Possible IB

[CCFarms9559]

I purchased some chickens from a guy on craigslist a week ago. One of them has respiratory sounds. Sneezing, I can hear her breathing and she's almost gurgling...
And yesterday someone laid a wrinkled egg. I have separated her from everyone (I bought 7 hens - and the others all seem fine). I have had them for a week - should I cull the one who sounds so bad and keep the others isolated?? I don't want her to give this to everyone -

Any advice?

 

[PurpleChicken]

If one have it chances are they all have it. Keep the sick one isolated and wish for the best. If it was me I'd cull.

Do you have any other chickens or just these?

Depending on what the birds have they are going to most likely become carriers. You can treat with Tylan.

Personally I'd give the birds back to the guy on Craigslist and start with some clean day old chicks.

 

[dawg53]

IB is a highly contageous virus. You can only use an antibiotic for secondary infections. Cull the one with respiratory issues. The wrinkled egg in conjunction with the other symptoms is a dead give away of the IB virus. Eventually egg production and egg shape will return to normal in time. You must have a closed flock. Do not give any chickens away, sell nor show them. Dont introduce new chickens neither. The virus can be shed on the ground, clothing etc...You must practice strict biosecurity procedures.

 

[CCFarms9559]

I feel so stupid. I raised day old chicks - and wasn't getting enough eggs to keep up with people wanting them - so got these 7 chickens and now may have compromised my whole flock. I will never get chicks from someone I don't know on CL again...

 

[PurpleChicken]

Quote:
It's not only CL, it's anyone. Some people don't know their flocks are infected, some don't realize it's not just a chicken cold, and some just don't care. Call your state ag department and have all your birds tested. You should also notify the seller. I lost over 50 birds because I did exactly what you did, bought a bird and infected my flock.

 

[CCFarms9559]

OK, I got rid of my chicken that I thought had IB on Sunday. None of my other chickens show symptoms. 13 were hatchery chicks and should be vaccinated... the other 6 I got from someone and don't know much about them.. but noone shows any signs at all of being ill. I read online that IB incubates 24-48 hours... Am I in the clear? Noone is sneezing - sounding bad, etc..

 

[dawg53]

Tough to say CCFarms. Has any of the others layed wrinkled eggs? Another thing that IB causes are that the eggs whites are watery when you crack open an egg. Have you encountered that? You can put your ear up to their chest and listen for any gurgling etc...I hope they're clear. Your just going to have to observe them for the symptoms for about a month, I'd say. When this first happened, how hot was it? We had record heat here earlier this summer...upper 90's, low 100's for about 3 weeks and I had several eggs that were wrinkled, egg whites wernt watery, it was due to the heat. I might add there were no respiratory problems, no sneezing etc...The 4th week we got rain and it broke the record heat and eggs were back to normal. So, extreme heat can be a factor especially if they arnt used to it. I thought mine had IB due to the wrinkled eggs and I thoroughly researched IB and things wernt adding up until I read somewhere in this forum that extreme heat and humidity can cause wrinkled eggs. Bingo! I hadnt introduced any new chickens in over 2 years and ALL my chickens were purchased as day old chicks from a well known hatchery prior to 2 years ago. I'm always practicing biosecurity too.