Last week my husband and I bought 3 new hens to help our two hens stay warm in the Winter. Little did we know that they were infected, coryza or MG... This forum was helpful in helping me figure out what was happening. Our options were fairly limited, but included taking them to a vet and spending hundreds of dollars, which we did not want to do. We put the 3 new hens down last weekend after all became infected. On Monday I called the man who sold us these hens. (We had purchased hens from him in the past with good result.) I explained that the puffy eye was one symptom of these diseases, that I had seen a bird like that in his chicken yard and for some people, these are our pets. Since all of his flock is infected with a contagious disease, I suggested that he take one of his sick hens to the vet and find out what he's dealing with.
I also called the Missouri Dept. of Ag Poultry contact. The man I talked to was empathetic, knowledgeable and helpful. I said that the person who sold us these birds had recently purchased them at auction. He said If a person actually sees a bird exhibiting signs of infectious disease at auction, the state Vet would visit the auction to educate them. I forgot to ask him about the fact that the auction grounds are now infected.
We spoke at length about all procedures to ensure any new chickens assimilate into an existing flock with as little stress as possible, including not changing the feed when they come to the new environment, and of course quarantining the birds, which I also did not do. He suggested disinfect my shoes with Lysol spray, or better yet, use only the one designated pair of shoes in the chicken yard. Anyway, I was pretty oblivious to what was happening for the first 48 hours or so, and possibly infected my pet quail, doves and parakeets in addition to my two older hens. I put down my favorite hen tonight - a sad business. So we lost our two older pet hens also to this same disease - infectious coryza-like. So far the other (non-chicken) birds look okay but I will be watching them very closely. I have a LOT of experience with birds so I guess I just got a little careless which is not like me.
I also called the Missouri Dept. of Ag Poultry contact. The man I talked to was empathetic, knowledgeable and helpful. I said that the person who sold us these birds had recently purchased them at auction. He said If a person actually sees a bird exhibiting signs of infectious disease at auction, the state Vet would visit the auction to educate them. I forgot to ask him about the fact that the auction grounds are now infected.
We spoke at length about all procedures to ensure any new chickens assimilate into an existing flock with as little stress as possible, including not changing the feed when they come to the new environment, and of course quarantining the birds, which I also did not do. He suggested disinfect my shoes with Lysol spray, or better yet, use only the one designated pair of shoes in the chicken yard. Anyway, I was pretty oblivious to what was happening for the first 48 hours or so, and possibly infected my pet quail, doves and parakeets in addition to my two older hens. I put down my favorite hen tonight - a sad business. So we lost our two older pet hens also to this same disease - infectious coryza-like. So far the other (non-chicken) birds look okay but I will be watching them very closely. I have a LOT of experience with birds so I guess I just got a little careless which is not like me.
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