Respitory Illness going through my flock.

[napdognewfie]

Thank you for sharing g your horrible experience. My heart goes out to you.

 

[HankB]

To start over I'm going to order hatchlings or eggs from a NPIP hatchery, and then probably hatch from within my own flock. Thx for all the support.

 

[casportpony]

To start over I'm going to order hatchlings or eggs from a NPIP hatchery, and then probably hatch from within my own flock. Thx for all the support.

Sorry for your losses and thanks for sharing your story.

When you do decide to get new eggs or chicks, make sure to get them from a place that's mycoplasma free, because not all NPIP tested places are, most are just tested for bird flu and pullorum.

Ideal Hatchery is a good example... I don't know if they're NPIP tested or not, but I do know that they are positive for mycoplasma.

-Kathy

 

[HankB]

Thank you for the heads up. I will definitely do that.

 

[Ur-ur-ur-urrr]

I had great relationship with my flock. I provided food, great shelter , plenty of room in and out doors and a comfortable life for them. In return I got fresh eggs, the calming effect of just watching and being with them, etc. They were a joy in my life.

About a week 10 days ago I added new hens from a very trustworthy person. The hens never showed any signs of illness. 3 days after added them my rooster was the first one sick, we isolated him and started treating with antibiotics. Then a hen , and then the domino effect took place.
At first I spent money on medicines, feed, electrolytes etc...
I was draining myself trying to treat the first one and then the next etc... Not to mention trying not to cross contaminate, to a run next to theirs, etc....
All of that took place the last 7 days. In the end I ended up culling the whole flock. I did not want to worry that I could carry it to my brothers chickens if I fed before I visited them. And many others reasons as well, local birds etc...
I got a medium size plastic storage container and drilled a few holes in the lid.
Then I bought dry ice at Walmart and cut of about 1/3 of the dry ice block, and put it in a plastic tea picture. This is the key - I filled the picture about 1/2 to 3/4 with water, as soon as u need that the dry ice started to turn into a gas and continued to emit large amounts of gas over the hour it took to add and remove birds from home made CO2 chamber.
This was extremely difficult to do especially with the chickens I was close to.
The hard decision was I had 5 beautiful chili cochin bantams that were in a seperate coop next to the large coop my egg layers were in. They were 8-10 weeks old and gorgeous. I was going to hatch and resell them. I had one of them show mild signs of the respiratory illness. As contagious as it was I was concerned not knowing for sure if they had been exposed. I chose to put them down as well. I'm a grown man, served my country in the arm services. I broke down and cried. When I looked deeper I wasn't just sad I was angry.
I learned a lot from this experience, if I have any advice to give it would be this.
1.never add new chickens to your healthy flock "even if they have been quaritined. The birds that brought it the virus never showed any sickness, through this whole process.
2. Have a euthanasizing program in place.
3. The only way to be sure you have a healthy flock is to get chicks or eggs from a NPIP hatchery.
4. I went out and exhausted financial and emotional resources to try to stop it, for a week and in the end was the same result. The more educated I became the more I realized what I was going to have to do.
5. I would use the dry ice CO2 chamber again. It was hard even with a lot of research to figure out what worked well. I wish I would have had someone I could communicate with and or text to walk me through it.
It took a few attempts to figure out in order to get enough gas I needed to add a lot of water to the chunk of dry ice in the container. I used a tea picture so they wouldn't touch the dry ice inside the storage container.
6. As difficult and exhausted as I am from this, I am glad this is the choice I made. I spent ALL DAY cleaning out coops , feeders etc,,, and spraying them down with Clorox mix.
7. I got so much joy from my flock and loved them like pets.
I have all of the infrastructure in place and will be adding new chickens sometime in the near future. Of course I know your suppose to wait at least 3- days to makes sure nothing is contagious. It will be a few weeks before I add some back when the weather starts to get a little better.
If anyone is going through this and needs help please feel free to contact me, I would be more than happy to help walk you through it.
This has been healing just being able to write this on this form and to hear from other members, thx for being there.

