What should be done with ILT survivors?

[ross]

Thanks Troy for your from experience input . Always a good & informational read full of well thought out & experienced wisdom

[kenya]

Well your birds are beautiful, I for sure would not kill them, do as modern17 says he's pretty much an expert in my opinion.
It's too bad you had such hard luck with these birds.

[kenya]

@modern17 will they be fine once vaccinated to bring in outside birds?

[modern17]

They will be fine but anything new should be vaccinated in theory to prevent any remnants of the virus that might still exist to infect the new birds . If local wild birds that may have came in contact with the infected poultry in theory could carry it , It could be in the building or else where on equipment ??? we do not know??? So anything new should be guarded against being infected. Recall my mention of " if you did not see/put the drop in the eye it should be treated as not vaccinated" .. this is the way one needs to think with new birds coming in. Anything new needs to be vaccinated. Not condemning some peoples actions but if one continues to add new birds on a regular basis ( especially from sales auctions ect...) you are playing with fire in my opinion. When starting out this is hard as we all like everything .. experience curbs that to extent lol. Auction sales and buys sell trades are tempting on many levels but also come with a risk factor. Many may or may not note my absence at many of the open air / buy sell trade / auction events in the province. I do avoid them like the plague lol..... in the rare event I do attend something like this( some times attend the Pheasant auction ) I shower and change cloths before I tend to my birds upon arriving home .. I rarely bring in new birds and if I do I make sure I have a quarantine area for them to reside ( tending to their needs last after all other birds have been fed and watered ect and disinfecting all equipment including my boots and cloths before I see anything else feathered between chores ) for at least 2 weeks. Just not worth the risk. Prevention and upkeep and common sense goes along way in dealing with disease . When I do bring in new birds I source them from reputable breeders and quarentine
Once again hope this helps .. just my take I have been proven wrong before.
TL

[Killerbunny]

I vaccinate for ILT basically 3x per year. Adults in spring they get their annual booster. I do it along with worming and ectoparasite control so they are good to go for the breeding season. The new youngsters get an initial vaccination at not less than 6 weeks old - this may vary as I do several cohorts at the same time so some may be a little older. The booster for them is then given at least 4 weeks after the inital dose. I also do anyone I may have missed for the annual booster (it has happened). I use the LT-IVAX eye drop vaccine. I also do worming etc in the fall so they are set up for winter. HOWEVER no vaccine is 100%. Some provinces also have different regulations. I believe in NB this is compulsory and you sign up and a team visits to do it at very low $cost per bird.
I only bring in chickens from very select places from people I know. I have only had to bring in a turkey on one occasion when my Tom died and the new boy came from the same, very reputable place my foundation stock came from. Bear in mind that after an initial quarantine you may wish to do an "open" quarantine so the new birds get used the microbes that your birds have.
Also even the best can have a problem via e.g. wild birds so quarantine is essential.
Virkon tablets are a nice convenient disinfectant and easier to deal with than powder for treating boots and tyres etc. Dishes, crates etc. are all treated both before and after shows. Care needs to be taken with it on metal and a good wash down is essential.

[Nanuqsaurus]

To Troy & everyone else, thank you so much! It's a big weight off my shoulders to have expert feedback, and I'm quite relieved that I don't have to put down my birds :)

[windwalkingwolf]

I had ILT almost decimate my small flock of exhibition quality Jersey Giants about 7 years ago. I decided to try and save what I could, and prevent the spread to my other coops. Between what the disease killed, and what I culled because they were struggling and not really getting better, I lost 12 JGs out of 20 or so, and zero in the other coops. I still have one of the recovered JGs, and have never had a flare of the disease thank goodness, so I don't know if it's more severe the second time around. I vaccinate everybody yearly now, because I never want to see such a thing again. My first inkling of trouble was a cockerel that was a little rattly. Then a tiny bit of blood on the walls. I ignored both. Then found a hen was dead one morning. Then my best and most favourite hen looked and felt 100% healthy but suddenly choked to death on a huge blood clot right in front of my eyes, and nothing I could do. Terrible. We lived in a very remote area and they definitely got it from wild birds, in a roundabout way: I had decided to use raked leaves as coop bedding, and took home a bunch of bagged leaves left curbside in a nearby town. I figured if the disease could be everwhere and anywhere, that my best course of action would be to vaccinate, and hopefully recovered and vaccinated birds would pass on some of their antibodies.
It seems to have worked, but I do not sell birds and anything new brought in is subject to some stringent quarantine.