Respiratory disease, culling and sanitation

[dbarjacres]

I just culled my flock of 12 birds, due to an ongoing respiratory issue since late September (sneezing, congested, 5 deaths). My plan is to start over with new chicks this spring.

I've seen some people say this will stay in the ground for a year and other people say that respiratory bugs can only exist about 3 days outside the body.

Does anyone have any accurate knowledge of this?

I did not have any post mortems done, so don't know exactly what bug it was from, just something that appeared when I purchased started chicks from a breeder (who claimed to have healthy birds, and he must have brought something in as I saw he sold his entire flock shortly after my birds were getting sick), feed thru crumbles nor herbal supplements did not help.

 

[dawg53]

I just culled my flock of 12 birds, due to an ongoing respiratory issue since late September (sneezing, congested, 5 deaths). My plan is to start over with new chicks this spring.

I've seen some people say this will stay in the ground for a year and other people say that respiratory bugs can only exist about 3 days outside the body.

Does anyone have any accurate knowledge of this?

I did not have any post mortems done, so don't know exactly what bug it was from, just something that appeared when I purchased started chicks from a breeder (who claimed to have healthy birds, and he must have brought something in as I saw he sold his entire flock shortly after my birds were getting sick), feed thru crumbles nor herbal supplements did not help.

Not knowing what disease your birds were infected with makes it difficult to figure out what the course time would be for repopulation. A necropsy would be best. Here's a link with incubation and course times for respiratory diseases in poultry:
http://www.amerpoultryassn.com/respiratory_disease.htm

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Here is a good general link that may help you somewhat, or not.
http://www.amerpoultryassn.com/respiratory_disease.htm

http://ohioline.osu.edu/vme-fact/0013.html

http://www.fao.org/docrep/014/al876e/al87600.pdf
this one esp. helpful I think