Thoughts on treating potential illness in large flock

[TJAnonymous]

I've had weeks like that recently. Call your county extension office and see if you can drop the next dead hen off with them to get it to the state lab. It's probably in Fayetteville, I knew the guy that did that but he retired.


Talk to the extension office but an ice chest with iced would probably work fine. A refrigerator would work too. You don't want to freeze her, but keep her cold.

State lab is in Little Rock (an hour from my house, one way). And I doubt anyone at our County extension office would help. I've reached out to them about tree/garden issues and they always act put out like I've interrupted their day.

I opted to burn the bodies because if they are diseased, I didn't want it spreading. But I am very concerned about the number of birds that are passing and realize I'm going to have to figure this out. Starting this evening, I will wait until they roost tonight and do an overall check on each one. Tag any that seem suspect... I can't quarantine any right now because all my cages are tied up. I have ONE cage available right now. I will also start checking the run myself every night to make sure no one is hidden away and dying. If any more birds pass, I will figure out some way to get them to the state lab.

 

[Ridgerunner]

State lab is in Little Rock (an hour from my house, one way). And I doubt anyone at our County extension office would help. I've reached out to them about tree/garden issues and they always act put out like I've interrupted their day

I guess I was lucky in Washington County. The extension office there had a good attitude and were pleasant to work with. They'd even return phone calls. One person with a bad attitude can ruin that.

A friend of a friend performed necropsies. I assumed he worked for the state but since you said the state lab was in Little Rock I wonder if he actually worked for Tyson. Tyson has their headquarters up there. When I talked to the extension office about Necropsy they said I could drop the bird off at their office (properly preserved) and they'd handle the rest. I think it costs $10. Like I said, I was lucky. I know not all extension office personnel are that good or helpful.

 

[TJAnonymous]

I guess I was lucky in Washington County. The extension office there had a good attitude and were pleasant to work with. They'd even return phone calls. One person with a bad attitude can ruin that.

A friend of a friend performed necropsies. I assumed he worked for the state but since you said the state lab was in Little Rock I wonder if he actually worked for Tyson. Tyson has their headquarters up there. When I talked to the extension office about Necropsy they said I could drop the bird off at their office (properly preserved) and they'd handle the rest. I think it costs $10. Like I said, I was lucky. I know not all extension office personnel are that good or helpful.

Dustin Clark is a professor/vet with the U of A Dale Bumpers college. They have a huge poultry dept (Thanks Tyson). Dr Clark has a Backyard Chickens video where he does a step by step necropsy. I've used it in the past as a tutorial. Plus Dr Clark has answered questions via email in the past. But I simply don't have the bandwidth this week to do something like that.... Not to mention the extreme heat & humidity just suck right now.

I walked through the run last night. No dead chickens. But I didn't get to do the individual assessments because it was my daughter's birthday. Tonight I have to go pick up hay so I can't get around to check everyone over until sometime this weekend.