Only a few had swollen joints. I would say that not all the girls had the same symptoms. In the beginning, it was just a runny rose that ran it's course and was gone in a couple of weeks. Then, one by one, I noticed these things: lethargy, weight loss, pale combs. This only happened one at a time. One would die, then another would show symptoms. When they died, they laid over on their side and liquid came out of the beak. My roo, who never made it to adulthood, walked around with no problem until the day he died. I took two birds to CSU to have them tested. A one year old from my original flock, and a 3 month old that we got as a baby. They all have it. I guess my point is, we can all guess at what is wrong with our birds, but you never really know until you have them tested. Had I done testing on my birds at the beginning of all of this, I might have been able to save some of them. The mortality rate is not supposed to be that high, but I have lost 5 birds out of 8 to this disease. They are now on Tylan, and have been for 3 days. One of my babies, a Campine, has swollen feet, and does not walk well. I am going to check on her in a few minutes, and see how she is doing after 3 days on the antibiotic. She can hardly walk, but I see no mucous in her nose or eyes. Yesterday when she was drinking, we saw mucous come from her mouth. She is very alert, and eats constantly., but just sits in her little paddock we made for her. I am also giving all the birds electrolytes. By the way...I didn't pay a cent for any of my testing. I imagine that is because it is a learning experience for those at the veterinary college. I had phoned a few vets in my area, and asked them what their procedure would be, and they informed me that they would take samples and send them to CSU anyway. I cut out the middle man (the vet) and went straight to CSU. Yes, it was a drive, and cost $30 in gas..but that's a lot better than $65 to see the vet, then another $125 to send it to CSU.
