Infected flock: contemplating culling

[Lord von Cluck]

Good evening everybody,

An important preface: We have reached out to almost every veterinarian in our state (we live in the US). Almost all of them are either completely booked or have stopped seeing poultry altogether. We were able to get an unofficial diagnosis from an acquaintance who is a vet and keeps backyard chickens, she suggested that it might be Infectious Coryza (more on that below) and suggested that we start treating with whatever antibiotics we could find at our local TSC.

I feel like this might be a loaded question, but I want to get some advice concerning my flock suffering a myriad of symptoms. I have a mixed flock (20 chickens) mostly ranging from 4-5 months and a single adult Bantam of laying age. Approximately one week ago, one of my roosters suddenly showed the following symptoms: Gasping for breath, wheezing, gurgling, lethargy, foamy eyes, foul-smelling head area, and green diarrhea. We immediately quarantined him from the rest of the flock and cleaned the feeders and waterers (we also sanitized the coop). Unfortunately, he passed away within two days. We brought him into our university for a necropsy the day of. After he passed, over half of our flock started showing symptoms. We attempted to quarantine them but it reached the point where we simply didn't have the space to quarantine them. Further, at this point, all but one member of our flock is displaying minor symptoms (sneezing or wheezing), and we lost another member of the flock (another Roo) who seemed to be improving dramatically (no wheezing, gasping, etc).

Per the advice of our acquaintance's unofficial diagnosis, we've been treating our birds with LA-200 (Oxytetracycline) orally (0.10ml/lb twice daily). It has yielded some results (some improved quality of life) but I have started to accept the reality that my birds will be carriers for life (assuming that it is in fact CRD) and that the health of its members is diminishing.

As mentioned before, we are awaiting final testing from the necropsy of the first bird. Avian flu testing came back negative, all that's left is a histopathy of his organs for the specific pathogens. We will make our final decision based on those findings.

My question is this, am I wrong to consider cutting my losses and learning my lessons? I am considering culling my entire flock as almost every chicken has displayed symptoms at varying levels of severity. I absolutely love my birds, but as much as I would like to dedicate myself to helping them live their lives, I have to acknowledge that the symptoms will arise if they get stressed out. In part, it would be a matter of ethical mercy, but it would also be a matter of logistical convenience (as we cannot establish a vet-client-patient relationship within our state on account of the preface). If it is a respiratory disease, culling and sanitizing the coop would give us a chance to prepare for a future flock and allow us to incorporate new chickens with significantly less risk.

Another question that I have is how should I approach our single asymptomatic adult hen? She is a small bantam who has been living with the other chickens throughout this ordeal. We feel like it is deluded to even imagine that she is not a carrier by this point. Still, I don't know for sure if she is so I am looking for some opinions regarding whether it's worth the risk to attempt to save her from the situation.

I appreciate any advice or information that can be provided.


P.S. I believe that the infection started from introducing new chickens into our flock from a farm that wasn't keeping them in the best conditions. It was a rookie mistake and I'm aware now that this choice had long-term consequences for my birds. The alternative is that we do live in the woods and wild birds are plentiful around here. We attempt to keep our run sanitary, but it's definitely possible for contamination to slip under our noses.

 

[dawg53]

I'm sorry you're going through this.
One of the signs that a bird has Coryza is a foul odor around the head area. Just for your information, CRD aka Chronic Respiratory Disease is Mycoplasma Gallisepticum (MG.)
It's entirely possible that your birds can have both diseases at the same time.

I believe you've read enough literature on both diseases and I also believe that you know that you must cull your flock. Otherwise you'll be treating sick birds for the rest of their lives.
Antibiotics are a temporary fix and only mask symptoms and will not cure the diseases. They are temporary due to the fact both diseases will eventually build resistance and then a more powerful antibiotic will be needed. As always there are egg withdrawal periods, IF the sick birds lay eggs at all.

You already know that stress brings out symptoms. It's not hard for chickens to get easily stressed. I highly recommend that you make the tough decision to cull your flock and bury them deep far away from the coops/pens or incinerate them.
Then thoroughly sanitize coops, nest boxes, roosts including getting rid of bedding or burning it.
Then wait until next spring to repopulate with new birds, preferably purchasing chicks from a reputable hatchery or a feed store. Dont be afraid to ask the feed store personnel what hatchery the chicks came from, and not from the local farmer down the road.
I wish you the best and good luck.

 

[LaFleche]

The advice @dawg53 gave is spot on.
I would cull as well and wait for an entire year to start again.

 

[Lord von Cluck]

Thank you to both @dawg53 and @LaFleche for your helpful advice and encouragement. I absolutely love these birds to death, but every chicken has a bunch of good days and one very bad day. Once we hear back from the necropsy, we're going to cull the flock.

