Wanted - Eglu Cube Mk1 Roosting Bars

[bennett]

4 Weeks ago we lost our Welsummer to Mycro and today, i have lost my Japanese Bantie to what i think is cocc. She has been unwell for a couple of days and coxoid seems to have not helped. So sadly we say goodbye and send her on her way to chook heaven. I have really had enough now, although all the chooks that keep dieing are from the same breeder. we have only had her 4 months. I am really deflated by the whole thing RIP Jemima

[Jennifer Jane]

So sorry to hear about Jemima.

[Mercedes55]

I'm so sorry to hear about your poor hen. I'm not surprised that you feel so deflated if you have also recently lost another hen too

 

Perhaps it's more than a coincidence that both were from the same breeder. I know I've read other posts on here where people have had problems with hens all bought from the same place.

[amc]

I'm really sorry to hear that. As you know we got 6 from the same breeder as you and had to take 4 back. Should have taken all 6 back really but kept the two who looked the fittest. It took a while but they have come through now and look fine. I do hope the rest of your flock pull through, we only lost one so it must be terrible for you to have continuing problems & losses. Have you contacted the breeder and told them? They gave us a full refund. Unfortunately that doesn't cure the problem, now we have mycro in the flock & we'll always have it, as will the breeder I guess. We have also spent a lot of money and had a bit of a hen keeping dream shattered.

Keep strong. The very worst scenario, and I don't know if I dare mention this really, but advice I have been given is the only way forward is cull the whole flock. Leave it a month for the virus to die and then start again. I didn't go that way but I can see why people do.

[chickyhazel]

Very sorry to hear that. If you are having problems with hens from a certain breeder, have a look for another in your area. We get ours from a lovely, friendly place with plenty of choice and are now quite well known there. You just need to look and find a place you are happy with.

[bennett]

your totally right! if i was a farmer and my stock was infected i would cull the lot. I agree with you even if others dont. Its very hard, especially with having the children and how attached they are to them. This is something i have considered. My 2 new hens have been vaccinated against everything so i think they will be fine but i would have to cull all the chicks too. I am not sure i can bring myself to cull 9 chickens. Especially my pekins as they are so gentle. I really do not know what to do for the best. Maybe i need to start another thread about the culling idea. Also if i cull the exisiting then the remaining 2 will get very chilly in a cube!

[chickyhazel]

Perhaps you should cull any that seem ill and see if anything else develops. If it does, I would cull all the ones from that breeder at least, if you can't face culling them all. Unless they are all from the same breeder.

 

I wouldn't use that breeder again if you keep having problems. I wouldn't trust them.

[jellykelly]

Before you cull the lot - as a precautionary measure could you try adding Tylan to all of the chickens drinking water. It's effective against myco should should the rest of the flock have picked it up, it should help.

 

I would continue adding the coxoid to the water for the others though - just as a precautionary measure. Maybe the treatment was just a little late for the japenese.

 

I would certainly try the tylan before thinking about the 'cull' route just yet.

[jellykelly]

May I just add, that at 4 months on - isn't it a little late for the breeder to be 'at fault' so to speak.

 

If it was something that was carried in from the breeders, wouldn't the infection/illness have been apparent sooner?

[frizz]

sorry for your loss, hope everything works out for you.

[Plum]

your totally right! if i was a farmer and my stock was infected i would cull the lot. I agree with you even if others dont. Its very hard, especially with having the children and how attached they are to them. This is something i have considered. My 2 new hens have been vaccinated against everything so i think they will be fine but i would have to cull all the chicks too. I am not sure i can bring myself to cull 9 chickens. Especially my pekins as they are so gentle. I really do not know what to do for the best. Maybe i need to start another thread about the culling idea. Also if i cull the exisiting then the remaining 2 will get very chilly in a cube!

 

Sorry I disagree entirely. As I understand it is present in most garden flocks and carried by wild birds and appears in your chickens at time of stress. Therefore, culling is completely pointless unless you are going to be only keeping vaccinated chickens. If caught early it is treated effectively with Tylan injections according to Victoria Roberts a respected poultry vet.

 

I know its hard losing them, I have lost 2 this summer (not to myco) and am horrified at the thought of culling the flock when treatment and prevention is an option but perhaps yours are not pets.

[bennett]

Hi they have all had tylan when i lost one 4 weeks ago. The vet prescibed it as a precautionary for them all inc the chicks. But some are still sneezing I have been giving all the chickens coxoid since the the japanese went down hill.

I have lost 3 chickens from the same breeder in under a year , yet my others from a different breeder are fine, infact they are the only ones not sneezing! I dont tihnk that she vaccinates the birds or indeed treats them as chicks. Which prob leads to a bad immune system. And at 35 each i would have expected my girls to last at least 4 months! The girl i lost 4 weeks ago i bought from the same place and 2 weeks later she had to be put to sleep and has bought mycro into the coop. Losing 1 or at a push 2 chooks from a breeder maybe ,but 3?

I have spoken to the vet who has said to try another antibiotic, baytril but according to his vet records, Egg withdrawel is FOREVER

[bennett]

Plum - Treatment and prevention is better and i have £150 worth of vets bills to prove this, infact my chickens have thier own medicine cabinet! Once Mycroplasma is in the coop it is nigh on impossible to irradicate. Please do not think that culling would be an option that i would take lightly. my girls are my PETS. But when you keep live stock or indeed other pets there are always difficult decisions that have to be made. I am not prepared to watch my chooks suffer in anyway, and it would be cruel to do so.

[Plum]

Wrote the following before seeing your latest post.

Yeh I have a medicine cabinet too and just about every supplement and herbal remedy. It's different culling healthy birds in case they get ill though (which is how I read what was put) than to preventing misery and suffering. Sorry for the misunderstanding.

 

No my vet said a week egg withdrawal.

 

There's an argument for not vaccinating for some diseases because low exposure builds up an immunity and not so many breeders do vaccinate due to cost, quantity and shelflife.

 

Just a thought it may not have been cocci there are many other disease associated with loose droppings such as E coli or Salmonella and a sample to the lab may help if it recurs. I have all mine on coxoid as preventative though after loosing one with it but take care and complete the course and don't use too often or you can get resistance so I understand.

 

Chin up the sneezing may be sensitivity to the bedding.

[bennett]

no worries plum, i just didnt want you to think i was some evil chicken killer! I thought maybe a problem with bedding and the sneezing, just seems that everything going wrong! I have verkoned the cube today after jemima departed and also used dettol, my thinking was that it kills ecoli ect so hopefully any germs have been killed in there and together with the medicine they should all stand a better chance!

[sparkysmum]

So sad and so sorry to hear of this. Allixx

[Plum]

No I know you better than that

 

I did same last night my cube and run were cleaned within an inch of their life. But like you I just feel out of control when I don't know what is going on. Something we have to live with I guess and go with the most likely causes. The trouble is when you have met one bad illness it influences your judgement about other problems if you know what I mean.

 

Wish you all the best and hope your luck changes it won't be through lack of trying