think i would do it again to just be sure. If you think they caught the virus from around your property and didn't have it already when you bought them, you could vaccinate them when they are old enough. It sounds like you probably got this covered, but be sure to soak any feeders and waterers in bleach water too. It can be more dilute for this. If you have any clothing you had around them that hasn't been washed, I would do that. i think I would also buy fresh chick food if you had been touching the old bag when caring for them. sorry, this isn't very organized, just kinda writing as i think of it. I hope this is helpful. Sorry about your chicks too.

 

[syble]

it would do my mind a service if it wasn't an air bourn virus! We are cutting grass today, but will open everything up asap. lysol and bleach it is. i have their heat lamp, feeder and waterer to do yet, but figure i can use a lysol wipe to clean the electronics. the others will get soaked in bleach and water. I am waiting on pins and needles to make sure that the chicks in the barn didn't get it. no signs so far. the others showed signs within 48 hours. they got it from some infected chicks i brought home. Stupid move, painful expensive sad lesson to learn, even chicks can spread petulance!

I worry because i had a 200+ egg incubator in the area. the brooder had very high walls and i never handled anything in conjunction to anything else. I'm hoping that it either wasnt air bourn or that if it was their shells will give them some protection. i really dont want to cull more chicks! This was hard!

Brand new flock starting up and this happens. all my expensive shipped in eggs show quality, breeds i wanted and everything, and i had to say bye after such a promising start, and its all my fault is what makes it worse.

I just hope to sterilize and move on properly this time

Thanks
Sib

 

[kelar]

IBD is easily killed by disinfectants - I like oxine myself. I'm curious about culling all your chicks as IBD is more like a bad cold than anything and does not produce a carrier state once the chickens have recovered. I can sure see why you don't want it on your property if you have new chicks coming though.

 

[chickengrl]

Quote:
What I read makes it seem way worse then some cold symptoms. That is only part of it. It also damages their uro-genital tract (the egg making machinery) and causes mishapen eggs, watery eggs and other laying issues. Also, may make it so they never lay an egg. It was also saying that it can have a significant death rate especially with other infections concurrent, like MG/MS. It apparently can also damage kidneys and cause them to fail, and the chicken dies. It did say that the birds are carriers for a while after the infection, but that over time the bird sheds less, and less of the virus. Apparently, a carrier state is not the most common way to pass it around. The most common way is to attend a poultry show and bring it home or buy birds already sick with it. I do think oxine is a great disinfectant, but bleach is cheaper and readily available, and the virus should easily die with either of these.

 

[syble]

the articles i read on it, and the people i talked to who have it all said that birds can recover eventually, but that they will always carry it and that in times of stress (like a confined winter cold spell, poultry show etc.) it can flare up into a fully infectious disease again. I don't want to be like the guy who sold them to me, unconcerned about their health and the fact that he knowingly infected my flock. I can't live with that. I want to be able to show and sell birds, all the fun stuff that goes on with poultry keeping, and can't in good faith do that if i think i'll be making other peoples birds sick.

I have the human version of bronchitis, it sucks. I flare up twice a year most years, and i'm miserable for upwards of a month. The older i get the more risks i have to worry about it now. I get phnemonia, which can kill me if it gets bad enough. Its kind of the same thing with chickens, the orriginal disease isn't neccisarily gonna kill them (though being sick at that young age will slow down development), but it opens the flood gates to any other disease. its usually the second infection that kills them.

The one brooder had it, and was isolated in the house (i hope i isolated good enough, i guess i will know in a couple of days, and be sure in a couple of weeks). I had another 2 brooders in the barn, 1 full of healthy chicks. I wanted to stop it before it had a chance to infect my entire flock.

My biggest concern is all the chicks due to hatch by the end of the month. They are my back up orps and araucanas. its been hard finding quality eggs. I just hope that they aren't infected.

Thanks
Sib

 

[Mattemma]

I just posted to sell a few hens and a rooster on craigs. Go figure the same day 2 got snotty. Even if they make it I won't sell them. I would feel bad about passing something on with them to another flock. Sorry OP about having to cull them all. Best wishes with the next bunch!!! I would clean with the bleach and lysol too.

 

[Abirdbrain]

OK , for me lesson learned. Chickens get various infections easily. We wanted layers now and went and bought 5 layers form another yard. Huge mistake. They were free running with horses and a few ducks. These full RIR hens were dirty from the horse barn they frequented. Out of a large storage tote, I made a warm dunk bath of a little dishsoap, and a cup of bleach. The hens did not resist this emersion, and I covered their nostirls and completely immersed their head after their bodies were wetted down. I removed them and brushed their feet to remove cakedirt, and genrally looked them over for damage and faults. Two had dark dirt to the skin on their backs. With a mister head on the garden hose, this now wet gook easily flushed out of the feathers. More on that. Ok, basically bathtime is over, and each bird was sprayed down with cool water, to remove the little soap, and bleach for disinfectant. The now thoroughly wet birds were left to roam in the sunlight, and drip off. in 5 hours they were still wet, and that concerned me, as the spring nites here get to 45* or so. Next morning, all seemed chipper and hungry, dry with the rest of the flock.

Now comes the stupid part. A week later, and the entire flock has runny noses, 15 birds, 10 young from my original store chicks and the 5 oldsters. First, the old hens are not laying, only one is producing 3 eggs a week. The only old hen has a mess on her back, where the snot has glued the feathers together, and it collects dirt, like crazy. That is the crusty stuff I washed off I bet. So the bird was clear but apparently relapsed with the moving stress, and my dunking. Now I got snoty noses, and only two that are really hurting with gurgles and gasps.

Long run do I just keep this bunch separate and cull them for table meat, since it seems I will contaminate the rest of the coops (3) if I keep these birds on. What is best? What would you do.

 

[klf73]

Quote:
this is why quarantine is so important, minimum 30 days. I am sorry but it is obviously infectious and I personally would cull them all

. For one I wouldn't want them to have to endure being sick and two I wouldn't want to have to worry about any new birds. Not knowing the exact infection is what the issue is, unless you get a necropsy done you won't know if it is the type of thing that lingers. I would cull and disinfect, disinfect, disinfect. I would also do a waiting period before getting new birds...just to be sure . JMHO

 

[kelar]

I am also really sorry about having to cull your chicks and everyone learns the lesson eventually about quarantine. Yes, some strains of IBD CAN cause kidney and reproduction problems (as well as other things like joint damage), but not necessarily. I guess I just wanted to point out that it is not as serious as something like ILT which can wipe out your whole flock and continue doing damage long after the birds are recovered. From my discussions with our state vet here in wa., the carrier state for IBD lasts 3 weeks, in most cases it causes birds to show severe respiratory symtoms for a few days to a week and does not produce a lasting carrier state. Because many people think chickens get "colds", they may very well not realize they are selling birds infected with IBD as birds seem perfectly healthy during the several weeks they are still infectious.