I would definitely inform her that you suspect her birds may have IB. She may already know it. She may be getting out of the business because of that and if so, it is very irresponsible of her to sell her birds.The preliminary report is back and it is Infectious Bronchitis Virus. Paris must have had it for a couple of days before I picked up on it. If I had known how to feed her that night.. at least have kept fluids in her, I do feel she would still be alive. It's so painful to know I could have saved her.
The flock is still struggling. I had bought 2 new birds and they had been shipped to me via USPS less than 10 days before Paris died. I do not know if the owner knew or if this was something that was picked up in shipping. I am a bit worried because the lady that I bought the birds from is about to ship out some more birds because she is getting out of the business. I would estimate at least 30 birds are going to different locations. I do not know whether to contact her or just leave it be. I would hate for someone else to have to go through this too.
With this being a virus, the antibiotics are unlikely to help unless there is a secondary infection. I have heated up the coop area. Meredith returned to the others today for a bit. She is now flying out of the temporary coop so she is healing. If I don't push fluids into her, though, her comb and waddles get very pale. She is eating some food on her own.
Don King is back to being lethargic.. as well as his brother Oliver. I do not have another coop to move them to and my other two silkie roosters are in the same cage with them. Since this is highly contagious, they have already been infected. I'm switching out their water 3 times a day. I bought the VetRX and I'm going to swab that all over the rooster and the girls showing symptoms. I also bought a vitamin supplement pack that also has electrolytes in it. I'll be adding that to their water too.
The vet said that if this were any flock other than a backyard flock he would just recommend culling and starting over in the spring. Since chickens are not his primary animals, he has turned over my case to another lady at the hospital. I will be talking with her tomorrow.
So this is a very highly contagious cold/virus. I will treat them like I would want to be treated when I'm down and out with a cold. If they stop drinking, then I'll push fluids like I did with Meredith.
I'll keep you updated. Apparently this can infect the kidneys and if that happens then death is almost certain. The good news is that most of the time the flock will recover but it will take a month or two. Maybe by the spring we can have it all cleared up and the hens will be laying again. I will have to disinfect everything because any new birds could get the virus very easy. I'm kind of ocd against germs so this will be up my alley after Christmas. We just have to make it through until then. I'll keep updating. I have some video I'd like to post in case others want to learn from this experience. I'll show that later.
Thanks for following along!
Highly contagious, it will move through the flock in 24-48 hours.
Your hens that recover will be immune but will be carriers.
Definitely push the fluids with electrolytes because it can lead to gout because of the kidney damage.
Their egg quality will likely be different because IB causes permanent ovary damage. When they resume laying, the eggs may be misshapen, soft, thin, rough, ridged shells with thin albumen. They may not lay again.
It doesn't survive more than a week off the bird. Most any disinfectant will work for the coop.
You said you have multiple pastures so if that includes multiple housing options, you could house the birds in one building while they recover, clean the other building and move them there after 10 days and disinfect the other building.
If you aren't particularly attached to your birds, your best course of action would be to cull the flock and start over after thorough disinfection.
This is another example of the need for quarantine of new birds.
As far from your flock as possible for as long as possible. Work with your birds first each day before tending to the quarantine area. Use different clothes and shoes and wash up between flocks.
http://www.desu.edu/sites/default/files/u538/QandI_2 pager.pdf
http://agriculture.vic.gov.au/agric...ry/quarantine-advice-for-small-poultry-flocks
This is the point often overlooked in the rush to administer antibiotics.It won't help if it isn't a bacterial problem. The problem could also be viral, fungal, protozoal, environmental and even nutritional.
What did the vet diagnosis find?
Truth is, of all the things that can cause respiratory problems, bacterial ones that can actually be cured with antibiotics are a relatively small percentage of those.