i was afraid that was what it was, but didn't want to scare you. Our flock had it several years ago. The Chicken Doctor sold us a vaccine, I think it's a dead vaccine, that makes it so the birds are not carriers. Really. We vaccinated the entire flock...sick, well, old and young. We were under the supervision of State vets because it is a mandatory quarantine here if the birds get it. They gave us a thumbs up on the vaccine, and worked with us, gave a lot of advice. They said to continue with antibiotics to help combat secondary infections, as well as administring the vaccine. We lost several birds, but not the entire flock by any means. Vaccinate ALL your birds, use the Oxine, and
feed them as well as possible. Some will improve, and some may not get it at all. Just make sure that it's the kind of vaccine that will not make them carriers. I know many will not believe there is such a vaccine, but there actually is. You will not necessarily see any bloody discharge, although that is one symptom of ILT. We never saw any. The only way to know for sure you have it, is if the birds die, and you send them in for for a necropsy. Which I would highly recommend. If you have a very sick bird that you think will not make it, I would ask your State ag dept if they will do a necropsy and euthanize the bird for you. That way you will know what you're dealing with.
And, too, you do want to be very sure that it IS ILT, that's true. If you have birds die quickly, that's one sign that it probably is ILT. Many chicken respiratory illnesses mimick each other, but not all are fatal. ILT definitely is, and usually kills quickly. It's nasty. I can't remember if we used the vaccine before we really knew what we were dealing with, but we did have a necropsy done and had the disease confirmed at some point.
I don't think the disease can be transmitted from a recently vaccinated bird, but I am not sure, I supposed it could be if it were the live vaccine. Maybe they were never vaccinated at all.
Anyway, regardless of what it is, don't give up til you have to. We were devastated when our flock got it, but it did turn out to be a learning experience, and was rewarding in the end, because we felt we did win that fight. You will too.
Also, in some States, ILT is a mandatory cull. You should probably check. And, as you now know, NEVER mix new birds into the flock without a quarantine period. We bought birds with it at an auction, and they were in a pen in the barn, but we did not have them quarantined far enough away from the flock and that's how we got it. mAt that time we had no idea what it was, either. It is VERY contagious...and many poultry illnesses are.
The vaccine is very easy to administer. It's just an eyedrop. WE did our flock assembly line style...one person did the eyedrop, one person marked the bird to indicate the vaccine, one person spritzed each bird with Oxine. I have to laugh thinking about that memory...we actually made it fun, impossible as that seems.
