Infectious Coryza and chickens, Its like a severe cold.

[Eggcessive]

Welcome to BYC. Yes eggs are okay to eat.

 

[Rayrm88]

Can I cull the chickens and eat them too? Are eggs good after I have given the Tylan shot??? sorry to be such a pain but this is all new to me.

 

[Eggcessive]

Tylan injectable has a 7 day egg withdrawal, while oral Tylan has a 1 day withdrawal. I'm not all that sure that I would eat them, but maybe some people would. As with any infection it can be in the blood and in tissues. Cooking the meat would probably kill the bacteria, but maybe others can advise you better.

 

[Sweetpea5]

I am new to chickens and bought a chicken that died, no symptoms a week after we got her, them my chickens got sick, diarrhea then mucus ..have treated with tylan50. 2 died still have 2 that had some symptoms but appear to be getting better, have 3 other hens only had a week and have separated they have no symptoms. Do I need to just get rid of 2 sick ones?

 

[astrologica]

For the hens that recover, will they resume laying?

 

[DaddyOh]

To the previous poster: they will eventually resume laying.
I am new to raising chickens and biosecurity. I raised 6 chicks to pullet successfully. I lost 2 pullets to lap dogs. I couldn't believe it, I have a 9 lb Miniature Dachshund and a less than 2 lb. Chihuahua and they worked together to kill two of my birds. I was so angry at the dogs I went inside and searched "How to keep my dogs from killing my chickens". That is how I found this website. It was also how I found out that I should be mad at me, the article or forum said if you have dogs and chickens and you leave them alone together dogs will do what dogs do, it is your responsibility to care for and protect your birds. Every since, every time I have a chicken question, I've come here.

Now I read this thread, and even though I'm a straight noob here in every way, I felt compelled to tell my story, if nothing else, it is a clinic on what NOT to do EVER.

I had 4 hens that had started laying and decided I wanted a Roo and didn't want to wait the time it takes to raise one. Some of you are no doubt already thinking uh-oh...... I looked on a local classified site for Buff Orpington, but saw a Buff Rock, and a beauty too, for 10 bucks. Well it was 10:00 pm but the guy said I could come now so I went NOW. No waiting for me, NO SIR! Brought him back to the henhouse and tossed him right in there and went to bed. The next morning there was a little pecking going on, nothing major. Buy the end of day 3 they were getting along and I had a gorgeous Roo protecting my girls. Day 7 and laying pace resumed. Everything was perfect. Went so well I must have done it right, right?

Some of you more experienced folks have now realized I learn a lot of things the hard way.......

Fast forward a couple months of joyous egg gathering (and eating ;-)) and admiring my beautiful little flock, and it all came crashing down when one of my girls doesn't come home at dark (I free range my birds about 3-4 hours each day). After the wonder of finding a nice Roo for only 10 bucks, I went right back to the online classifieds. Some Guy had 3 hens, they just started laying, and bonus, 2 of them lay very pretty pastel greenish light blue eggs. And all 3 could be had for the low low price of only $45. Again, I went and got them NOW! and took 'em to the henhouse and tossed 'em in and went to bed.

Some of you more experienced folks are now no doubt thinking some people should have to get a license to buy chicks.....

If there was pecking when I added the Roo, this next morning there was wailing and gnashing of teeth, or beaks. The white birds were way more aggressive than my flock, and even my Roo was cowering in fear. Embarrassing. This is where the term "henpecked" comes from. Egg laying stopped immediately. After almost a week without eggs, I started to look into it and realised it would likely be 3 weeks before laying resumed, on account of my ignorant *** stressed the poor hens to the brink. Soon after, I notice one of my Buff Orpington hens is "missing an eye", well that's what I thought. A few days later and my Roo was "missing an eye" as well. I was real mad at my new hens and came here to see why they were so stupid. And again, I turned out to be the stupid one. Thanks Backyard Chickens.

Hey kids! Wanna get to the point? Well hang on, here we go!