Sorry you had to go through that, Hank. Fortunately, I didn't have the same outcome. I bought a couple of lavender buff orpintons at a flea market, and only after I got home with them did I discover there was a problem with one of them. I did extensive research on the symptoms, and all signs pointed to infectious coryza... with the foul odor as the determining factor in my analysis. While one of the hens appeared to be in good health, I knew that she was contaminated also. Birds can survive this illness and appear normal, but are carriers for life... capable of infecting any other birds they come in contact with. The only thing that saved my existing flock was isolation of the infected birds. Since I quarantined the new birds, the danger of my other birds becoming infected was dramatically minimized. I put the infected birds down, incinerated the carcasses, and sterilized the entire area where the birds were kept. That was a couple of months ago, and my flock has not shown any signs or symptoms of infection. It was a close call, and I realize how easily I could have been in the same position you're in. Yes, it made me very angry that someone probably knew the birds were infected and chose to sell them anyway. It's probably best I haven't seen this seller since that day at the flea market. But I learned a couple of extremely valuable lessons, lessons that I will never forget... know where your birds come from, and most importantly, quarantine!

I'm sorry for your loss(es), and the only good that can come from your experience is perhaps you can save others from suffering the same situation. You will rise from the ashes, and be far more knowledgeable about the do's and don't's of new additions. Best of luck with your future flock, and be sure to let us know what the DOA results are.

 

[HankB]

Snice I just ended culling my whole flcok. I can use suggestions as far as where good reliable purchasing of fertilized eggs or hatchlings would be. Can anyone make any suggestion where to safely purchase hatch lings or fertilized eggs ?

 

[chickengeorgeto]

I had great relationship with my flock. I provided food, great shelter , plenty of room in and out doors and a comfortable life for them. In return I got fresh eggs, the calming effect of just watching and being with them, etc. They were a joy in my life.

About a week 10 days ago I added new hens from a very trustworthy person. The hens never showed any signs of illness. 3 days after added them my rooster was the first one sick, we isolated him and started treating with antibiotics. Then a hen , and then the domino effect took place.
At first I spent money on medicines, feed, electrolytes etc...
I was draining myself trying to treat the first one and then the next etc... Not to mention trying not to cross contaminate, to a run next to theirs, etc....
All of that took place the last 7 days. In the end I ended up culling the whole flock. I did not want to worry that I could carry it to my brothers chickens if I fed before I visited them. And many others reasons as well, local birds etc...
I got a medium size plastic storage container and drilled a few holes in the lid.
Then I bought dry ice at Walmart and cut of about 1/3 of the dry ice block, and put it in a plastic tea picture. This is the key - I filled the picture about 1/2 to 3/4 with water, as soon as u need that the dry ice started to turn into a gas and continued to emit large amounts of gas over the hour it took to add and remove birds from home made CO2 chamber.
This was extremely difficult to do especially with the chickens I was close to.
The hard decision was I had 5 beautiful chili cochin bantams that were in a seperate coop next to the large coop my egg layers were in. They were 8-10 weeks old and gorgeous. I was going to hatch and resell them. I had one of them show mild signs of the respiratory illness. As contagious as it was I was concerned not knowing for sure if they had been exposed. I chose to put them down as well. I'm a grown man, served my country in the arm services. I broke down and cried. When I looked deeper I wasn't just sad I was angry.
I learned a lot from this experience, if I have any advice to give it would be this.
1.never add new chickens to your healthy flock "even if they have been quaritined. The birds that brought it the virus never showed any sickness, through this whole process.
2. Have a euthanasizing program in place.
3. The only way to be sure you have a healthy flock is to get chicks or eggs from a NPIP hatchery.
4. I went out and exhausted financial and emotional resources to try to stop it, for a week and in the end was the same result. The more educated I became the more I realized what I was going to have to do.
5. I would use the dry ice CO2 chamber again. It was hard even with a lot of research to figure out what worked well. I wish I would have had someone I could communicate with and or text to walk me through it.
It took a few attempts to figure out in order to get enough gas I needed to add a lot of water to the chunk of dry ice in the container. I used a tea picture so they wouldn't touch the dry ice inside the storage container.
6. As difficult and exhausted as I am from this, I am glad this is the choice I made. I spent ALL DAY cleaning out coops , feeders etc,,, and spraying them down with Clorox mix.
7. I got so much joy from my flock and loved them like pets.
I have all of the infrastructure in place and will be adding new chickens sometime in the near future. Of course I know your suppose to wait at least 3- days to makes sure nothing is contagious. It will be a few weeks before I add some back when the weather starts to get a little better.
If anyone is going through this and needs help please feel free to contact me, I would be more than happy to help walk you through it.
This has been healing just being able to write this on this form and to hear from other members, thx for being there.

My condolences. What you did is the correct or best course of action.