Tylan 50 for respiratory problems

[izziebean]

I think my flock has a respiratory disease. I lost a hen about two weeks ago. The vet gave LS 50. The flock seemed to do well for a few days, but now have turned bad again. I've read Tylan 50 might help. Anyone have any experience with this? I see that Amazon carries it, but do local places keep it in stock too?

 

[ChickenCanoe]

It won't help if it isn't a bacterial problem. The problem could also be viral, fungal, protozoal, environmental and even nutritional.
What did the vet diagnosis find?

 

[casportpony]

I think my flock has a respiratory disease. I lost a hen about two weeks ago. The vet gave LS 50. The flock seemed to do well for a few days, but now have turned bad again. I've read Tylan 50 might help. Anyone have any experience with this? I see that Amazon carries it, but do local places keep it in stock too?

Tylan (tylosin) might work if it's mycoplasma, but it will not work if it's something like E.coli, pseudomonas aeruginosa or a virus. Would be best to have your vet do a gram stain or do a culture and sensitivity test. A friend of mine just went through this and lost 10% of his sick birds before they found an antibiotic that would work. The bacteria in his flock was pseudomonas aeruginosa, and there were only a few antibiotics that would treat that strain of it.

-Kathy

 

[izziebean]

As per the vet: "Currently the only finding on necropsy included mildly cloudy air sacs and watery diarrhea in the GI tract. As discussed, histopathology can take as long as 4-6 weeks for results."

The vet is currently out of town and is the only one that specializes at the clinic for exotic birds (which apparently chickens are?). I'm kind of just doing a shot in the dark. I got up every hour last night to make sure they all took drinks of water with the medicine in it. Today.. most are active. Two hens, though, are lethargic and hunching over. I don't think we have found the right anti-biotic, but it still may be a virus that will claim the whole flock. I spent a good deal of money trying to save Paris and I can't do that for every one of them even though I really do adore the little things.

I did buy some tylan today at a local vet supply store. I'm going to try it on the hen with the worst symptoms to see if she improves tonight. Needles seem scary to use on them, but I want to try to save them if i can. They are bantams so I"m going to use .25 cc for three days injecting on opposite side of the breast on the next day.

 

[casportpony]

Some peafowl people give Tylan 50 orally at 0.25ml per pound orally twice a day. What breed are they?

-Kathy

 

[izziebean]

Frizzle cochin bantam, silkies, mottle houdan (she is full sized but still only about 4-5 pounds). The roosters are polish. The wc blue polish has had snot nose for about a month.. it gets better then worse. He's skinnier and now his crow is more like a scream. The houdan and the cochin frizzle are both skinnier too. They stopped laying about two weeks ago right before Paris died. Paris was a houdan as well. I got both as chicks but from different stores. One silkie and one wc polish frizzle bantam are laying eggs everyday. They seem unphased.

The vet says they like to hide illness until they are very sick. The two hens showing such lethargic behavior is really scaring me. I've noticed breathing problems in a couple of them. They jump up when I offer treats so I know they still have some life to them.

 

[casportpony]

They sound like candidates for tube feeding if they're losing weight. Let me know if you want to learn.

-Kathy

 

[izziebean]

I do want to learn. I did buy a syringe from the store.. big one to hold water. One of the hens who has lost weight has a crooked beak. The past couple of days, I've made mush to get her to eat. She chows down like crazy so maybe she wasn't able to get enough food down when she was laying?

The cochin bantam is having breathing issues. I just gave her .25cc of tylan. I'm starting to wonder if it might be pneumonia? Her waddles come in a little when she takes a breath in. Does that sound like respiratory?

 

[casportpony]

I do want to learn. I did buy a syringe from the store.. big one to hold water. One of the hens who has lost weight has a crooked beak. The past couple of days, I've made mush to get her to eat. She chows down like crazy so maybe she wasn't able to get enough food down when she was laying?

The cochin bantam is having breathing issues. I just gave her .25cc of tylan. I'm starting to wonder if it might be pneumonia? Her waddles come in a little when she takes a breath in. Does that sound like respiratory?

Can you post a picture of them?

-Kathy

 

[izziebean]

This is Happy. She keeps shutting her eyes since her shot. I put water by her. Since she was a little chick, we played this game where she would take a drink of water and i would act surprised and yell 'YUMMY YUM!!'. And she loved that response. I can get her to drink by saying that. (BTW She is molting pretty badly so she looks rough. The roosters tore the top of her comb a couple of months ago. The roosters no longer have access to the hens anymore)).

The ones that I gave shots to seem very sleepy. Is that normal?

Also, the latest bag of pine shavings were very.. well.. shaved. Very fine dust. Could that be killing them?