The next evening my brother came over and I picked up my Roo to show him the "missing" eye and I noticed the eye socket was swollen with infection. Aiming to relieve the pressure and put some topical antibacterial in there I gently pulled the eyelid open and what happened next was some horror movie stuff. A CORN KERNEL SIZED piece of pus the consistency of stiff pudding slid out of his eye socket in graphic and dramatic slow motion, hung there for a moment without losing it's shape, and fell to the floor. I tentatively looked into the empty socket and to my surprise there was a tiny black eye compressed way back there so far I wasn't sure it could be saved anyways. Then it slowly dawned on me, my flock was sick, not losing eyes to attackers. Some Guy sold me sick birds and infected my whole flock!! How in the world could Some Guy be so stupid?!

Back to my computer, and I know what you're thinking, I'm gonna search to find out why Some Guy is so stupid. Nope! If I've learned anything by now, it's the answer to that question. I searched instead for why my Roo's face looked like a horror movie. Think "NIght of the Living Dead" with chickens instead of college girls. One eye way inside his head with pus running out, the other swelled up and the lid partially closed, and a steady flow of gooey stuff from his nostrils. I wish now I had taken pictures. I came upon Infectious Coryza and the descriptions and pictures were very close, some pictures almost mirrored my Roo. Then I came back here for advice and came upon suggestions to use Tylosin but wildly varying ideas on strength and dosage but Tractor Supply had a bottle in stock and were open at 8:30 pm so I went and got some, along with syringes and the appropriate needles picked out by a very helpful employee. I chose the Tylan 50 because it was cheaper, 19.95 vs 40 odd dollars for the 200. This appears to be the cause of many questions here so I will say for a fact the ONLY difference is concentration. Also the source of many questions seems to be how much, how often, where to inject, and for how long. For some reason, everyone seems to have their own ideas about this. I chose to follow the recommendations of the drug manufacturer, handily printed on the box of TYLAN 50. Here it is, exactly as it is printed on the box.

Beef Cattle and Non-lactating Dairy Cattle- Inject intramuscularly 8 mg per pound of body weight one time daily (1mL per 6.25 pounds). Treatment should be continued 24 hours following remission of disease signs, not to exceed 5 days. Do not inject more than 10 mL per site.

I found that information very useful and I interpreted it thusly: I would dose 1cc, the same as 1 mL, to the breast alternating sides, until my Roo was well +1 day or 5 days, whichever came first. He got all 5 doses. The reasons I didn't try to adjust the dosage for the actual weight of my bird were that 6.25 lbs is a pretty average chicken weight and any adjustment would be nominal, and my Roo is not a cow anyways. Take this approach and medicine choice any way you want, for me I truly believe it saved my Roo's life. I finished dosing him several days ago, and today was the first time he was not asleep in the floor when I opened the coop for free range time. To answer another frequent question on the subject, I used a 3/4 inch 22 ga. needle. My Roo sat patiently cradled in one arm while I cleared a path through mounds of thick feathers and found a meaty site on the breast then guided the needle by placing a finger on the side of the needle to guide it to the site (I was working alone) and gently pushing the needle in and slowly depressing the syringe, then quickly slipping the needle out. I also wore a fresh pair of latex gloves for each injection and used a new needle and syringe for each dose.

I have also noticed a lot of questions about symptoms. I am assuming we got a Coryza infection. PLEASE note that I am NOT a vet, nor do I play one on TV. Here is a breakdown of my experience.

3 new birds - NO SYMPTOMS. Not now, not ever. Quarantine would have done zero good anyways.
1 RIR and 1 Buff Orpington - Stopped laying for a long period. the new birds resumed laying 2 weeks before the RIR laid another egg.
1 Buff Orpington - One eye swelled shut. Once I realized the Roo was sick I checked her and both eyes were clear and healthy with no intervention.
My Buff Rock Roo - Nearly died. Massive infection in one eye. Mild infection in other eye. Plenty of discharge from the nostrils. VERY lethargic. before, through, and after treatment. Sleeping during the day and in odd places. Tucking his head into his wing feathers. The feathers were misplaced and crispy from dried pus. This lethargy started a couple days before treatment, and went on for a week after completion of medication. His eyes looked better the morning after his first injection, and on the fourth day he still had some nostril drainage even though his eyes were clear, so I gave him the maximum 5th dose. The lethargy was so bad that he fell asleep out in the open in broad daylight beside my driveway. To my hen's credit, they stayed with him and fussed over him. It was one of the sweetest and saddest things I have seen from an animal.

