The dreaded "bubbly eye" respiratory disease

[OverWyreGrower]

Gah! I have got 3 chickens with runny/bubbly/weeping eyes this morning.... means they are all infected with some sort of respiratory disease (though none of them are wheezing/sneezing etc)

I have cleaned all their eyes up (saline) and put in a call to the vets. I've only used the poultry vet once (for a case of Mareks) and I'm hoping they can just give me some Baytril/Tylan for me to administer....

Problem is, what happens if the other 20+ birds start

[petal]

this sounds like mycoplasma, the vet needs to prescribe tylan for all your stock. I would dread its arrival in my breeding flock as birds would remain carriers and transmit to hatching eggs, apparently. If your birds are for eggs only and not breeding, then there is no problem.

[RichmondHens]

Separate the infected birds straightaway as far as is physically possible from the others. Clean out all drinkers thoroughly and refill with clean water dosed with garlic. Yes Tylan is what vet will prescribe for myco and this is added to the water. There is an egg withdrawal time (usually for a week from treatment but see what your vet says). If you rely on your eggs for sale I would only give Tylan to the affected birds (another good reason to separate them) and leave the others be so you can still use their eggs although the vet may advise treating the lot. Personally I don't think this is necessary if the others are symptom free as I see no point in giving antibiotics if not needed. If any more get infected put these in the sick pen with the others so then they can get dosed as well. It's always difficult when you have larger numbers to deal with, especially if they are all in together.

Good luck, hope it is just a minor outbreak and the rest are ok.

[OverWyreGrower]

I can't put them very far away - about 5-6ft or so... is it worth it?

The Vorwerks are only laying little eggs at the moment, so they don't get sold on.

If I was to breed from them (maybe next year), would the chicks get it and die, or would it just be present in the adult birds as they grew?

[petal]

says in my book here, it reduces hatchability and can effect growth rate? if you put the ones with the bubbly eye 5-6 ft away behind possibly a plastic sheet on a frame I reckon that would help? then you could have a trug with disinfectant to dip feet in between pens? also, ensure you see to healthy birds before going near the sick ones.

[OverWyreGrower]

There is a pretty solid hedge between where I would put them (and a 6ft wire fence), plus it would be last on my morning/evening rounds....

BTW - garlic in the water? As in a couple of cloves?

[petal]

sounds good to me, garlic is a good idea too.

[its hilly]

If you hatch it shouldnt affect the chicks health but they would be carriers apparently.
When my lot had it I split anything healthy to a separate location on concrete, (I'd already shifted the first ones to show signs (growers) into quarentine and started disinfecting cos I'm so cautious) disinfected it daily, disinfected my boots/changed clothes between the two lots and kept the healthy lot on a preventative dose of tylan (vets recommendation) until the others were completely clear. Dont forget your ducks and geese. I know geese are ok to have tylan cos my vet checked, but dont know about ducks.
In the end I did keep my healthy birds, on the clean location, but gave my recovered birds to someone who just wanted eggs, it didn't affect their laying as far as I know, but then we didnt really count.
My healthy lot came up here with me and - touch wood - have been fine. My best layer still lays daily and I have hatched eggs sucessfully with normal results. According to the vet they should be clear as they never actually contracted it due mostly to the speed I acted with.
I should warn you if you do have it that out of 26 10-14 wk old growers I only had two survivors, they went down very hard.
I stir horsey garlic powder into the drinking water, or add it to porridge..they love that.

[RichmondHens]

I can't put them very far away - about 5-6ft or so... is it worth it?

The Vorwerks are only laying little eggs at the moment, so they don't get sold on.

If I was to breed from them (maybe next year), would the chicks get it and die, or would it just be present in the adult birds as they grew?

Any separation is worth it, as the sick hens then don't share drinkers and feeders with the unaffected ones. Distance helps reduce risk of picking up anything airborne, although I appreciate it's difficult when you have limited space.

Myco doesn't necessarily infect each and every bird so you may find with prompt treatment of the affected ones the others will remain well and you can breed from these next year.

[petal]

is it true that wild birds, especially pigeons can carry myco into your flock?

[RichmondHens]

Any wild bird can spread disease about, just by hopping from drinker to drinker, pen to pen, even if the wild birds themselves are unaffected. Pigeons are supposed to be carriers of all sorts of things but TBH if the pigeon population is generally healthy then you don't have to worry unnecessarily. Some people operate a covered pen system to avoid wild birds coming in and "contaminating" feeders and drinkers, but this does mean the chickens have limited space - you can't after all cover an entire paddock with netting. I prefer my chickens to roam around in plenty of space, and accept the risk of wild birds spreading stuff about. We have loads of pigeons here and shoot them regularly to eat ourselves (pigeon in red wine - yum). If the chickens are generally healthy then risk is pretty minimal. A constant challenge of their immune system is a good thing anyway.

[petal]

Good to hear. Must get a gun to get these big fat wood pigeons- send me your recipe!!!

[OverWyreGrower]

Right, we've got enough Tylan for 200litres of water... the vet said - dose everyone, as the poorly birds are only just starting, so it might have spread, but now is the best time to treat everyone....

He says ducks too, though it's highly unlikely they will get it...

He said that my birds should hopefully recover - they aren't wheezing etc, and are still ating/drinking etc with vigour

[baldrick]

its a horrible thing. I bought 3 who were harbouring it but luckily separation worked and they didnt pass it on. Vet warned me the hen had had it for some time as she had a seriously bad chest and was skin and bone (I thought from sitting) She advised me to cull if I couldnt seperate them, and warned me the chicks would probably die but they had 2 jabs of tylan plus a weeks oral tylan each and thankfully made a full recovery, but yes I can never breed from them. I got them to brood meat chicks, not their own chicks, so they are seperate anyway albeit carrying myco. Personally I dont have a problem with that. It seems drastic to kill 3 now healthy birds who are enjoying life. I have discussed at length with my vet, and at the end of the day anyone who buys in hatching eggs can buy in myco, mareks and all sorts as its all carried in the egg, so it seemed short sighted to cull 3 birds who may get ill in future and who may infect my meat chicks in future only to buy 3 healthy (I hope!) birds when I will always have a slight risk of infecting them through chicks from infected eggs getting sick. I have learned my lesson re buying in haste though.

[OverWyreGrower]

The birds who have it are last Octobers hatch, from a respectable breeder, so I'll be emailing her tonight, just to let her know, as I don't know whether it's started with her, or mine have it from wild birds etc...