[Stereo]

My flock of growers which hatched last year seem to have come down with something. They are out on fresh grass but found 2 dead in the last week and noticed hens with tails down and in the house there are some gasping for breath and with slightly swollen / watery eyes. I really don't want to lose the lot so will be splitting them up this week.

Any ideas? They were raised on medicated crumb but not vaccinated. Put ACV in the water this morning. No outside birds brought in but a lot of pheasants about and also crows / jackdaws in the pen.

[fsmnutter]

Vet. Could be gapeworm, pneumonia, Mycoplasma. Vet examination will give best idea for medication required. Isolate ill birds if possible, if not all affected. Could also be worth post mortem of dead ones. If something like avian flu, this is notifiable so you really must involve the vet with such a number affected so suddenly.

[lord flynn]

if you want to check for gapeworm just cut into the throat of a dead one-you'll see the adult worm. If it is that, get some flubenvet down them quick although you'll still lose about 50% of what you treat. It doesn't sound like that though, having lost some to it myself-there's a very particular gasping and looking at the sky behaviour with gapeworm. Corvids are terrible for spreading it though.

[oor wullie]

Our hens get some kind of pneumonia periodically.  Wheezing, coughing and the eyes swell up and get gummed up with sticky fluid until they can't open them.  If you don't catch them in time they die.

The vet reckons it comes from the plague of pheasants we suffer from.  Antibiotics sort it out pretty quick and once they have had it they tend to be resistant to it.

If it is a flock issue then it is definitely worth taking one to get a vet to look at it.

[farmers wife]

sounds like Mycoplasma. Inject ABs, inject water into their mouths and feed boiled/raw eggs.  Think pheasants may be a carrier. Wild birds the worst for it.  If it is Myco then you need to hand treat them as they wont have be able to eat or drink.  Myco can come from wild birds or be carried in unvaccinated breeding birds that comes out under stress or movement.

[Stereo]

Thanks. Will get the vet out. No more dead today but still suffering. Pheasants are everywhere here as there is a shoot next door. Maybe time to put some in the freezer.......

[Marches Farmer]

Sounds like mycoplasma.  Once it's in the flock it tends to simmer away under the surface and reappear in times of stress, such as the moult or coming in to lay after Winter. 

[Stereo]

Yeah, I think we might have myco. When we started out we made the mistake of bringing in older birds from some ropey places. This isn't the first time we've had this issue.

I spoke to a vet friend today who said he would sort me with some AB's as he said it sounded like a standard viral infection so I'm waiting on that. Good news is that the birds seem to be quickly pulling around. Added ACV to water yesterday and today no more losses and some birds vastly improved. My blue orp cockerel was as good as dead yesterday, today he's wide eyed and bushy tailed and treading. So hopefully this will be short lived.