To the cull / no cull question I will say this. I love my little flock of 7 (I bought $26 dollars worth of stuff to try to save a dying $10 Roo. 1) It was my fault. 2) I love Big Poppa. He looks after my girls) and I am very proud of them. From now on I must never bring new birds on the property, and I must never let mine leave. My whole flock is dangerous to other birds no matter how minor the symptoms or how brilliant the recovery. I have an ethical obligation to keep my breakout my problem. I would never want to make another person feel the way Some Guy made me feel. What I can do is enjoy all the beautiful eggs my girls bless me with until I am emotionally ready to start a new flock and cull this one. That will take some time.

Thanks for considering / enduring my dissertation. Many of my questions have been answered here, even when I did not like the answer, and I sincerely hope this helps at least 1 person.

For those of you that made it this far, or dozed off and slowly slid your thumb down the left margin of your tablet as you lost consciousness and just saw this when you woke up, I still have a couple of questions myself.

1) If I immunize a chick and raise it in quarantine, then introduce it to the flock, will the protection from the vaccine extend to preventing that chick from becoming a carrier?

2) Will this type of infection affect my Roo's fertility or is there a chance he is sterile?

Thanks!
James

 

[ericampagna]

I have 3 pullets that have come down with Coryza. I have separated them and plan on culling them. The rest of my flock (29 birds in whole) ranging from pullets to 2 year olds, seem to be ok. I have relocated them to a temporary coop with all new feeders and waters. I plan on sanitizing the old coop and all equipment and leaving it sit for a while. Will the non infected birds be ok or are they carriers? I really don't want to cull my entire flock.

 

[Eggcessive]

Have you had the 3 chickens tested to know for sure what they have? It can make carriers of the whole flock if they are exposed, but you should see sick birds soon. The incubation period for coryza is just a few days. I haven't had coryza in my flock before, but I would wait and see what happens. If you have not tested yet, I would send in one of the culls to the state vet for a necropsy to confirm the disease(s.) There can be secondary infections such as bronchitis or MG. Then, see if any birds get sick. You may be safe, but I would separate any birds at the first site of illness. Be sure to incinerate or bury the bodies very deeply. Here are a couple of articles about coryza:
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/diseaseinfo/82/infectious-coryza/
http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/p...verview_of_infectious_coryza_in_chickens.html

Here is a link to your state vet to ask about testing or necropsy: http://www.usaha.org/Portals/6/StateAnimalHealthOfficials.pdf

 

[hollylovett]

OK, question. I purchased seven three month old pullets (I'm new to this) from a local well-known supplier about a month ago - I have three surviving - 3 of the original showed no symptoms of anything (eating, drinking, running around), just found them dead in the run. The first was 3 days after purchase, the 2nd was a week or so later, and the third a few days after that. Right after the last death I started a broad spectrum antibiotics in their water for 10 days. About 7 days into the antibiotics one of the surviving pullets got a swollen eye - I thought initially it was the RI red picking on her. I separated the red from the flock to put her in time-out for a few days to "take her down a notch" - no improvement in the eye of the other chicken. After research I started suspecting eye worms instead of bullying (no respiratory issues at that point), bought vet RX, treated on roof of mouth & in eye, slight improvement but no significant change. I was also treating the entire flock with Oxine in a vaporizer for about a week every night with no improvement. The swollen eye bird started to smell - more research - pulled her from the flock 2 days ago & she died last night - I'm now pretty sure she had Coryza after reading these threads & I understand the "keep a sick flock or cull options". This morning a second pullet has a swollen eye - I pulled her from the flock immediately. So, I have 2 pullets left showing no symptoms that, because of my lack of knowledge, were exposed to an actively sick chicken for about 2 weeks.

My question is: Do I assume that the 2 "healthy" pullets are carriers and cull them also or so I assume they were lucky and never got infected? Is it possible for a chicken (or two) to be in a coop with a sick chicken and never get sick? Obviously a flock of two is not ideal and I'd definitely want to restock but don't want to go through this again nor do I want to cull two perfectly healthy chickens...

 

[shellina]

is their an herbal way to treat this I hate to give my chickens medicine ??

my chicken has swelling in eye area and has bubbles around and in the eye I have no clue what to do help