Tell me about avian flu

[noisycottage]

I'm already panicking. I have already gone to worst case scenario but good info to calm me down would be great. REALLY great.
I can't do the list since this isn't necessarily a question about symptoms but rather needing a little sound advice about avian flu.

We have a vet who lives nearby who has been helping us with one sick chicken who is recovering from fowl pox and then a secondary infection that keeps her face swollen. She has been treated with different antibiotics and we are happy with her progress though it is slow- still swollen face. This morning a different chicken (it has been 2 months since the sick chicken was near the rest of the flock) had a totally different set of symptoms. Panting, purple comb and drooling. Our vet put her down since within 2 hours she was on the floor of the coop with labored breathing. She took the carcass for cremation.

She is doing research (she is not a poultry vet but has been a vet for years and has chickens herself) and it keeps coming back to avian flu since the symptoms line up.

Since my brain goes to terror and CNN news reports, someone with info on this that isn't about how my kids and I are all gonna die, I would really appreciate it. We aren't even letting the kids play in the yard at the moment since we let them free range so there is poop around though not much.

We are calling the proper authorities on Monday since they are closed today.
Anyone come up against this?

 

[noisycottage]

The whole flock will be culled tomorrow (monday). The kids are really broken up, I am really sad and we are just feeling really done with chickens and I LOVE chickens but this illness thing is horrid. We would have culled them this weekend but felt the need to check with the local authorities in case they wanted to test them for illness.
This is really sad..........

Hubby and I are so upset we have decided not to have them anymore. At least not until we have a farm.... So quite a while from now....... Oh we already miss our girls!!!

 

[quiltnchik]

Are you POSITIVE it's Avian Flu? I didn't think we'd had an outbreak of that in the US for years, or was I mistaken? I'm hoping someone else will see this that can better answer your questions. Are you sure the chick didn't die from poisoning?

ETA: Just found this info "Highly pathogenic avian influenza A (H5N1) viruses have never been detected among wild birds, domestic poultry, or people in the United States." here: http://www.cdc.gov/flu/avian/gen-info/avian-flu-humans.htm

 

[PunkinPeep]

noisy cottage, i'm so sorry you're going through this.

quiltnhcick, i'm fairly (actually quite) certain that humans won't catch this, but from what i read here, http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/PS044, noisy is right, and they have to be culled.

so so so so sorry

 

[threehorses]

I hope you didn't cull yet. If you did, I'm terribly sorry.

Never ever cull whole flocks without having a bird tested. Ever. I hope that your vet friend stopped you from that decision.

By the way, pox (wet pox) causes symptoms that are quite like avian flu. Actually just about any respiratory illness and accompanying digestive upset will look pretty much exactly like the avian flu. And many of the illnesses are minor.

As much as I love and respect vets, I'd depend more heavily on the advice of this board unless you have a certified avian vet. Certified is the key word. There are lots of "bird vets". Not all are knowledgable and frankly most are quite sloppy or unfortunately kindheartedly ignorant.

I hope that you reconsider poultry. With some basic care guidelines, they're quite resilient. The Cull-scares here lately are absolutely unfortunate. I think they're a bad side-effect from some well-meaning advice. the thing I think that most people are missing from that video are that his birds were **tested** and proved positive for a cullable disease.

I hate that you are having to learn this the hard way. My post here is not only for you, but so that others won't have to learn the hard way. Please forgive me if I don't sound caring because my heart is breaking for you as I write this. I can't imagine what would have happened had I had to go through what you have and missed out on the joys of owning poultry to boot.

 

[ginbart]

It does not say what state you are in but call your state Agriculture dept and see who can test them for you. I hope you didn't cull them yet. All of the flock will have to be tested I only charge $2.00 a bird. I don't know in your state, maybe you could get it done free. Please look into it unless it's to late. I'm sorry.