Update 9/7-- Avian Leukosis!

[sara1226]

I have let 2 of the breeders know.  One of the other breeders doesn't have any

birds anymore.  I haven't informed anyone else yet.  I've had chicks from so many

silkie breeders that it's hard to remember who came from which breeder.

Thankfully, I have it written down.


Thank you for all your help. This board has been so helpful and informative.

I know this is a very old thread, but I just have a question. It looks like I might have leukosis in my flock also. I read that your whole flock had it. Can u tell me if any of them lived for a while or did they all die pretty quickly?

Thank you,
Sara

 

[VettekLisa]

It ended up that I was losing 2-3 birds a week. They would be fine, and then the next day they would be dead.
At the recommendation of a vet, I ended up putting the whole flock down. I also had to toss a whole incubator full of eggs,
and put down 25 chicks that were hatched from that flock. As apparently, the disease can be passed from the hen to the chick thru the egg.
I started over with new Silkies, and now only have 4.

 

[sara1226]

It ended up that I was losing 2-3 birds a week.  They would be fine, and then the next day they would be dead.
At the recommendation of a vet, I ended up putting the whole flock down.  I also had to toss a whole incubator full of eggs,
and put down 25 chicks that were hatched from that flock.  As apparently, the disease can be passed from the hen to the chick thru the egg.  
I started over with new Silkies, and now only have 4.

How awful!!!! You only have 4 after starting over!?! I read that if u disinfect well it should get rid of the virus.. Is that not true?!

I guess maybe my chicken keeping days are over.

 

[VettekLisa]

The disinfecting part seemed to work. I haven't seen any of the symptoms that the last ones had in the new flock.
The reason I only have 4 now is we moved to a very rural area in Missouri, and had a raccoon get into the coop.
He killed or majorly injured my entire juvenile coop of lavender Silkies. So, I picked up a few Silkie eggs at a swap
and hatched them out. I'm keeping my Silkie numbers low right now, until I can get the big chicken coop built.
It's going to be a 16 ft X 12 ft building, with a 4 ft X 12 ft storage area, a 4 ft X 8 ft grow out area, and the rest for the
adult birds.