a good cure for crd?

[casportpony]

https://sites.google.com/a/poultrypedia.com/poultrypedia/medicine-chart/baytril-for-birds

-Kathy

 

[gameroster]

thanks for all ur useful information....keep them crowing

 

[Sylvester017]

i have some chickens that are with rattles, runny noise, watery eyes, heads swollen is gallimycin a good treatment for crd? I was told it was.......

First, you can't "treat" CRD. Birds will remain carriers and may show symptoms again during times of stress.

Antibiotics can diminish the symptoms and make the birds seem healthy again. I, too, have read that Gallimycin can be used for CRD. If you can get it, try that. Tylan50 is another antibiotic often used for respiratory infections. Another good antibiotic is called Denagard.

should I kill what I think is carriers then? if not it could go through all my flock?

I've taken my Silkie to our vet in Oct 2013 and Dec 2014 for CRD (Mycoplasma infection) which caused very labored breathing/wheezing and sometimes a little cough but ours didn't have runny nose or watery eyes. Last year one Baytril injection and 10 days followup with Tylan mixed in her drinking water fixed her quickly. This year she came down with it during the cold weather and she needed 3 days of injections along with a stronger solution of Tylan. We have to keep her warm indoors to recover. Meanwhile the vet suggested Tylan water for the hens outdoors that showed no symptoms.

This is the 2nd year for my CRD-prone Silkie. You never "cure" Mycoplasma infections and the hen will be a carrier of the disease that will flare up again during a time of stress. My 2 other hens have never showed symptoms and must have good immunity from it but we put Tylan in their water just to be sure during the stressful weather. Vet recommended chicken vitamin supplement but I told him we have a health maintenance during stress (molting, broodiness, hot/cold weather changes, prolific laying cycles, etc) of giving each hen ONE drop of children's no-iron Poly-Vi-Sol liquid vitamin on the side of each hen's beak 2x a week. We like giving a measured dose that the hen licks off her beak since vitamins in drinking water don't ensure that each hen is getting an adequate vitamin intake. My CRD Silkie actually loves the taste of Poly-Vi-Sol and will lap up the drop out of the palm of my hand. Refrigerate the opened bottle to keep it fresh. The vet is okay with the measured use of the no-iron Poly-Vi-Sol as long as it is not over-dosed - human vitamins can be too potent for chickens' internal organs - liver, pancreas, etc.

Our CRD Silkie has a more difficult time each incident she comes down with it. Last year she healed up nicely and fast. This year her voice sounds raspier and we have to make sure she gets a stronger dose of follup Tylan. Thank goodness her appetite is good since at the first sign of CRD the ailing trachea/esophagus can kill appetite. However if we pick her up in the "show judge hold" her full crop will press on her chest and she has stress breathing so we limit holding her unless absolutely necessary. She's had a Baytril shot 3 days in a row this weekend and we have yet another followup visit with the vet on Monday to check on her esophagus/trachea since her voice is still a bit raspy. He says each time a bird comes down with CRD it damages the air sacks. With birds like broilers (Cornish X) the disease spreads quickly throughout their digestive tract/intestines to where there is severe diarrhea and usually ultimate death. We immediately take our Silkie to the vet since she is delicate so we've never had a diarrhea issue but the first symptoms of CRD will diminish appetite so it's critical to get the bird immediate help. Unfortunately the Baytril and Tylan cause watery stools so feeding cooked rice is good for firming up the poops a bit.

We love our little Silkie who is 3 years old now but we have come to the decision that after she recovers we will monitor her closely for her next symptoms and put her down rather than go through another round of treatments. The disease only does more successive damage and we don't want to put her through another episode after this one. If she recovers nicely from this episode we will keep her freely indoors in a diaper until the weather gets better so we can put her back in the flock. Currently she is progressing nicely but not as quickly as last year. The vet is hopeful and encouraging because she is so spry, eating well, and has good stools in spite of all the antibiotic treatments she is getting. She is the sweetest, friendliest, outgoing of all our girls. I do not look forward to her next year because it will mean putting her down if she gets ill again (which is highly probable with Mycoplasma).