What the heck is this? Cancer?

[alexanye]

I have only 2 birds showing symptoms, so I guess I only need to vaccinate 53 birds

 

[alexanye]

I have more questions about MG as well. Since it's a complication of fowl pox, if they have that will that go away after vaccination? I saw somewhere that once they have MG it will be a chronic problem like my cats respiratory issues. If that is chronic, can it be gotten rid of by removing birds who are having trouble?

This all JUST started, I think I caught it pretty quickly. Also, I live in the low county of south carolina, aka the swamps. I'm sad I didn't know about this sooner, I would have vaccinated for it

That said, we have lived here for almost 4 years, with chickens the whole time and this is the first time we've had issues with this.

 

[alexanye]

I have a lot more questions actually.....

I was planning to do a parasite treatment on all of my birds because the bugs have been absolutely awful this year. I planned to start that Tuesday using Ivermectin. I'm wondering if I should do a round of corid as well

Needing to vaccinate for fowl pox changes things and I'm not sure what order I should go in, and how long I need to wait between vaccinations and the other treatments, or if I should even do anything after vaccinations.

I'm probably making this more complicated than it needs to be, I just want them to be healthy and I don't want to hurt them in the process.

 

[alexanye]

Oh my, my brain is going now.

Is this something I could breed for resistance of? I was recently reading about breeding Rabbits to resist coccidia... hmm

It would be super cool if the birds could resist it. I have a feeling that would not work, but idk. I'm not a genetics expert, I'm learning.

 

[azygous]

Some things you may treat simultaneously, but too many things could put a strain on your chickens.

Coccidia come in nine different strains, but not all of them are in your locality. Those in your area your chickens already have in their intestines in tiny amounts, and they are becoming resistant to them. I would treat with Corid unless they are showing symptoms of lethargy and loose stools. If you aren't sure about worms and coccidia, it's very simple to gather random stool samples from your flock and have your vet run a fecal float. It will identify any worms present or coccidia in harmful numbers. Again, coccidia are present in their guts in small numbers and that's normal.

You can worm and do Corid at the same time as they are different meds doing different things. But I would wait until you've done those before doing the pox vax because it's a live vaccine.

If you have any chickens with MG, all the chickens have been exposed and you should assume they are are carriers. A healthy flock will fair okay and rarely become sick, and if they do, it would likely not require an antibiotic, it being more or less like the common cold in humans which we get over most of the time without needing special meds.

 

[alexanye]

I'm am just terrified to have anything run in any system anywhere because of the stories about the government appropriating samples and saying it's avian flu and coming to cull entire flocks

Is it unsafe to treat for parasites without running samples? If not I'll do it, but I just don't want to chance loosing all of my birds.

Also, one thing I am confused about with the vaccine. It says not to use within 4 weeks of the start of laying. I have some young hens that should start laying soon. Is that because the eggs will be no good for a while after the shots?

 

[azygous]

A fecal float only identifies parasites present in the poop. If you requested a gram stain test to identify bacteria, that's a different thing all together. Also much more expensive. No one will take your chickens away because of the presence of worms and coccidia.

I have no idea why you would need to withhold the vaccine running up to onset of laying. I can't even come up with a guess. Call the company selling the vaccine and ask.

 

[alexanye]

I'm looking into getting stuff to do the floats myself, not sure if it's reasonable yet but I'd prefer to do it myself if it is

 

[alexanye]

I was assuming they have tape worms because we had a massive Flea infestation in the yard this year. I finally have that under control. I always treat my dogs for tape worms after Flea issues because Fleas carry tape worms.

Again, we have lived here for 4 years and this is the first time the Fleas have been this bad. They died as they bit the dogs, but they didn't bite right away. It was really awful. The rest of the bugs have been terrible too but the flies, Fleas, and mosquitoes are the real problems.