Necrotic Beaks

[ageranger361]

Update Day 4: 07/07/2018

Last evening we had a power outage. High winds broke three power poles off up the road from our property and we were without power for 14 hours, normally not a huge deal, but with chicks in the brooder it is. So I had to fuel the generator and hook up the chicken trailer to it to get the heat lamps working. While checking on the chicks at that time I noticed one additional AB chick with a small lesion starting. It was dark and raining so I left it overnight until this morning.

This morning I did normal chores with the added cleaning of equipment and dosing of doxycycline. At that time I found the AB chick with a lesion and separated it into a shipping box on a shelf along with the RIR chick with a small lesion, which yes, I decided not to cull just to see if it will survive since the lesion was so small.

I refreshed the adult chickens water and food first, then the chicks, then the known infected chicks in that order so that I was taking any potential cross contamination up to the source rather than down from it hoping to eliminate further infections.

The adult chickens and remainder of the chicks seem uninfected so far. I did not remember to bring my phone this morning so I did not take pictures. However, the RIR chicks beak advanced only very slightly at a much slower rate than before, but I will upload pictures at evening chores if I remember my phone.

 

[ageranger361]

Update Day 5:
No further infections in remainder of chicks found. The one RIR and one Bresse chick which showed small lesions have not progressed in their symptoms and I’m confident that they will survive and still be able to eat without any issues.

I’ve had no issues of cross contamination from the chicks up to the adult RIR’s or to the Adolescent Bresse. I feel like I have the infection under control, and will continue this course of antibiotics for another 5 days on the chicks. I will continue the adult RIR’s through tomorrow and then take them off the antibiotics. The adolescent Bresse chickens I’m going to remove from antibiotics starting tomorrow.

The RIR and Bresse chick that are showing symptoms will remain on antibiotics and quarantined until after the full course of 10 days is through. At that time I will examine them and make a determination on their futures, which I believe will be keeping them at this point.

 

[tjo804]

CONGRATULATIONS

Did you end up finding something to treat the soil with?

 

[ageranger361]

No, the soil is under a layer of over 6” deep of mulch. I don’t know that I’d be able to treat it with anything at this point. I think the soil is fine though. I believe this bacteria came in to our property from Bresse Farms inadvertently, or from local wild birds somehow. I don’t think that the mulch is the problem either. However, I am going to be cleaning their litter out entirely on day 8 of antibiotics and replacing it with fresh unused wood chips from our pile far away from the bird areas. When I do that I’m goung to temporarily put the chicks in totes and spray the floor and walls down with a bleach water solution and let it dry, then put the fresh mulch down and put the chicks back in. This will be done two days before their antibiotics course is completed.

 

[ageranger361]

Update Day 6:

No further infection in any chickens or chicks.

Infected chicks progression stopped and are recovering nicely. Growth is on par with uninfected chicks, and uninfected chicks growth is on par with standard.

Adult Bresse in Chicken Tractor removed from doxycycline as of today. Adult RIR chickens are on their final day of doxycycline. Chicks have 3 additional days of doxycycline treatment left to go.

I uploaded some current pics of infected chicks.

 

[tjo804]

 

[ageranger361]

Update Day 7:

Okay, this is a pretty important update. Today at morning checks I found several issues with the chicks, but let me start out with the adults.

The American Bress Adolescents still seem happy and healthy with no signs of the infection.

The adult RIR chickens seem to be doing great. In fact they’re laying just as many eggs or more on doxycycline (which we are disposing of) than they were at the outset. This May be coincidental though because we recently started supplementing lacto-fermented whole grain feeds into the adult birds diet. The important thing is no infection in these birds still. I removed these bird from the doxycycline starting today, so 30 days from today we can collect eggs for food again.

