[taz08]

 a pal  had 32 hens bought some new 1s a feww weeks ago,,  she has only 9 left,, do u think its infection   or age as some of them were 5 or 6 ..
 told her to  disinfect everything and burn straw and any dead birds

 i say infection of some sort but cant think  what
any help

[lord flynn]

if they were old and then moved it may be that their immune systems weren't up to it. Plus were they moulting?wouldn't help. It may be they were carrying something that came to light from stress of the move.


what symptoms did they show?

[taz08]

they stopped eating and laying ,,they were not moved,, and some were moulting,, but to lose that many over a few weeks!!!!

[lord flynn]

she could have a postmortem done or talk to a vet.

[chrismahon]

Possibly infection from the immunisation programme of the new ones Taz. If the new were hybrids carrying live viruses of ILT and IB the older non-immunised birds won't be able to cope with getting both at the same time at their age. The new birds will shed the viruses due to the stress of the move, even though they may have looked fine.


We were hit by that 5 years ago after introducing hybrid Copper Stars, which were fine on arrival then started with runny noses and sneezes. All our 2 year old Pedigrees went badly sick within a few days. A lot of treatment later and thankfully they all survived. The breeder admitted they had been immunised with live viruses but did't realise what problems it could cause.


This seems to be happening a lot. Don't introduce hybrids to an old established flock. You need to run two separate flocks, which is what we then had to do because we couldn't introduce Pedigrees into that infected flock afterwards.

[mojocafa]

Hi taz, have pm you

[taz08]

thanks i have let her know 

[Eve]

Chris, please could you explain: are hybrids immunised and pure breeds not? I thought the immunisation would depend on the breeder's preference, not the breed of chicken? 

[HesterF]

I guess it depends on the scale of breeding. I've got some pure breed Orpingtons that have been immunised against Mareks. Fortunately they've given no problems to the rest of my birds. But on the whole I imagine hybrids are churned out in much bigger numbers so immunisation is more cost effective and supplied to mass producers who need to have total flock immunity since one sick chicken could mean they lose them all. That's my guess anyway.

H

[chrismahon]

As HesterF says. It's down to the breeding conditions and quantities Eve. Hybrids are bred in large numbers and small spaces for Commercial gain. In those conditions fatal disease spreads rapidly so they have an immunisation programme against infectious diseases. Rather than giving each chicken a dead virus injection, so they can produce anti-bodies, they infect them with the mildest strain in a virus group. So live ILT and IB viruses are given separately in drinking water whilst the chicks are still young. There are others in the programme -depends on the breeder's choice.


Pedigrees are generally bred in very small numbers and large spaces. They are far less likely to catch anything and if they did the losses would be small. The immunisation treatments sold are in quantities for 1000's of birds, so it is a lot of expense for a small breeder.


When ours were infected so were we. Both of us had very mild symptoms. I later read a report that said humans don't catch them as such, but do develop antibodies after exposure. Similar to Avian Flu outbreaks I suppose.

[Eve]

Thankyou, that makes sense now.