sick chickens

[jmcgee83]

My serama chickens are sick. Nothing has bee n different and up until a few weeks ago I had only had chicks and young birds that I hatched myself. I brought three adult birds in and 4 young birds. One of the young birds exhibited signs of illness shortly after maybe the following morning. It was gasping for air. I just thought it must be hot or something. It wouldn't eat or drink. It died the following morning. Then its sibling got sick. And did the same thing but not as severe. But it also died. I assumed that it was isolated events and that was the end of it.

But then one of my original hatchlings got sick I also thought she was sick from something else like genetics or something. Breathing heavy swelling face. she lasted about a week.

I started to suspect something else when my ameraucana started gasping a little but it soon went away. So I thought maybe I was hallucinating.

But now everyone is sick except the 3 young adults I brought in, my young chicks, and young marans. What has happened?!?! I don't want them to die. I got some tylan 50 and dosed the whole flock last night. But no difference this morning. They have puffy faces, gurgling sounds and some are breathing heavy.

I called the state vet and asked if I could send a sample to them. I'm confused at to what happened. The breeder was npip and very reputable so don't believe it was anything from his flock. Maybe the babies got chilled and got some sort of cold?

I love my birds so much. They bring me so much joy and they love me as well. They are relying on me to make them better. What else can I do?

 

[chooks4life]

The breeder being NPIP doesn't prove too much unfortunately and it's never a true guarantee. It does sound like you got something either from him or from some cross contamination on the way. I dare say he would have taken every precaution but that doesn't guarantee anything.

Might be Coryza, since you mention swollen faces and gasping... If you can look up the symptoms and make a match you might find the solution.

Whatever it is sounds quite virulent. I'd be giving the chooks raw freshly minced garlic, as much as they want to eat and if they don't want to eat it I'd get a clove of minced garlic into all of them anyway; it's antimicrobial and contains dozens of natural antibiotics and so much more, plus it makes artificial antibiotics more effective, but I think you might need a specific artificial antibiotic for whatever this is. If Tylan's overused where you are, or not specific for this disease, it won't work but will make the disease stronger instead.

Good luck and best wishes.

 

[chooks4life]

Oh, and hydrogen peroxide: without any additives in it. That one can blast even seriously advanced deep respiratory infections out of them within 24 hours. They can be gurgling loudly, livid-colored in face, comb and wattles, and it will still work.

They used to sell it all over the place but now much of it has a toxic additive to stop people ingesting it, however you can get (in Australia anyway) something called 'pure wine' I think it is which is a tiny bottle sold in alcohol shops which contains only hydrogen peroxide, used to knock the preservative out of wine so as to stop hangovers. This works just fine. All you need is a drop.

Best wishes.

 

[jmcgee83]

Oh, and hydrogen peroxide: without any additives in it. That one can blast even seriously advanced deep respiratory infections out of them within 24 hours. They can be gurgling loudly, livid-colored in face, comb and wattles, and it will still work.

They used to sell it all over the place but now much of it has a toxic additive to stop people ingesting it, however you can get (in Australia anyway) something called 'pure wine' I think it is which is a tiny bottle sold in alcohol shops which contains only hydrogen peroxide, used to knock the preservative out of wine so as to stop hangovers. This works just fine. All you need is a drop.

Best wishes.

what do you do with the peroxide? Do they ingest it?

 

[jmcgee83]

I have a hard time believing coryza. Only because this isn't just some reputable breeder. He is ONE of the reputable breeders. So it had to something I've done wrong.

I have a hard time believing coryza. Could it be brooder pneumonia and they just have inflamed sinuses? No diarrhea, no blood. Maybe the little chick got chilled and got pneumonia?

Could it be brooder pneumonia and they just have inflamed sinuses? No diarrhea, no blood. Maybe the little chick got chilled and got pneumonia?

 

[Eggcessive]

Mycoplasma as well as coryza can cause the symptoms you are seeing. Coryza smells very bad, so if there is a rotten odor around the face, it could be that. NPIP is different in each state, but they mainly test for pullorum and fowl typhoid, I believe. Any birds coming from another place can be carriers. Incubation times for coryza is only a couple of days, where MG can be days to weeks. Any stress, such as shipping or changing flocks, could bring on one of those diseases if they are carriers. You should call the state vet, and either sacrifice a sick bird to get a necropsy done, or have a couple tested. Obviously there is a disease. It is an awful thing to have to cull a whole flock, clean and disinfect your facilities, wait several weeks to repopulate with healthy birds, but that is the only way to get rid of MG or coryza. Here is a link for your state vet, testing facilities, and a link about the symptoms of the various respiratory diseases:
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ps044
http://www.usaha.org/Portals/6/StateAnimalHealthOfficials.pdf
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/animal_health/nahln/downloads/all_nahln_lab_list.pdf

 

[MrsBrooke]

Mycoplasma as well as coryza can cause the symptoms you are seeing. Coryza smells very bad, so if there is a rotten odor around the face, it could be that. NPIP is different in each state, but they mainly test for pullorum and fowl typhoid, I believe. Any birds coming from another place can be carriers. Incubation times for coryza is only a couple of days, where MG can be days to weeks. Any stress, such as shipping or changing flocks, could bring on one of those diseases if they are carriers. You should call the state vet, and either sacrifice a sick bird to get a necropsy done, or have a couple tested. Obviously there is a disease. It is an awful thing to have to cull a whole flock, clean and disinfect your facilities, wait several weeks to repopulate with healthy birds, but that is the only way to get rid of MG or coryza.

X2

MrsB

 

[MrsBrooke]

It might be worth reaching out to the breeder where the birds came from and let him know that this has happened in your flock. He may have some insight for you (either to confirm that he, too, has an outbreak, or that his flock has no symptoms of the disease).

I did this with a lady I bought started hatchery pullets from. One came down with what I feared was MG, so I called her to let her know. She was appreciative of the information and shared that she DID have an MG outbreak that caused her to cull 250 of her birds a year previous... Fortunately, my bird didn't have it, but, as a breeder, it is good information to have, especially if there is the potential you are sending sick birds to people (however accidental).

I read a member on here saying that if his birds got sick, he would treat them until they showed no more symptoms and then sell them at an auction to FFA students and people like you and me. Not insinuating that your breeder did that, but people DO pull some terrible, shady malarkey in the livestock world. :/ Very sad.

MrsB

 

[chooks4life]

what do you do with the peroxide? Do they ingest it?

Put a drop in their mouth if it's sufficiently low dilution, or in their water. Depending on what the disease is, and what your intentions with the flock are, you may prefer to have survivor/carriers, or may prefer to cull the lot and start again as Eggcessive mentioned.

Asides from that, X2 what Eggcessive and MrsBrooke said.

I tossed Coryza out as a suggestion but there's a lot of things it could be.

Definitely worth letting the breeder know what happened in case he has a problem on his hands. If he's worth his salt/reputation he won't take it personally, he will be happy you let him know, but I understand the reluctance to possibly offend someone you look up to. Still, it's not about ego, it's about good husbandry, and he may have a serious issue he is unaware of, top breeder or not. These things happen despite all the precautions. If you don't have a perfectly isolated and biosecure flock basically kept in a bubble from the outside world, then you can't guarantee anything. NPIP testing doesn't guarantee many things, and no average breeder has a pathogen free flock, not 100%, regardless of what some nuggets may claim.

Best wishes.

 

[MrsBrooke]

NPIP doesn't guarantee MG-free.... MG can be passed to the offspring.

X2 on Chooks' comment on being offensive. In no way should this be about "pointing fingers." He should be appreciative and maybe offfer some free advice!

MrsB