On to the chicks, and this is where the big change has started for me. I started this out being very reserved in my judgement on where the infection came from, and holding a generally positive review of the breeder Justin Moss of “Bresse Farms.” And I still hold a positive opinion of him as a person because he has been personally involved in the resolution of this incident with me, but I have moved to a place of no longer being able to recommend them as a breeder source for birds based on what I’m seeing. Here’s why:

In the 5 years or so of me keeping chickens, I’ve never had any contagious infections in my flocks up until now. I’ve sourced birds from Mcmurray hatchery, from tractor supply, from a local duck farm, all without incident until now. I’ve always maintained a very neat and orderly coop, and provide much better living conditions than most. My birds are almost pampered. They get heat in the winter, fresh water daily, whole grains and commercial feed, and diatomaceous earth in their diet daily, so they’re constantly being dewormed, and it shows. I’ve always had good egg production and healthy birds. There has been the occasional escape, and lapses in quality protection, like when we moved them here with us from another town and had to start a chicken area from scratch, they were completely free range for a bit and got attacked by dogs two or three times. All of that to say that, aside from short periods out of our control my flocks have always been managed very closely.

Each of the batches of chicks that I’ve raised, some from hatcheries, and some from an incubator on our farmstead, (~ 6 Times now or so), have been very healthy up until now. I’ve had a chick die here and there within their first week, but I can count the number of chicks that died in my care on one hand up until this batch. Now, on this batch, I’ve reached 6 chicks alone that have died. This was due to a bacterial infection in day old chicks, which granted, could have come from my property somehow, although I now very high doubt it.

Today at morning checks I found this chick with crossed beak, and some kind of infection on the top of the head over the eye and lower beak near the wattle.


I also noticed a few chicks with feet deformity issues. At this point, I’m certain that there are some serious inbreeding issues occurring in this breeder’s program. There was also one additional chick with an injury on its top beak towards the head, but it was uninfected and may have just been a minor injury that occurred in the brooder. I have had that happen once or twice in the past with the small hardware cloth. But the issue of the feet deformities along with the crossed beak, and this new infection, and the original bacterial infection are all pointing to one thing, and I hate to say it, but it points to poor flock management and breeding practices at the source breeder, which was Bresse Farms.

Again, I hold no ill will towards them, and I’m not going to ask for free birds, for one primary reason: I don’t trust the stock not to bring in more or other infections and deformities. I suppose I could ask for a refund, but I won’t. I paid $100 for 10 vaccinated chicks, but what I really bought was a life lesson and experience in dealing with this infection in my flock. I also have been able to chronicle this incident for the BYC community’s benefit. And if all that wasn’t enough, I made contact with my Board of Animal Health and learned who they were and how to get in touch with them. All of that for $100 is a bargain. I suppose if the breeder was to offer a full refund willingly I would take it and tell everyone they refunded me, but I will not ask them for it.

I provided the owner Justin Moss a link to this forum by email, so if he’s inclined to see what is being said about his company he has a means to do so.

I guess my next question for this forum is:

Does anyone recognize this new problem or have they seen anything like this before? If so, how should I treat it.

I’m probably going to involve the MS BOAH again with the updated symptoms and see what they say either way, but I’m open to experienced based suggestions.

 

[tjo804]

Sorry for your troubles, wish I could help.

 

[ageranger361]

Sorry for missing yesterday. There were no changes to report, but..

Update Day 8: 07/11/2018
No infections in adult birds or chicks. Cross Beaked chick with infection on lower beak is still alive and healing.

Update Day 9: 07/12/2018
Exact same as yesterday.

 

[ageranger361]

And sorry for missing yesterday as well.

No changes in any of the flocks or chicks. It seems like all the remainder have survived and are recovered. I finished the chicks all out on doxycycline day 10, and started giving them fermented whole grain as a supplement to their medicated feed, which they were only mildly interested on day 10.

Today was day 11, and there have been no issues with any of the flock. All birds have completed their respective courses of antibiotics and have been removed from them. The chicks will remain on medicated feed until their current 10lb bag runs out. They were much more receptive of the fermented grains this morning and squabbled over them a bit. I guess they know they need some probiotics in their gut now. Unless I have any further issue, or comments or questions, this will be my last update.