ANOTHER sick chicken

[sagealbright]

I recently lost 3 of my girls to infectious bronchitis. Because of having 2 roosters and losing 3 girls I decided to add a 6 more girls to the flock. They are all between 6-8 weeks of age. The newcomers are currently separated in their own little coop/run away from the big girls. On Friday I noticed my little black Silkie, Oprah, and my Belgium D'uccle, Pipsqueak, both had what looked to be chicken lice. I immediately treated them along with the others and cleaned their coop. This morning, I went out to check on the little ones and noticed that Oprah's eye was bubbly. I immediately got concerned since this was one of the symptoms we had with the bronchitis. Although unlike the ones I lost to bronchitis, Oprah seems to be breathing normal. Her symptoms are bubbly eyes and her nose is running. She actually sneezed a giant snot bubble at me when I picked her up! I moved her into a rabbit cage inside our camper in hope that I caught this before any other chicks become infected. Does anyone know what illness this sounds like? I have injectable Tylan 50 however, she's so tiny I'm not sure how much I should give her. Is there any other medications I can get from tractor supply that could help? I really do not want to go through losing anymore of my girls.

Also, she is still eating, drinking, and moving around. She just seems to get tired really fast.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Young birds are less likely to die from IB than older birds. Survivors are immune but remain carriers.
IB travels through the air 1,000 yards so the new birds are surely infected. It is the most contagious poultry disease.
Survivors have ovary damage so may never lay well.
Best course of action is to cull the flock, clean and disinfect, leave vacant a while and start over with clean birds. It would also be wise to vaccinate any new birds, prior to bringing them in, with a local strain of the virus if you can find it.

 

[sagealbright]

Young birds are less likely to die from IB than older birds. Survivors are immune but remain carriers.
IB travels through the air 1,000 yards so the new birds are surely infected. It is the most contagious poultry disease.
Survivors have ovary damage so may never lay well.
Best course of action is to cull the flock, clean and disinfect, leave vacant a while and start over with clean birds. It would also be wise to vaccinate any new birds, prior to bringing them in, with a local strain of the virus if you can find it.

Is there anything I can do besides culling? Not all the birds were infected the last time. Only 4 out of 16. One of them lived and we lost the other three. I would rather not cull my entire flock and try to treat the illness first.

 

[Michael Apple]

Is there anything I can do besides culling? Not all the birds were infected the last time. Only 4 out of 16. One of them lived and we lost the other three. I would rather not cull my entire flock and try to treat the illness first.

Here is some information about vaccinations for IB:
http://www.infectious-bronchitis.com/vaccination-programs.asp

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Is there anything I can do besides culling? Not all the birds were infected the last time. Only 4 out of 16. One of them lived and we lost the other three. I would rather not cull my entire flock and try to treat the illness first.

Well, the survivors should likely be fine as they're now immune but like I said, the ovary is usually damaged. 100% of birds within 1k yards of the infection will be infected as well.

As for what you can do, avoid crowding, provide good ventilation, keep the affected birds warm and well fed. Watch for secondary infection of a bacterium and be prepared with a broad spectrum antibiotic.

 

[sagealbright]

Here is some information about vaccinations for IB:
http://www.infectious-bronchitis.com/vaccination-programs.asp

All our older birds were vaccinated for IB, even the ones who died from it a few weeks ago. However, our breeder stopped providing the injection since he believed is was causing the birds to contract IB.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

They could also have contracted a different strain than what was in the vaccination.

What part of the country are you in?

 

[Eggcessive]

I recently lost 3 of my girls to infectious bronchitis. Because of having 2 roosters and losing 3 girls I decided to add a 6 more girls to the flock. They are all between 6-8 weeks of age. The newcomers are currently separated in their own little coop/run away from the big girls. On Friday I noticed my little black Silkie, Oprah, and my Belgium D'uccle, Pipsqueak, both had what looked to be chicken lice. I immediately treated them along with the others and cleaned their coop. This morning, I went out to check on the little ones and noticed that Oprah's eye was bubbly. I immediately got concerned since this was one of the symptoms we had with the bronchitis. Although unlike the ones I lost to bronchitis, Oprah seems to be breathing normal. Her symptoms are bubbly eyes and her nose is running. She actually sneezed a giant snot bubble at me when I picked her up! I moved her into a rabbit cage inside our camper in hope that I caught this before any other chicks become infected. Does anyone know what illness this sounds like? I have injectable Tylan 50 however, she's so tiny I'm not sure how much I should give her. Is there any other medications I can get from tractor supply that could help? I really do not want to go through losing anymore of my girls.

Also, she is still eating, drinking, and moving around. She just seems to get tired really fast.

Did you get a blood test or nasal swab to confirm the infectious bronchitis? Foam in the eye, eye selling, and thick nasal secretions are more signs of MG, or if there is also a bad odor, coryza. Those can be secondary infections of IB. Any chicken in your flock that has IB, whether they showed signs of getting it or not, are considered carriers for up to a year. With bringing in more birds that could have brought in something else such as MG, and it will also prolong the period that you would have carrier birds for IB. Testing one or two sick birds is the only way to know for sure what you are treating. Tylan may help symptoms of MG or coryza, or other secondary infections, but IB will have to run it's course over 4-5 weeks. If they have MG or coryza, then they will all be carriers for life. It would be best to close the flock to any new birds or any going out. The first link is to locate testing labs, and the second link is to contact your state vet to ask about testing or necropsy:
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/animal_health/nahln/downloads/all_nahln_lab_list.pdf
http://www.usaha.org/Portals/6/StateAnimalHealthOfficials.pdf

 

[sagealbright]

They could also have contracted a different strain than what was in the vaccination.

What part of the country are you in?

I am in Pennsylvania.

 

[sagealbright]

Did you get a blood test or nasal swab to confirm the infectious bronchitis? Foam in the eye, eye selling, and thick nasal secretions are more signs of MG, or if there is also a bad odor, coryza. Those can be secondary infections of IB. Any chicken in your flock that has IB, whether they showed signs of getting it or not, are considered carriers for up to a year. With bringing in more birds that could have brought in something else such as MG, and it will also prolong the period that you would have carrier birds for IB. Testing one or two sick birds is the only way to know for sure what you are treating. Tylan may help symptoms of MG or coryza, or other secondary infections, but IB will have to run it's course over 4-5 weeks. If they have MG or coryza, then they will all be carriers for life. It would be best to close the flock to any new birds or any going out. The first link is to locate testing labs, and the second link is to contact your state vet to ask about testing or necropsy:
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/animal_health/nahln/downloads/all_nahln_lab_list.pdf
http://www.usaha.org/Portals/6/StateAnimalHealthOfficials.pdf

We had a necropsy done on the last 3 birds we lost a few weeks ago. All had infectious bronchitis which went "tubular" causing tumor like lumps in their lungs. I just found the newly sick bird this morning so I have not talked to the vet. However, I did talk to my breeder who told me to separate the sick bird and administer Tylan 50. I'm waiting for him to call back with more info. I gave the sick bird VetRx so far along with probiotics, scrambled eggs, yogurt, honey, kale and some apple cider vinegar. Last time I did this injectable Tylan 50 I did it under the wing, but I heard it's better to give at the base of the neck? I know the Tylan will not help IB, only prevent other infections from popping up. I believe I also have the antibiotic the vet gave me for the last birds.

Also, what is MG? I don't believe it is Coryza at this point, there is no bad odor. The bird is alert and hoping around. She just has a lot of clear nasal discharge, sneezing, and her eye is very foamy.