Lost my chickens

[JayinNH]

Boondox,
Sorry to hear about your chickens. We had a hawk take one of our little bantams. Fortunately no foxes or coyotes yet. The chicken coop is close to the house so probably the 12 gauge is all I will need. Do you leave the chicken coop door open normaly at night? We try to shut them in at night but occasionaly forget. I think the prediators go for the quail coop more so then the chickens. I have found holes dug outside the fence. Something has scared them off before they can dig through so I've been lucky.Good luck with your bantams
Jay

 

[Boondox]

The coop is around the back of the garage. We shut them in at night, but this attack occurred in broad daylight while the hens were free ranging in the meadow. Major bummer!

Pete

www.GatewayToVermont.com

 

[DocHeb]

One of the shots you got was the vaccine. This takes five doses to get good immunity (and one month's time), so we also give RIG (rabies immune globulin) - the other two shots you got. It is used to try and give "instant immunity" to the rabies virus. This product is purified from human blood taken from donors that have been "hyperimmunized" - they have been immunized so many times their blood has a lot of antibodies that kill the rabies virus. RIG is only given to persons exposed to possibly rabid animals. It is not given for routine vaccinations. The vaccine post-exposure immunizations run about $1500. The vaccine costs about $150 a pop (5@$150) and the RIG costs about $750. These are very expensive since the number of doses used annually is small, and the costs for "lawyer vaccine" (product liability insurance) and R&D must be spread over fewer doses.

I practice Emergency Medicine in Michigan. Luckily, our rabid animal population is low. We currently treat all fox, bat, racoon, skunk, and woodchuck bites. Yes - woodchucks have been found to carry rabies. We treat "unprovoked" cat bites when the animal can't be found. In Michigan we generally don't treat dog, mouse, rat, rabbit or chipmunk bites.

Each state collects statistics regarding rabid animals. Contact your state health department for information regarding which animal bites need treatment in your state.

The following link is pretty technical for non-physicians, but it gives some good information regarding rabies:

<font color=blue>http://www.emedicine.com/emerg/topic493.htm</font color=blue>

 

[StoneHeartFarm]

DocHeb,

Why would anyone be "hyperimmunized"? Do you mean someone like a Vet, that might need to be given boosters on a regular basis because of a day to day risk of exposure?

SHF

 

[DocHeb]

Vets are one source. There is also money to be made by furnishing your serum. Although I'm not in the industry, I'd bet there are people that have become hyperimmunized so they can sell their serum. They pull your blood off, separate and save the antibody containing serum (the liquid the blood cells float in), and put the blood cells back in. You can donate whole blood at the Red Cross each six weeks, but plasmaphoresis can be done a couple times a week. Personally, it seems like a hard way to make a few bucks.

 

[DrDan]

Burial is fine; incineration is good to. Clothes should be fine with just washing in hot water with lots of detergent. You see, post exposure is a lot different than being vaccinated prior to exposure. When vaccinated prior you have "time" for the immunity to build up. I believe i had two doses given intradermal (just under the surface of the skin) about a month apart. I then have my titer checked every two or three years.

Hope this helps.

Dr Dan

 

[DrDan]

LOL Von

The nurse probably wanted to hurt ya! Might have been a whopping dose of pennicillin just to get ya attention.

Dr Dan

 

[DrDan]

Thanks for your clarification Doc Heb. I didn't know they gave Immune serum but it sounds like an excellent idea to get the immunity instantly to kill the virus. Yes "all" mammals can contract rabies but for some reason it is rare in anything but dogs, cats, horse, cattle, skunks, racoons, bats, fox and no clue about coyotes.

One time in vet school we had to watch a movie of a human dying of Rabies in the Phillipines. God it was horrible!!!

Dr Dan

 

[Boondox]

Survivors!!!

This afternoon my four golden retrievers each showed up with a tiny chick in their mouths...and the pack was being chased by one outraged hen! The flock lives! /w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif

Pete

www.GatewayToVermont.com

 

[RichZ]

Re: Survivors!!!

Pete, leave it to the dogs to discover that things aren't as bad as they seemed!/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif And the dogs picked up chicks in their mouths without even hurting them!!/w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif
I'm real glad to hear that the flocks lives!!!!/w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif/w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif/w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif Finally some good news, after this disaster!!!!/w3tcompact/icons/cool.gif
Rich