Mystery quarantine illness

[speckledhen]

My gut is telling me it is CRD. We have dealt with it before. When a flock is healthy you see it very rarely. We treat adult birds with Tylan 50 and young chicks with LS 50. Should I just let the illness run its course with little intervention and observe the quarantined group or are they even worth dealing with?

When if ever will I know it is safe to introduce them to my other chickens if it is only CRD?

How will I know if it is something more serious?

Sorry for all the questions..

MG is part of CRD. It leaves every infected bird a carrier permanently. You can never safely introduce any birds if they've had CRD/MG/MS. Antibiotics do not change their carrier status.

 

[KF0002]

I am brooding all my young chicks in my spare bedroom in a large vinyl seed starter greenhouse to contain dust. I have moved my newly hatched chicks that were born today to another bedroom. I bleached and washed the brooder beforehand. Is that sufficient to prevent further spread? My incubator is in my spare bedroom where I brood chicks as well. Should it be moved also?

 

[KF0002]

Moved my incubator to another room as well just to be safe. I am not set up for this. I am used to brooding my own healthy chicks. I guess I trusted that NPIP meant illness free. Boy was I wrong. Never again..

 

[speckledhen]

Moved my incubator to another room as well just to be safe. I am not set up for this. I am used to brooding my own healthy chicks. I guess I trusted that NPIP meant illness free. Boy was I wrong. Never again..

Sadly, that's what most people believe about NPIP. It tests mainly for two old diseases that are basically eradicated already. Sometimes they test for Avian Influenza. They do not test for MG unless the owner pays for it separately and tests for it quarterly and even then, it only means the tested birds are free of it on testing day.
NPIP was not set up for backyard flocks-it was established to protect the country's food supply. I know of instances where NPIP breeders were responsible for the spread of way worse diseases than MG, like ILT. That is a reportable disease where the gov't will come in and cull every living bird on your property, even those not exposed to the infected ones. To a degree, NPIP relies pretty much on the honor system and you know how that goes.

 

[KF0002]

Sadly, that's what most people believe about NPIP. It tests mainly for two old diseases that are basically eradicated already. Sometimes they test for Avian Influenza. They do not test for MG unless the owner pays for it separately and tests for it quarterly and even then, it only means the tested birds are free of it on testing day.
NPIP was not set up for backyard flocks-it was established to protect the country's food supply. I know of instances where NPIP breeders were responsible for the spread of way worse diseases than MG, like ILT. That is a reportable disease where the gov't will come in and cull every living bird on your property, even those not exposed to the infected ones. To a degree, NPIP relies pretty much on the honor system and you know how that goes.

Just wanted to give u an update. We killed every exposed chick.. whether it was symptomatic or not. Didnt want to take a chance on bringing something bad in on our chickens. I have some black copper marans eggs lined up from a reputable breeder that shows them. Hopefully my luck will turn around. So far this year has been one step forward and two steps back. Thanks again for your advice. It made the decision easier to make.

 

[speckledhen]

Just wanted to give u an update. We killed every exposed chick.. whether it was symptomatic or not. Didnt want to take a chance on bringing something bad in on our chickens. I have some black copper marans eggs lined up from a reputable breeder that shows them. Hopefully my luck will turn around. So far this year has been one step forward and two steps back. Thanks again for your advice. It made the decision easier to make.

Though it's always very sad to have to euthanize a chick, or any bird, I'm glad what I said brought you clarity in your decison.

 

[Nicki750zi]

We are in the same boat, unfortunately. I bought five 10 week olds from a 'breeder' who I also thought was reputable. 10 days after bringing them home and them being quarantined, 3 were sneezing, runny noses and labored breathing. One had gurgling at night. I culled those 3 first. The other two just now started having runny noses and will be culled next. It's very heartbreaking to have to do, but in my opinion it's necessary to maintain a healthy flock. I'm sorry for your bad experience and for your chicks. Thanks for the post and update.

 

[KF0002]

We are in the same boat, unfortunately. I bought five 10 week olds from a 'breeder' who I also thought was reputable. 10 days after bringing them home and them being quarantined, 3 were sneezing, runny noses and labored breathing. One had gurgling at night. I culled those 3 first. The other two just now started having runny noses and will be culled next. It's very heartbreaking to have to do, but in my opinion it's necessary to maintain a healthy flock. I'm sorry for your bad experience and for your chicks. Thanks for the post and update.

Culling sick birds in quarantine is definitely necessary to keep your other birds healthy. It is sad to have to do it but thats what it takes. I will in no way risk disease to our birds so in the end the choice to cull our sick chicks was made easier. Sorry you had a bad experience too. At least you only had to cull 5. We ended up culling like 14, including the quarantined chicks and also some of mine that I hatched that were exposed in the brooder. It was a small loss considering the amount of chickens we have that were kept from being infected by culling. It has to be done unfortunately.