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Anyone had problems with poultry from Cyril Bason?

 
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Pea



Joined: 19 Sep 2005
Posts: 960
Location: Rugby
PostPosted: Fri Sep 07, 12 7:35 pm    Post subject: Anyone had problems with poultry from Cyril Bason? Reply with quote
    

14 commercial browns and 12 cobbs were delivered on 27th August, within a few days four of the browns had swellings around their eyes to the point that they were closed, two picked up and the sweilling went down, one the swelling moved to the wattles the other started choking and rattled when it breathed. I have now had them for nearly two weeks and more have swellings, the chook that was rattling seams to be better and the one with the swollen wattles had bubbles in the corner of its eye. I now have some of the cobbs who are going the same but they have discharge from the nostrils, foaming eyes, choking and one died this afternoon, the cobbs only seamed to have this problem showing today The were all ok when let out this morning. The area they are on has not had any poultry on before and we have not had poultry on site for 3 years. Does anyone else think they have Mycoplasma? I have looked in Victoria Roberts free range poultry diseases and it leads me to this with the symptoms.

When I ordered they did not have any and told me that they had been ringing around trying to locate some birds, does this also sound a little strange for a company that has contract rearers so they should know when the next ones are due to reach selling age.

When call called them to let them know I had a problem they told me it was my ventilation...... but sent some antibiotics anyway

Cheers Sarah

chez



Joined: 13 Aug 2006
Posts: 35934
Location: The Hive of the Uberbee, Quantock Hills, Somerset
PostPosted: Fri Sep 07, 12 7:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

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.

Pea



Joined: 19 Sep 2005
Posts: 960
Location: Rugby
PostPosted: Fri Sep 07, 12 8:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Thanks Chez in all the 15 or so years (hubby more) we have never had any problems with disease, this is the first time we have brought from a national supplier. The houses we have are the ones we have always used as we keep them in good condition, not had ventilation issues before, I do think they arrived with it. and the younger cobbs have not got the immunity the browns have so it will more than likely kill the lot.
We brought the cobbs so that we could rear some meat that is antibiotics free, ( I know most is) now we probably do have that disease that buggers up that piece of ground to keep chooks on again for a few a years.

chez



Joined: 13 Aug 2006
Posts: 35934
Location: The Hive of the Uberbee, Quantock Hills, Somerset
PostPosted: Fri Sep 07, 12 8:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

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.

Pea



Joined: 19 Sep 2005
Posts: 960
Location: Rugby
PostPosted: Tue Sep 11, 12 12:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Spoke to them today and after us telling them that they do have mycoplasmosis it has been confirmed by the vet they have suddenly change their minds about it all. The birds did not come from one of their big producers they came from Yorkshire from someone who has in the past reared for them. Over a few days they have traveled from there to Shropshire and then to us in Warwickshire, Im not surprised it has come to the fore front, it has been triggered by the stress of travelling. CB have also confirmed that they will have come with it (first symptoms started to show after two days). All birds are being replaced, the layers have responded ok to the Tylan the one who was suffering the most still is not right and not eating very well, the growers suffered more and I still have a few problems.
Thanks for your advise Chez. It always helps to have someone else to confirm my thoughts.

all the best Sarah

chez



Joined: 13 Aug 2006
Posts: 35934
Location: The Hive of the Uberbee, Quantock Hills, Somerset
PostPosted: Tue Sep 11, 12 3:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

That's good news, it's good to know they step up to the plate and take responsibility. Would you use them again, Pea, after this?

Mr O



Joined: 13 Feb 2005
Posts: 5512
Location: Nova Scotia, Canada
PostPosted: Tue Sep 11, 12 4:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Chez wrote:
That's good news, it's good to know they step up to the plate and take responsibility. Would you use them again, Pea, after this?
I would, who would not?

chez



Joined: 13 Aug 2006
Posts: 35934
Location: The Hive of the Uberbee, Quantock Hills, Somerset
PostPosted: Tue Sep 11, 12 4:25 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

I would, too; but I've had dealings with them before and it didn't happen to me. I wondered how hard Pea felt she had to work to get them to do the right thing.

Pea



Joined: 19 Sep 2005
Posts: 960
Location: Rugby
PostPosted: Fri Sep 14, 12 7:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

They did take some persuading and basically did not believe us until we mentioned the vet, so I would probably look harder to find some locally. I thought I should make sure that I told people that everything was sort out as Im sure they are a good company, they must be they have been going for years. I think it was just unfortunate that they did not have any birds and they did look around to find some, it is a shame things have not worked out as we all thought it would.

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