ChickenLover741
Chirping
- Jul 19, 2015
- 40
- 21
- 80
I have a flock of 12 assorted birds at the moment and when I checked on them this morning, many were coughing and sneezing (at least 5 or 6) and two of them had crackly breathing at times. I separated the two who seemed the worst off and put them in my garage, but that's when Gouda coughed up a string of bloody mucus. She is the only one I have observed coughing blood, as it is primarily sneezing in the other birds. She is also in a molt, so she looks downright pitiful. She and the other one I've quarantined are slightly lethargic but not alarmingly so. I have given them and the rest of the flock electrolytes in their water, as it is all I have. Is this definitely ILT, and if so, do I have to cull? It would break my heart, and I would love to avoid doing that, but I read that once they have the disease, even if they all survive it will be contagious to new birds. We are not planning to get new chicks until a considerable amount of the original flock dies (we like to maintain 12). I am worried that if all the hens have it for life that it will put new birds at risk, and I don't think my parents will vaccinate any new chicks once I leave for college. I'm kind of at a loss here. All I have is electrolyte solution and some sulfide suspension from when one of the hens had a hematoma drained. It says it expired about 20 days ago and I'm pretty sure it wouldn't help anyway as ILT is a virus. What should I do??