How long after chicken disease/death to wait before getting more birds?

[kunsangsean]

Hey all, I'm looking for thoughts on if there is a waiting period between losing birds and getting new ones. I got 4 hens in February of this year as 7 week old pullets. 2 of them died recently, and I'm still not sure of the reason. I have speculated that it was some type of disease, fearing the worst of avian flu at one point, but the remaining 2 hens are still laying and appear healthy.

The first hen was hanging out in the egg box a lot, and I thought she was broody. But after about a week I realized one eye was shut and she was moving slow. It looked like she had a small wound behind her eye. She got progressively worse, couldn't see to eat or drink. We started terramycin eye ointment but I believe we were too late. I hand watered her for a week, tried to feed her, and ultimately took her to the chopping block after she spend multiple sad days unable to lift her head. The decline happened over the course of a couple weeks. Just a few days after the first hen's end, a second bird was making loud sounds one morning. She was moving slow and wheezing. Before I was done with breakfast, she made a loud gurgling sound and fell down dead. The proximity of the 2 deaths made me think it was infectious, but now that 2 hens are still appearing healthy 2 weeks later I wonder if the second hen choked to death or something weird like that. We'd fed them some black raspberries the night before which was new.


I've read that if it was avian flu I'd need to cull all the birds and wait 150 days. Since I'm unsure of the cause of death, I don't know if it's wise to wait before adding a few more hens to the flock or if it matters. Thanks for your input! - Sean

 

[AGeese]

Don't quote me, but in general I think you quarantine new birds for a couple weeks. Sounds like they had something internal going on for sure. I've had a couple die similarly, but the rest of my flock is fine and I tend to attribute it to something they ingested.

Might be a yeast like infection.

 

[Eggcessive]

What is your general location? Have you contacted your state vet lab or local agricultural agent to find out if there has been any avian flu in your area? Have you added new birds to the flock in the weeks before the illness came into your flock? Did you sick birds have any bubbles or foam in one eye, or very swollen gunky eyes? Did they gasp for air? I it always best when you lose a bird, to ask your state vet do a necropsy to look for a cause of death. Birds with contagious respiratory diseases can make carriers of your flock for life. I would close your flock to any birds leaving your flock. With common respiratory diseases such as MG or coryza, those remain alive on equipment and surfaces only a few days. Viruses can remain. Alive in droppings for weeks, especially when frozen. Here is a list of state poultry vets to contact for information:
https://www.metzerfarms.com/poultry-labs.html