Nonstop illness

[monicamarie83]

Hello all! I have had a tough time with my chickens. Ever since last summer I've been losing chickens left and right. It seems to be respiratory issues : runny nose, sneezing, gasping for air. I hatched out a bunch of chicks last year and kept about 10 for myself and I have 2 left. Some of my older chickens got it and died too but some of my girls seem to be prone to it. I can't afford a vet bill , I've exhausted my resources and I need advice. I thought it was the dust where they were so I moved their entire coop but their still dying. I've had a couple pull through and beat it but I want to get more chickens and scared of their fate. I've never vaccinated my chick's and I'm planning on starting when I start hatching this year but what do I get? So please help me with respiratory issues and vaccines! Thank you!

 

[Sally PB]

https://www.fao.org/3/t0756e/T0756E00.htm#TOC
Read this, see if any of your symptoms line up with a particular illness. You need to figure out what is killing your birds.

If you have a body of one, you can send it to be necropsied to get an accurate diagnosis. Keep the body cold, but don't freeze it.
https://www.metzerfarms.com/poultry-labs.html
That's a list of diagnostic labs.

 

[monicamarie83]

https://www.fao.org/3/t0756e/T0756E00.htm#TOC
Read this, see if any of your symptoms line up with a particular illness. You need to figure out what is killing your birds.

If you have a body of one, you can send it to be necropsied to get an accurate diagnosis. Keep the body cold, but don't freeze it.
https://www.metzerfarms.com/poultry-labs.html
That's a list of diagnostic labs.

It sounds like Infectious bronchitis. There's no blood , lesions , swelling, but thank you for that list!

 

[saysfaa]

If it is infectious bronchitis then I don't think vaccinating chicks will help. The chick vaccines are for other things. I could be wrong but I think I read that the vaccines are very expensive to get in small quantities.

You might consider leaving your coop empty for six weeks, then getting all different chicks or chickens. The link Sally gave says it persists in the environment for 4 weeks; 6 weeks gives extra margin. It would need to be all new chickens because of how long the survivors shed the virus.

You may want to confirm what the problem is before investing that much into breaking the cycle - at least if you have another one die. This won't work well for some of the other possibilities. Also, if it is something else, you might be able to keep the survivors without risking the new chicks or chickens by using a different way to disinfect the coop.

 

[monicamarie83]

If it is infectious bronchitis then I don't think vaccinating chicks will help. The chick vaccines are for other things. I could be wrong but I think I read that the vaccines are very expensive to get in small quantities.

You might consider leaving your coop empty for six weeks, then getting all different chicks or chickens. The link Sally gave says it persists in the environment for 4 weeks; 6 weeks gives extra margin. It would need to be all new chickens because of how long the survivors shed the virus.

You may want to confirm what the problem is before investing that much into breaking the cycle - at least if you have another one die. This won't work well for some of the other possibilities. Also, if it is something else, you might be able to keep the survivors without risking the new chicks or chickens by using a different way to disinfect the coop.

I really don't won't to do that if I can help it... I can part with a few but I'm partial to some of my girls... I'm hoping it's running its course and going away... the last sick ones I separated from the others so fingers crossed its done. I normally clean my coop and spray it with ammonia and let it air out but the weather here in VA has been wet and nasty so I haven't had a chance to .

 

[triciayoung]

I really don't won't to do that if I can help it... I can part with a few but I'm partial to some of my girls... I'm hoping it's running its course and going away... the last sick ones I separated from the others so fingers crossed its done. I normally clean my coop and spray it with ammonia and let it air out but the weather here in VA has been wet and nasty so I haven't had a chance to .

First and foremost, you need to know the disease you are dealing with...You can do the samples yourself and send to a lab to get results. This is inexpensive. chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.vetdna.com/application/forms/aviansubmittalform.pdf