- Jul 9, 2009
- 6
- 0
- 7
Hi,
I'm new to BYC. Little background...I have (had) 6 Brahma hens. Got them last October. They were about 1 1/2 year old then. Unfortunately, I'd not done enough research and I bought them from an individual and based on what she told me when I got the chickens (about sneezing, etc) I think they were carriers for CRD when I got them. So we have occasionally had sneezing and such when it's been wet for a period of several days. But the sneezing always went away with extra attention to giving them apple cider vinegar, yogurt, etc.
Fast forward to a three weeks ago. One of the chickens started sneezing again. The sneeze hasn't gone away and I do notice at night that she is rattly sounding. I've been putting vetrx in their water and putting it under their wings and on thier heads at night. Up until this point, I'd not done a ton of research because I was told that it was normal for them to sometimes get colds. Now I know better. Also, just have to say, that even the Storey's chicken book I have doesn't have a heck of a lot on CRD in it, just basic information that respiratory stuff can kill a chicken. No swollen faces, no goopy noses or eyes, no other symptoms in anyone.
Well, a week ago, I go out right before bedtime to take them a snack of tomato tops and one of the birds has her head back and is making some throaty noises. I knew at the time this wasn't a good sign but didn't know what to do to help her immediately. The next morning she was dead. We took her to a local university and they did a necropsy. At first I was told that she didn't appear to have anything that would suggest she was contagious to other birds, that she had suffocated on a bacterial infection in her trachea and that sometimes things like this could be isolated in one bird. They were sending tissue off for further testing.
So two days ago I got the call that said, guess what, it was a type of mycolplasma, MG. In my state, that is reportable to state ag guys. They came out, told me it was really common, put my birds under quarantine (which means I can't move the birds or add new birds to the flock until all the existing birds are dead and my coop has been thoroughly disinfected and empty for 30 days). I'm okay with that. I can have the quarantine lifted if I treat them, get them tested and they prove MG free, then have them tested again 30 days later, and again, they are MG free. I understand from what I've read that it would be irresponsible to ever add more birds to any of the current 5 that I have because they will be lifelong carriers even if they are not symptomatic.
My intention is not to cull the current 5 birds. They are more like pets than livestock for us. That said, I do intend to treat them, and hopefully have them show up as MG free simply because I love them and want them to live long disease free lives, even if they are carriers. If at some point I end up with just two of these guys, I may make the difficult decision to cull and start over. But for now, I want to try to heal these guys up and keep them. I don't have a lot of money to spend on them, but I can afford to order some Tylan and Probios, and I have the time and inclination to have the state ag guys come out and swab them again (that's free).
So...from what I've read here, Tylan is my best bet. The local feed store does not carry it, so I'll have to order. I can order water soluable or injectible. Finally, my question is...what do you recommend? The water soluable or the injectible? And if you say injectible, how difficult is that to administer? Obviously I can catch everyone and hold them long enough to do the vetrx, but they don't really like it. They weren't cuddly when I got them and my insistence on handling them is met with some resistance and animosity. I don't care if they don't like it, but I don't want to order something that turns out to be impossible to administer. My inclination is that the injectible is probably the most sure-fire way to make sure everybody gets appropriate dosage. I don't want to treat them half-way....if I'm going thru all this and not being able to eat the eggs for half of a month, then I want the treatment to at least make everyone a-symptomatic. The state ag guys were not encouraging that I would be able to get them to all show MG free for the two rounds of testing, but that is what I'd like to aim for anyway.
Thanks for reading, and for any advice you can offer.
I'm new to BYC. Little background...I have (had) 6 Brahma hens. Got them last October. They were about 1 1/2 year old then. Unfortunately, I'd not done enough research and I bought them from an individual and based on what she told me when I got the chickens (about sneezing, etc) I think they were carriers for CRD when I got them. So we have occasionally had sneezing and such when it's been wet for a period of several days. But the sneezing always went away with extra attention to giving them apple cider vinegar, yogurt, etc.
Fast forward to a three weeks ago. One of the chickens started sneezing again. The sneeze hasn't gone away and I do notice at night that she is rattly sounding. I've been putting vetrx in their water and putting it under their wings and on thier heads at night. Up until this point, I'd not done a ton of research because I was told that it was normal for them to sometimes get colds. Now I know better. Also, just have to say, that even the Storey's chicken book I have doesn't have a heck of a lot on CRD in it, just basic information that respiratory stuff can kill a chicken. No swollen faces, no goopy noses or eyes, no other symptoms in anyone.
Well, a week ago, I go out right before bedtime to take them a snack of tomato tops and one of the birds has her head back and is making some throaty noises. I knew at the time this wasn't a good sign but didn't know what to do to help her immediately. The next morning she was dead. We took her to a local university and they did a necropsy. At first I was told that she didn't appear to have anything that would suggest she was contagious to other birds, that she had suffocated on a bacterial infection in her trachea and that sometimes things like this could be isolated in one bird. They were sending tissue off for further testing.
So two days ago I got the call that said, guess what, it was a type of mycolplasma, MG. In my state, that is reportable to state ag guys. They came out, told me it was really common, put my birds under quarantine (which means I can't move the birds or add new birds to the flock until all the existing birds are dead and my coop has been thoroughly disinfected and empty for 30 days). I'm okay with that. I can have the quarantine lifted if I treat them, get them tested and they prove MG free, then have them tested again 30 days later, and again, they are MG free. I understand from what I've read that it would be irresponsible to ever add more birds to any of the current 5 that I have because they will be lifelong carriers even if they are not symptomatic.
My intention is not to cull the current 5 birds. They are more like pets than livestock for us. That said, I do intend to treat them, and hopefully have them show up as MG free simply because I love them and want them to live long disease free lives, even if they are carriers. If at some point I end up with just two of these guys, I may make the difficult decision to cull and start over. But for now, I want to try to heal these guys up and keep them. I don't have a lot of money to spend on them, but I can afford to order some Tylan and Probios, and I have the time and inclination to have the state ag guys come out and swab them again (that's free).
So...from what I've read here, Tylan is my best bet. The local feed store does not carry it, so I'll have to order. I can order water soluable or injectible. Finally, my question is...what do you recommend? The water soluable or the injectible? And if you say injectible, how difficult is that to administer? Obviously I can catch everyone and hold them long enough to do the vetrx, but they don't really like it. They weren't cuddly when I got them and my insistence on handling them is met with some resistance and animosity. I don't care if they don't like it, but I don't want to order something that turns out to be impossible to administer. My inclination is that the injectible is probably the most sure-fire way to make sure everybody gets appropriate dosage. I don't want to treat them half-way....if I'm going thru all this and not being able to eat the eggs for half of a month, then I want the treatment to at least make everyone a-symptomatic. The state ag guys were not encouraging that I would be able to get them to all show MG free for the two rounds of testing, but that is what I'd like to aim for anyway.
Thanks for reading, and for any advice you can offer.
