Poultry disease

[Ummu Sufyaan]

i need some help. basically, our chickens have been dying and i assume that it is a disease that is killing them. i wondering if anyone knows anything about this, becuase it is the first time i personally have come across it.

there has been 3 that have died within the last few months, 2 female chickens and 1 male (the rooster). the disease seems to be affecting only one breed of chicken. all chickens that have died all exhibited similar symptoms, expect for the rooster who died sunndely-i didnt notice any smptoms. and also, the chickens have not been affected all at once, they seem to die one after the other.

the symptoms that the other chickens had, are:
limping. the chickens were having trouble walking and only walked on one foot with the other foot propped up. they seemed to also be quite "fatigued" like when they did walk it was only a short bit before they got tired and stopped and (sat back down...usually chicken are quite chirpy)

i dont entirely remember but there may have been something with one of the chickens eyes as-well. they didn't have interest in food or drink either.


i have researched about this and have found something describing similar to what our chickens went through, but i cant be sure. if my research is correct they had something called:
Mycoplasma infectious synovitis. most of the symptoms are there, but under the heading "transmission" it says that the diseases is spread from breeder to progeny via the egg...but these chickens were a few years old...wouldn't they have died much sooner?

anyway, any help would be good.

here is a description of the suspected disease.

Mycoplasma synoviae

Synonyms: MS, infectious synovitis, synovitis, silent air sac

Species affected: chickens and turkeys.

Clinical signs: Birds infected with the synovitis form show lameness, followed by lethargy, reluctance to move, swollen joints, stilted gait, loss of weight, and formation of breast blisters. Birds infected with the respiratory form exhibit respiratory distress. Greenish diarrhea is common in dying birds (see Table 1 ). Clinically, the disease in indistinguishable from MG.

Transmission: MS is transmitted from infected breeder to progeny via the egg. Within a flock, MS is spread by direct contact with infected birds as well as through airborne particles over short distances.

Treatment: Recovery is slow for both respiratory and synovitis forms. Several antibiotics are variably effective. The most effective are tylosin, erthromycin, spectinomycin, lincomycin, and chlorotectracycline. These antibiotics can be given by injection while some can be administered in the feed or drinking water. These treatments are most effective when the antibiotics are injected.

Prevention: Eradication is the best and only sure control. Do not use breeder replacements from flocks that have had MS. The National Poultry Improvement Plan monitors for MS.

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ps044

[tigerkhan]

we have a poultry farm b4 and i dont know much. sorry for that but i remember there was a regular treatment, an injection below their wings to save them from disease.

[Little_Lion]

Are you in an area affected by West Nile? The symptom description sounds very similar to the illness that hits the wild birds in our area every year, and some species are hit harder than others.