Would you cull your flock??

[steffpeck]

If you found out that your flock has had infectious bronchitis?? I am planning on selling hatching eggs and chicks in the future, and I don't know for sure that my flock has had IB, I am going to get a blood test done to confrim it, but if you found out your flock had it and you were going to sell hatching eggs & chicks would you cull the flock and start over?? The chickens I am planning on selling the eggs & chicks from are still in the incubator, so they have not been infected yet.

What would you do??

 

[cajunlizz]

Quote:
I would NOT be selling chicks or eggs until I get this totally under control .

 

[snowydiamonds]

yes. I'm culling the rir's I got last week as they are cannibalistic and egg eaters so they are meat tomorrow. I did five last weekend along w/the cornishx so the remaining 10 will be done tomorrow.

An infectious disease like what you are worried about should be contained and spread no further. You should be very worried for your hatchinglings, too. I don't know anything about the disease except I'd start over if I did have it in my flocks and I'd ensure the ground and coops were sanitized prior to ever using again.

 

[Jenski]

As I study more and more about breeding, I realize how important it is to breed for disease resistance. Not everyone has the same philosophy about breeding, I understand, but for me hardiness is just as important as proper breed standard and egg production.

I would also consult the "best of the best" breeders before I made any major decisions. Your particular breed society would be one place, and I would also inquire about top breeders in other areas as well ~ folks who have been around long enough to have had a positive impact on their breeds of interest, and folks with healthy opinions about improving breeding stock.

It is so important that there continues to be a body of serious breeders out there!

(Ah, I did not exactly tell you what you should do, but breeding decisions are very much a personal preference. I hope you will share your decision with us, as it really helps the general body of knowledge. You are giving these issues serious thought, which is a very good thing. Good luck!)


Jen in TN
~:<>

 

[SundownWaterfowl]

Quote:
I would NOT be selling chicks or eggs until I get this totally under control .

Me too. If they had it, and it couldnt be treated, I would cull them, and NOT sell the eggs. I dont know if it can be treated or not, I never heard of it.

 

[miss_jayne]

i just recently had to cull a flock. one got sick then another, then another. (all from the same seller...NOT on BYC...found out he doesn't quarantine and sells HUNDREDS a week)

i put them all down. they were wheezing and coughing. there was no way i was going to have that penetrate the other flocks. plus, the eggs going out etc.

part of farming/raising animals is knowing when is the right time to cull. if you are tossing the idea back and forth, it's time to cull.

 

[gumpsgirl]

You definitely should not be selling any birds until this is gone and has been confirmed as to what it is. IF it is the IB then your chickens will remain carriers for life BUT you can gather some of your eggs to hatch before getting rid of the flock if that is what you choose to do. Here's what my book states:

Because the disease is not usually transmitted through hatching eggs, you can get clean chicks through and infected flock, but be sure to carefully clean up the environment and avoid introducing infected birds in the future.

Get a diagnosis first, then decide what to do with you flock. In the mean time, you need to make sure that you order some vaccination for the unhatched chicks so that you can get them protected as soon as they hatch. I would also make sure that no birds leave the flock until you know what this is and it has run its course.​

 

[nnbreeder]

From the Merck Vet manual....Infectious bronchitis is an acute, rapidly spreading, viral disease of chickens characterized by respiratory signs, decreased egg production, and poor egg quality. Some strains of the causative virus, infectious bronchitis virus (IBV), are nephropathogenic. The latter strains produce interstitial nephritis resulting in significant mortality. Infectious bronchitis is of major economic importance to commercial chicken producers worldwide.
Etiology and Epidemiology:
IBV, a coronavirus, is worldwide in distribution and has numerous serotypes. Two or more serotypes may be seen simultaneously in one geographic region. IBV is shed by infected chickens in respiratory discharges and feces. The highly contagious virus is spread by airborne droplets, ingestion of contaminated feed and water, and contaminated equipment and clothng of caretakers. Naturally infected chickens and those vaccinated with live IBV may intermittently shed virus for many weeks or even months. Virus infection in layers and breeders occurs cyclically as immunity declines or on exposure to different serotypes.

Clinical Findings:
Signs occur after an incubation period of 18-48 hr. Spread to other birds is rapid, and morbidity may be nearly 100%. The nature and severity of the disease are influenced by the age and immune status of the flock and virulence of the causal strain. Young chickens cough, sneeze, and have tracheal rales for 10-14 days. Wet eyes and dyspnea may be seen, and facial swelling may also occur ccasionally, particularly with concurrent bacterial infection of the sinuses. In broiler chickens, IBV infection is a major cause of poor feed conversion, reduced growth rate, and condemnation of meat at processing. Nephropathogenic strains can produce interstitial nephritis with high mortality (up to 60%) in young chickens. In most outbreaks, however, mortality is 5%, although secondary bacterial infections may cause higher losses.

In layers, egg production may drop 5-50%, and eggs are often misshapen, thin-shelled, and contain watery albumen. Egg production and egg quality generally return to near normal levels in most birds on recovery.

 

[steffpeck]

I would have never even thought there was a problem with any of them except for a few odd eggs layed in June. I have had 1 egg that was totally wrinkly, which I have been told is caused by Infectious Bronchitis. None of them have any other symptoms and never have. No sneazing, no coughing, nothing. The chickens I currently have are not the ones that I am planning on selling the eggs & chicks from, it is the ones that I am going to be hatching the next month or so, that I plan of selling. My concern and questions is, will the birds I have right now, infect the new babies when they are older and put together?? I am going to get a blood test done next week to confirm if they have had it or not.

 

[gumpsgirl]

The blood test is the best place to start. Just because they had a wrinkly egg, does not mean that they have IB. If they do have IB then you can vaccinate the newly hatched chicks against it, but you need to take care that they don't get anywhere near your other birds. IB can spread to flocks more than a 1000 yards away and is airborne. My advice to you would be to do the blood test and find out if you have anything to worry about. If there hasn't been any sneezing, wheezing, or coughing, chances are that your flock doesn't have IB. There are other things that can cause a wrinkly egg.