Hi, everyone!
Thanks to the threads on this forum and others, I have the great problem of asking when to reintegrate a pullet who probably had MG / CRD and now seems to be recovered.
I pulled a pullet from our mixed age, mixed chicken breeds flock (wheaten ameraucana, about 5 months old, bought from a local breeder) into an isolation dog crate on the living room table when it started having foamy eyes and a runny, snotty nose (gooey! gross!). I noticed that she was acting off and slower than the other hens, especially when let out to free range the yard (more sleeping when everyone else is foraging) and then noticed the foamy eyes.
This was after a serious and sudden switch from an unseasonably hot summer to cold winter weather (I live in Oregon, we have had extreme temperatures since last December) so I figured MG or something in that family. I've been giving her shots of Tylan 50 and antibiotics in the drinking water, feeding her food soaked overnight or for 2 days, and she has a heating pad set up on the side of the crate if she wants heat. The house is kept between 64F (day/night) - 68F (mornings and evenings).
It's been 8-9 days, she seems fine - acting normally, eating and drinking well, poops are good, she's definitely gained some weight as well. No sneezing, no more foamy eyes, no more gooey snot. The membranes in the inside corner of her eyes still seem a bit .. enlarged.. to me and I'm not sure if that's from the MG or if it's going to be her new normal.
I'm now at the point of trying to figure out when she's good enough to count as "better" and to reintegrate her into the flock (it's been going down to 40-50F at night and gets to the 60s or 70s in the daytime, so there's a 10-20F temperature difference at night). I'm thinking I'll keep her off antibiotics but still in the house for another week and see how she progresses and make sure the active illness is gone. I understand that she is a carrier for life and that the whole flock has most probably been exposed to MG. I will not be bringing in any new birds for at least a year. We are just a backyard flock. I don't sell the eggs though I occasionally give them away and there are no roosters in the picture.
Any advice about reintegration in this instance? (When to do it, how to tell when she is "better," and the best way to account for the temperature shift? I know about flock integration under regular circumstances and all that).
** Ignore the crusty beard, that's VetRX and her old snot.. **
Thanks to the threads on this forum and others, I have the great problem of asking when to reintegrate a pullet who probably had MG / CRD and now seems to be recovered.
I pulled a pullet from our mixed age, mixed chicken breeds flock (wheaten ameraucana, about 5 months old, bought from a local breeder) into an isolation dog crate on the living room table when it started having foamy eyes and a runny, snotty nose (gooey! gross!). I noticed that she was acting off and slower than the other hens, especially when let out to free range the yard (more sleeping when everyone else is foraging) and then noticed the foamy eyes.
This was after a serious and sudden switch from an unseasonably hot summer to cold winter weather (I live in Oregon, we have had extreme temperatures since last December) so I figured MG or something in that family. I've been giving her shots of Tylan 50 and antibiotics in the drinking water, feeding her food soaked overnight or for 2 days, and she has a heating pad set up on the side of the crate if she wants heat. The house is kept between 64F (day/night) - 68F (mornings and evenings).
It's been 8-9 days, she seems fine - acting normally, eating and drinking well, poops are good, she's definitely gained some weight as well. No sneezing, no more foamy eyes, no more gooey snot. The membranes in the inside corner of her eyes still seem a bit .. enlarged.. to me and I'm not sure if that's from the MG or if it's going to be her new normal.
I'm now at the point of trying to figure out when she's good enough to count as "better" and to reintegrate her into the flock (it's been going down to 40-50F at night and gets to the 60s or 70s in the daytime, so there's a 10-20F temperature difference at night). I'm thinking I'll keep her off antibiotics but still in the house for another week and see how she progresses and make sure the active illness is gone. I understand that she is a carrier for life and that the whole flock has most probably been exposed to MG. I will not be bringing in any new birds for at least a year. We are just a backyard flock. I don't sell the eggs though I occasionally give them away and there are no roosters in the picture.
Any advice about reintegration in this instance? (When to do it, how to tell when she is "better," and the best way to account for the temperature shift? I know about flock integration under regular circumstances and all that).
** Ignore the crusty beard, that's VetRX and her old snot.. **
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She looks like a sweetheart!
