- May 26, 2013
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Hey all,
The damndest thing is happening to my birds. Last Tuesday (5/21) I helped some neighbors butcher ~250 Cornish Cross hens of ~7 weeks of age. While there they shared their story of how their flock of 200 turkeys, being kept on ground that had held chickens previously was brought down to 100 when they caught something left behind by the chickens.
That was the first I'd heard of chickens infecting turkeys, as my last place of residence had some of each (10 and 4, respectively) cohabitating - even sharing the same coop when the turkeys were young/small enough - without any disease issues. This year I had decided to cohabitate 15 Turken ("Naked Neck") Chickens and 6 Bronze Turkeys in a big room that formerly held an amalgam of chickens & ducks, whose bedding/manure pile was left to sit for a few months before I moved in and shoveled it out, washed and then powerwashed the surfaces. I did not use disinfectant, although the room did sit empty for at least two months. Now my resident birds are ~6 weeks old.
Lo and behold, less than a few days after attending the butchering session, I noticed one weak turkey - moping around the heat lamp area, barely breathing and not eating. I covered him/her in some diatomaceous earth but that night s/he was dead. I removed him/her, scooped up the straw from the area s/he was in, and hoped for the best. Without noticing another sick turkey, the next night another one was dead.
The following morning we separated two turkeys into another pen, one of whom was sick and one for company, and left two in the (big) room with all the chickens. And we watched and waited. In the pen the sick one appeared to be holding on, hanging out under the light and, seemingly eating and drinking (both the food and water would be filled in the morning, and then empty - and so refilled - at night). In the room the last two seemed healthy.
Then this morning the sick one in the pen was dead and the two in the room were in sorry states - one was so bad s/he wouldn't drink and hadn't moved from his/her sleeping place, the other was still eating and drinking and moving but it was definitely at a slower pace. All three living birds are now in the separate pen. All of the chickens appear to be fine, although we have noticed one hanging out on its own underneath the heat lamp. To top it all off, I've been feeling a little sick too! Starting yesterday, really. Happy to give symptoms to anyone who is medically inclined.
All of this is leading me to wonder...
What could it be that's picking them off? Why is it taking them one after the other instead of all at once?
And whatever it is, did I get it from a Cornish Cross and give it to my birds? Or did it happen to transmit from my chickens to my turkeys? Or from the formerly manure-caked walls to my turkeys (and one chicken)? Did my birds give it to me or is my sickness really just a bad sandwich I had (my first thought)?
In the end, this is meant mostly to vent as I'm asking a lot. But any info/insight would be greatly appreciated
Thanks, all
Max
The damndest thing is happening to my birds. Last Tuesday (5/21) I helped some neighbors butcher ~250 Cornish Cross hens of ~7 weeks of age. While there they shared their story of how their flock of 200 turkeys, being kept on ground that had held chickens previously was brought down to 100 when they caught something left behind by the chickens.
That was the first I'd heard of chickens infecting turkeys, as my last place of residence had some of each (10 and 4, respectively) cohabitating - even sharing the same coop when the turkeys were young/small enough - without any disease issues. This year I had decided to cohabitate 15 Turken ("Naked Neck") Chickens and 6 Bronze Turkeys in a big room that formerly held an amalgam of chickens & ducks, whose bedding/manure pile was left to sit for a few months before I moved in and shoveled it out, washed and then powerwashed the surfaces. I did not use disinfectant, although the room did sit empty for at least two months. Now my resident birds are ~6 weeks old.
Lo and behold, less than a few days after attending the butchering session, I noticed one weak turkey - moping around the heat lamp area, barely breathing and not eating. I covered him/her in some diatomaceous earth but that night s/he was dead. I removed him/her, scooped up the straw from the area s/he was in, and hoped for the best. Without noticing another sick turkey, the next night another one was dead.
The following morning we separated two turkeys into another pen, one of whom was sick and one for company, and left two in the (big) room with all the chickens. And we watched and waited. In the pen the sick one appeared to be holding on, hanging out under the light and, seemingly eating and drinking (both the food and water would be filled in the morning, and then empty - and so refilled - at night). In the room the last two seemed healthy.
Then this morning the sick one in the pen was dead and the two in the room were in sorry states - one was so bad s/he wouldn't drink and hadn't moved from his/her sleeping place, the other was still eating and drinking and moving but it was definitely at a slower pace. All three living birds are now in the separate pen. All of the chickens appear to be fine, although we have noticed one hanging out on its own underneath the heat lamp. To top it all off, I've been feeling a little sick too! Starting yesterday, really. Happy to give symptoms to anyone who is medically inclined.
All of this is leading me to wonder...
What could it be that's picking them off? Why is it taking them one after the other instead of all at once?
And whatever it is, did I get it from a Cornish Cross and give it to my birds? Or did it happen to transmit from my chickens to my turkeys? Or from the formerly manure-caked walls to my turkeys (and one chicken)? Did my birds give it to me or is my sickness really just a bad sandwich I had (my first thought)?
In the end, this is meant mostly to vent as I'm asking a lot. But any info/insight would be greatly appreciated
Thanks, all
Max
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