silversong
In the Brooder
A young rouen drake (about a year old) that we recently purchased died after only showing signs of distress for about a day. The morning he did not come out of the coop with the hens so we shooed him out to join them. We went away for the day and came home to see him sitting in the yard beside the waterer, in apparent distress, looking lethargic. He died shortly after.
Autopsy showed massive salmonella infection, suspected start 7 -10 days before death. The ducks have been housed with our small flock of chickens, sharing the coop, fenced yard, feed (though they had their own feed, they often ate the chicken feed) and water. They were allowed supervised free range in the backyard starting approx 10 days before the drake died.
On what at first seems like a different issue, but I include here in case it ends up being pertinent, we have a four year old production hen that survived a coon attack this summer but did have her comb torn badly at the base (our young white hen was not so fortunate). About a week after the attack, the old girl became very sick, diarrhea, vomiting, lethargic...we thought at the time she was battling an infection and would likely die. But, she found some reserve and made what seemed like a full recovery, and even started laying eggs again when the ducks were introduced. She seemed to prefer hanging out with the ducks over hanging with the young chicks we raised this summer, sharing the ducks bed area, feed, and nest for laying so was in close contact with the ducks for about one month. Then the drake died. About a week later, the old hen is very sick again.
We returned the two rouen hens to the owner when the drake since at that time we did not know what caused his death but suspected possible rat bite (we have not seen any rats, but we are seeing some signs of tunneling in the fenced yard). So far, the rouen hens have not shown any sign of illness, so fingers crossed.
Could the old hen have picked up salmonella from the coon attack, survived the infection, passed it to the drake and is now re-infected? Can ducks get salmonella from chickens? Dr. Barry writes that salmonella deaths in ducks often result from rats, contaminated feed or free ranging. Since all the birds are eating each others feed (note: I've been adding some whole barley to their diet of layer crumbs) and other than the old girl, everyone seems fine.
Really worried this may spread to the flock so need to find the culprit for the salmonella. Dr. Barry recommends adding beneficial bacteria to battle salmonella, but I'm not having any luck finding the product he recommends. I know yoghurt is full of good bacteria, but doubt the flock would eat enough to do any good.
Thoughts, ideas, suggestions, recommendations appreciated!!!!
Autopsy showed massive salmonella infection, suspected start 7 -10 days before death. The ducks have been housed with our small flock of chickens, sharing the coop, fenced yard, feed (though they had their own feed, they often ate the chicken feed) and water. They were allowed supervised free range in the backyard starting approx 10 days before the drake died.
On what at first seems like a different issue, but I include here in case it ends up being pertinent, we have a four year old production hen that survived a coon attack this summer but did have her comb torn badly at the base (our young white hen was not so fortunate). About a week after the attack, the old girl became very sick, diarrhea, vomiting, lethargic...we thought at the time she was battling an infection and would likely die. But, she found some reserve and made what seemed like a full recovery, and even started laying eggs again when the ducks were introduced. She seemed to prefer hanging out with the ducks over hanging with the young chicks we raised this summer, sharing the ducks bed area, feed, and nest for laying so was in close contact with the ducks for about one month. Then the drake died. About a week later, the old hen is very sick again.
We returned the two rouen hens to the owner when the drake since at that time we did not know what caused his death but suspected possible rat bite (we have not seen any rats, but we are seeing some signs of tunneling in the fenced yard). So far, the rouen hens have not shown any sign of illness, so fingers crossed.
Could the old hen have picked up salmonella from the coon attack, survived the infection, passed it to the drake and is now re-infected? Can ducks get salmonella from chickens? Dr. Barry writes that salmonella deaths in ducks often result from rats, contaminated feed or free ranging. Since all the birds are eating each others feed (note: I've been adding some whole barley to their diet of layer crumbs) and other than the old girl, everyone seems fine.
Really worried this may spread to the flock so need to find the culprit for the salmonella. Dr. Barry recommends adding beneficial bacteria to battle salmonella, but I'm not having any luck finding the product he recommends. I know yoghurt is full of good bacteria, but doubt the flock would eat enough to do any good.
Thoughts, ideas, suggestions, recommendations appreciated!!!!
