Hello all. I am looking for some helpful advice. I have 30 backyard chickens kept in two coupes, but they all free range during the day together. Only seven of my chickens were purchased as chicks , while the rest I have purchased from various backyard flock owners . I have gone through the proper quarantine procedures when introducing new flock members. It has not been until recently, that I have had illnesses break out. It appears I have multiple issues going on . It all began when my Salmon Favrerole died. She was perfectly fine one day with zero symptoms and dead the next morning. After that, I have a 10 week old Welsummer that appears to have wet fowlpox. She has bumps on the right side of her face and beak as well as plaque buildup in her mouth. She has been quarantined and even though I have her on Duramycin and am syringe feeding her, she is not improving and is continuing to get weaker. Since then, I have had a Red Sex Link develop coughing and gurgling when she is breathing. She is now quarantined and is also on Duramycin . She still remains very active and is eating, but the cough is not going away after 10 days . I have now had an Americana come down with bubbles in her eye, coughing and gurgling when breathing. She is also quarantined and on Duramycin. This has all happened within three weeks . None of my chickens are vaccinated. They have clean water daily, are on non-GMO layer pellets and free range during the day. The more I research, the more I am getting confused, because several of the diseases seem to have the same symptoms . I understand that the only sure way to find out what is going on is to have the six chickens tested. What are the odds that I would have different diseases taking place at the same time? By the symptoms, I think my Welsummer has wet fowlpox, and my other two have MG. What I would really like to find out is how I go about testing them while they are alive? I have read that people can send a swab to get tested. Where do you send this to? I have also read that people vaccinate their chickens during an outbreak to prevent the spread. Would you recommend this ? I would love any further input you have as my once healthy and robust flock now seems to be coming down with problems one chicken after the other.
Hi and Glad to have you as part of our growing community. I am very sorry about your flock! I don't know much about illnesses but maybe you could post in the Emergencies/ Diseases/ Injuries and Cures forum, here is the link: www.backyardchickens.com/f/10/emergencies-diseases-injuries-and-cures I hope someone will be able to give you some good advice. If your birds are that sick, maybe you could try and take them to a vet. Good luck and best wishes!
Greetings from Kansas and ! Happy you joined our community but sorry it's under these circumstances. RodNTN gave the same advice I would have. Hope the folks in that forum can give you some helpful advice. Best wishes!
Hello and welcome to BYC - I hope that the ER peeps can help you out on the link given by RodNTN. Best wishes CT
Is it possible to take one sick one and maybe one that has just passed to a vet? With so many different things going on, I would imagine it would be very difficult to diagnose without various tests. The E/R folks have no way to respond to you, once you go offline,
Welcome to BYC! It's great to have you. So sorry you are having issues. Testing them should definitely be the next step. Do you have a local avian vet in your area? Most will do tests for a reasonable fee. In my experience birds are generally tested by drawing blood. If you don't have a local vet, you can probably draw the blood and send it out yourself. Here in California the blood gets sent to UC Davis for testing, not sure about other places. Possibly call an avian vet within your state/locality to ask where they get their samples tested.
