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Pea
Joined: 19 Sep 2005 Posts: 960 Location: Rugby
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chez
Joined: 13 Aug 2006 Posts: 35934 Location: The Hive of the Uberbee, Quantock Hills, Somerset
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Posted: Fri Sep 07, 12 7:54 pm Post subject: |
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I have never had any problems with birds from Basons - I've had a few over the years and they have a very good reputation. However, if it's myco - and you are right, it does sound like it - birds can be carriers and then when they get a bit stressed - by moving house for example - their immune system dips and they are vulnerable to it - and if they are carriers and the ventilation is a bit lacking, it won't have helped. So perhaps if they were bought in birds, that is what has happened. I agree, it does sound a bit strange re the 'ringing round' thing.
Can you get your local vet to take bloods for you? They should be able to get the samples sent away (from live birds) and tested. If they don't know anyone who specialises in poultry diseases, Retford Poultry Practice are very good and I would recommend them.
You have various options at this point I guess:
1. Prove it's Myco and see if they'll take the birds back and reimburse you.
2. Roll with it, administer the antibiotic for seven to ten days to all the birds on site and then cull any that still have eye swellings and/or who are still wheezing. You can, apparently, inject Tylan straight in to the eye/wattle blisters every two days if you desperately want to keep a bird, keeping it isolated while you do.
If you do this, in my experience you are unlikely to eradicate it from the flock completely and it will keep coming back, in a milder form, when the odd bird gets a bit under the weather. Really good ventilation and garlic and cider vinegar in the water and keeping on top of worms/mites are all 'normal' things to do that keeps it's incidence down.
It's going to be pretty impossible to prove that they came pre-infected, IMO; the old 'it travels with the wild birds' thing is true.
I'm so sorry - it's horrible when it first goes through a flock. Pre antibiotics, the recommended treatment was to either cull the whole lot and start again; or more usually, give sick birds forty eight hours to get over it and start to improve and if they didn't, pull their necks. That's pretty much what I do these days, but mine are building up immunity now. |
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Pea
Joined: 19 Sep 2005 Posts: 960 Location: Rugby
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chez
Joined: 13 Aug 2006 Posts: 35934 Location: The Hive of the Uberbee, Quantock Hills, Somerset
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Posted: Fri Sep 07, 12 8:26 pm Post subject: |
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I think the ventilation becomes much more of an issue if the flock *do* have it - I found that it became much less prevalent when I went bonkers with a two inch drill bit around the tops of all my houses under the eaves.
To be honest, I'm surprised they aren't vaccinated for it, being from a big producer. And I would have thought that if you haven't had birds in there for three years, it's certainly worth pushing Basons, particularly if you are losing birds to it. I've always found them very easy to deal with.
There are some stats somewhere re what it does to growth rate for meat birds but I can't remember them off the top of my head. For egg layers, a bad bout is supposed to reduce egg production by 10%-ish and make the eggs a bit smaller.
The main issue with it, in my opinion, is that the ones with enough respiratory build up to get the gapes become dehydrated. You could try syringing water down them. Also, I've had some success soaking bread in to water with Tylan in it.
ETA: My vet told me that it can travel for quite a long way on the wind - so if someone near you has birds with it, it might have come like that. |
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Pea
Joined: 19 Sep 2005 Posts: 960 Location: Rugby
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chez
Joined: 13 Aug 2006 Posts: 35934 Location: The Hive of the Uberbee, Quantock Hills, Somerset
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Mr O
Joined: 13 Feb 2005 Posts: 5512 Location: Nova Scotia, Canada
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chez
Joined: 13 Aug 2006 Posts: 35934 Location: The Hive of the Uberbee, Quantock Hills, Somerset
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Pea
Joined: 19 Sep 2005 Posts: 960 Location: Rugby
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