My chicken flue disaster

[Abdelaziz]

Hi everyone.
We have a saying in Algeria that goes: Spend a night with the chicken, in the morning you will crow. Meaning when you mix with some people, you will be infected by whatever they have. I hope the infection we get from this forum will make us healthier.

My question is this? Was it really my fault?

I have a small farm where I raise some chicken (more than 100), sheep and just started raising fish in a sea-side city in Algeria called Annaba close to the borders with Tunisia. Because I work overseas, I have someone take care of the farm, my neighbour, and I give him a monthly wage.

The last time I went back home and visited the farm, I wanted to increase the flock so I bought a few more bird (turkeys, guinea fowls, fayumis and local breed chickens). A friend of mine bought them from an unknown location. I wanted diversification. I asked my neighbour and he agreed to put the new birds with the old ones. Believe me, the following day a few of the birds started sneezing and we started to count the dead everyday although we separated the diseased ones.
Was it my fault?

I believe I was the cause of the disaster.
One more mistake I did as some people told me is when I allowed the birds out too early at dawn. It was still slightly dark and the green plants still wet.

What would you do in this situation? How could you stop the disaster?

 

[Lazy Farmer]

owie.. It's always wise to quarantine new additions prior to merging introduction.
I can't give you any treatment advice. Someone may, soon enough.
Welcome to the site..

 

[CCUK]

It is Always best practice to keep any new birds especially when you don't know where they have come from completely separate for at least 2-4 weeks to prevent any potential diseases spreading. Letting them out early in the morning shouldn't really matter. You do well by separating the sick birds. If it is possible it would be worth getting a vet to find out what exactly the problem is. I'm not saying it is but you could have avian flu. If the birds are sneezing one day and dead the next isn't good. Are there faces swollen with nasal discharge aswell?

 

[CCUK]

Oh no. Thats such a shame. Brahmas are such lovely birds. If they are making a recovery whilst being in the same vicinity as the sick birds it may not be avian flu. It does seem like some virulent respiratory disease. I not an expert but there is alot of different different types of respiratory problems chickens can get. It is normally accompanied with mycoplasma as a secondary illness. If you have any unwell birds to start with a bad strain of mycoplasma can finish them off unless they have quick diagnosis and immediate treatment. This link may help.
http://www.chickenvet.co.uk/health-and-common-diseases/respiratory-disease/index.aspx

 

[sourland]

Welcome to BYC, and sorry for your loss. Hopefully the remaining birds are more disease resistant and will help you reestablish your flock. Good luck.

 

[Akrnaf2]

A salam u Aleicum cousin.
Every time that you bring a new animal to a healthy flock or herd you HAVE to quarantine! No outer options! It is not important that it looks healthy ! It should stay like that for all the quarantine period! At least 30 days but 40 is better (quaranta =40 in Italian ) and then and only then you can add it to the flock or herd.

 

[bobbi-j]

Here is a good link on quarantine in case you decide to buy more chickens.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...nderestimated-part-of-raising-chickens.67097/

 

[Abdelaziz]

Thanks for your comments and advice, Chickencountryuk & Farmer Connie. I appreciate that. We did get a vet and he requested giving the chickens some boosters (in their drinking water) but we didn't see any improvement. I was afraid I would lose all my birds. So saddened by what was happening, I left home and went back to work. One thing I remember I heard or perhaps read in the internet is to mash some garlic and put it in the water for the birds to drink. I am not sure whether this worked, but fortunately we managed to save more than a third of the flock and now they're doing fine. However, I lost all my Brahma breed.

 

[Abdelaziz]

Thanks a lot for the link. It has a lot of useful tips and advice.
Unfortunately I don't have any Brahmas left. I still have a few Orpingtons, a couple of guinea fowls, a couple of turkeys and I recently bought one leghorn rooster and two hens and they're giving us a lot of eggs as my neighbours tells me. I think if one wants to raise chicken for eggs, white leghorn is an excellent choice.

 

[CCUK]

I have 4 whitestar hens. They are a leghorn hybrid. They lay pure white eggs and there're a good size too! I hope you get your flock better. Losing hens for whatever reason is never nice.