Just wanted to give everyone an update on our MM sick chicks...
To recap, We ordered 2 sets of chicks from McMurray. One was on 2/9/08 and the other was a replacement set on 3/1. It is undisputed that the chicks we received from MM were infected with Avian Encephalomyelitis, proven by Veterinarian Diagnostic Labs at the U of MN. We had just over 90 chicks, 5 different breeds that had the potential for infection. 6 other breeds of over 60 chicks in the first shipment from MM showed no sign of illness ever and 100% are alive and well at 8 weeks of age. Our diagnosis was reported to MM Hatchery almost 2 weeks ago. We have not heard anything back from the hatchery although they acknowledged to others there has been a confirmed case of AE within the hatchery breeder set.
Symptoms of AE are inability to stand, wobble legs, lack of appetite and thirst, severe stunted growth.
The following breeds from MM were infected, all standard size:
14 partridge cochins
15 buff rocks
22 cuckoo marans
25 blue cochins
16 EEs
Of those,
12 partridge cochins are deceased. 1 appears somewhat normal, but slightly behind in growth, 1 has nervous system damage, but can walk, eat, drink fine. Symptoms are shaking head (mild) and does not exhibit normal chick behavior at times.
5 buff rocks deceased, 1 older buff rock has recovered to the point it's almost normal, 2 older ones have nervous system damage but will likely survive, 3 younger rocks will need to be destroyed and 1 older rock will need to be destroyed due to leg problems.
4 marans are dead, 8 older marans have nerve damage with at least 2 bad enough that I think we will destroy those (they can't walk). Of the younger 8 that are still alive, 6 have failure to thrive and are about the size of day old chicks. 2 are doing fine.
I am not sure how many blue cochins we have left, I am guessing we have lost a dozen or so. Only one older blue cochin ended up being normal. There are more younger ones that are also fine, either recovered or never got sick. Some of the younger ones are still the size of day olds, but they are eating and drinking fine. There are also two with spraddle leg that we will cull.
We have only lost 1 EE, all but 3 of the older EEs are severely affected, but are showing signs of recovery. Most have failure to thrive. Of the younger, some are OK, some have failure to thrive.
We have 30+ that are dead, or about 1/3. After 5-8 weeks, we are starting to see some improvement in the some of the remaining sick chicks. It seems you can tell if they are going to make it or not if they will continue to walk. If they eat and don't walk, they aren't recovering. If they walk and you can force feed/make them drink, they are slowly getting better.
If you have MM chicks, you need to keep them separated from other chickens for a minimum of 4 weeks, but a recommended 6-8 weeks so non-infected chicks have a chance to gain natural immunity through age. The incubation period for AE is 3-4 weeks and is passed through stool to other chicks, but the primary way AE is passed is from hen to infected egg. If there is lateral contamination, it is generally in the hatcher or in chicks that are less than a week old. If you have MM chicks, you should burn their bedding and keep it changed regularly. Heavily spray the area were the chicks were with bleach and let air dry for several days before reusing. Bleach all feeders and waterers before reuse. We have a lot of chickens that are not from MM, and by keeping them separated, we avoided more loss. We had no other chicks show symptoms but McMurrays.
Updates to McMurray Hatchery Sick Chicks
thank you for all that info. we are so sorry for all your continued grief and having to cull affected survivors...
sharing your info will help other people keep their chickens safe, i hope.
tf
Wow, we didn't order from MM but it is sooo very sad to hear these stories of all the sick and dying chicks.
I feel for you. This has had to be hard to go through.
I ordered chicks and recieved them this past sunday from MM. I was going to cancel reading everything so I called MM asked them with what was going on about AE, they were very very nice, infact they called to update me on everything before they delivered, give them the ok to send them. They all arrived very healthy,active and all alive! Im happy I ordered from there.
cool, what did you get?
I have had an order to be shipped in May as ready.
MM assured me these problems will not be part of this birds.
Hoping that is so as I do not want disease.
I got R&Rs, speckled sussex and anocas. They are so funny. This is my first. Im a newbe and love it!
opps i mean anconas
we'd love to see pics Lobee! please start it on a new thread, this is for sick chick updates...
yup i do see that this is a sick chick thread, I just want to let the people know that are wondering about their future orders ( like on the other thread) if they should cancel it due to sick chicks. I just want to bring it to attention that not every order has sick chicks but yup if I talk about any other subject, I will post a new thread.
um, let me straighten you out here, if you want to talk aobut your healthy chicks do it on another thread. don't give people advice about where to go for their flock, and certainly don't speak for a company unless you are an official representative. we don't like seeing this thread pop up in our watcher unless their is a SICK CHICK ISSUE>
is there any other way i can tactfully make myself more clear to you, newbie?
That is sad that you have to treat people the way you do! Im sorry your parents raised you that way! There is no need to name call or be anal about little petty things. I dont care if im a newbie (proud of it). You were one once to. If you are so worried about sick chicks then why did you wast space by asking me what breeds I recieved? Im not here to pick on anyone,call people name or be little anyone especially over a computer. I am here to learn just like you were here to learn once. You have some good advise in the past threads,please keep the good advice here instead of your bullying. It doesnt get you any where accept bad karma.Be a good example if you are so experianced then this stuff please...God be with you
O yeah I did refer anyone to MM, just to the people that already order from there, I was stating that I didnt cancel because of AE and I was satisfied with my decsion!
Lobee, we are all interested in your healthy new chicks---but this thread was very painful for a lot of people. Do you know how to start a new thread? That is all that is being suggested. If you don't know, find a different thread that seems to address your experiences and post on that.
Thats fine I unerdsand that, there was no need for that at all. You got your point accross much more clearly and more helpful. Thanks Just some people really need to think about want kind of person is within themselves. I will not post here unless I have a sick chick.