While doing some preparatory cleaning, we found some red mites that we hadn't seen anywhere before (we did a full sanitization of every wall of the coop just this past week), as well as a small amount of mildew.

We're going to obviously re-sanitize the coop again, but if I may ask do either of you have any advice for curtailing the red mite for the future so that I'm aware? I regularly clean the coop and try to do deeper cleanings - are there places I should look to try and find any holdouts?

My current thinking is to use a bleach-water solution to sanitize the coop, and to use Lime and/or DE to prevent future mite outbreaks. I am also looking into mite killers, though I'm hesitant to use those since we own cats. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

(Obviously, any sanitizing will be done in an empty coop, preparing for a future flock!)

 

[LaFleche]

Thank you to both @dawg53 and @LaFleche for your helpful advice and encouragement. I absolutely love these birds to death, but every chicken has a bunch of good days and one very bad day. Once we hear back from the necropsy, we're going to cull the flock.

While doing some preparatory cleaning, we found some red mites that we hadn't seen anywhere before (we did a full sanitization of every wall of the coop just this past week), as well as a small amount of mildew.

We're going to obviously re-sanitize the coop again, but if I may ask do either of you have any advice for curtailing the red mite for the future so that I'm aware? I regularly clean the coop and try to do deeper cleanings - are there places I should look to try and find any holdouts?

My current thinking is to use a bleach-water solution to sanitize the coop, and to use Lime and/or DE to prevent future mite outbreaks. I am also looking into mite killers, though I'm hesitant to use those since we own cats. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

(Obviously, any sanitizing will be done in an empty coop, preparing for a future flock!)

Red mites are dangerous to have around chickens as they not only suck their blood leaving them anemic, but in doing to transmit all kinds of illnesses also.

Did you clean and spray the ceilings as well as all the outer surfices?
Did you burn all the removed bedding far away from the coop?

What kind of coop do you have, I suppose it is an old wooden one as you mentioned mildew?

Sometimes it is easier and cheaper to build a new coop for the new birds instead of spending enormous amounts of money and time trying to get the old and infested one up to speed.

You will have almost a year to build a new coop and maybe have it situated somewhere else far away from the old site, if possible.

 

[nuthatched]

That's rough, I'm sorry.
To sanitize your coop, a surface torching will work but so will bleach water. But I'd burn it down and move the site elsewhere.
DE won't work for mites, tge line might but it's better not to treat issues until they come up.

 

[dawg53]

Bleachwater will sanitize and kill external parasites and any other bugs crawling around as well as taking care of mold and mildew.
If you have Permethrin liquid concentrate and a sprayer, you can follow the directions on the label and spray the inside of the coop(s). It is effective for 28 days.
DE is worthless.

 

[Lord von Cluck]

Red mites are dangerous to have around chickens as they not only suck their blood leaving them anemic, but in doing to transmit all kinds of illnesses also.

Did you clean and spray the ceilings as well as all the outer surfices?
Did you burn all the removed bedding far away from the coop?

What kind of coop do you have, I suppose it is an old wooden one as you mentioned mildew?

Sometimes it is easier and cheaper to build a new coop for the new birds instead of spending enormous amounts of money and time trying to get the old and infested one up to speed.

You will have almost a year to build a new coop and maybe have it situated somewhere else far away from the old site, if possible.

We built the coop inside of an unused shed that was on our property when we moved in. It's basically an inclosed and raised 'room" inside of the building made with plywood, 2x4s, and other planks.

We did fully remove the bedding when it was last sanitized, and we did sanitize the outer walls.

We found some between the door jamb of the door, and underneath the roosting bar. There weren't any located elsewhere when I was looking but I may have missed them.

Attached are some pictures, I may be misidentifying them, they were in large black clusters.

 

[Lord von Cluck]

That's rough, I'm sorry.
To sanitize your coop, a surface torching will work but so will bleach water. But I'd burn it down and move the site elsewhere.
DE won't work for mites, tge line might but it's better not to treat issues until they come up.

Unfortunately, the coop is built inside of an existing shed on the property, in retrospect this wasn't a perfect plan. So burning down the building may not be a reliable option for us.

 

[Lord von Cluck]

Bleachwater will sanitize and kill external parasites and any other bugs crawling around as well as taking care of mold and mildew.
If you have Permethrin liquid concentrate and a sprayer, you can follow the directions on the label and spray the inside of the coop(s). It is effective for 28 days.
DE is worthless.

Got it, I was thinking of Permethrin but was hesitant because of my cats. I'll just have to be careful to clean clothing off after using it.

I'll also give the coop as a whole a thorough sanitization. I was using 10% bleach solution, is that sufficient?