Already on Antibiotics, Now Respiratory Symptoms

[aking19]

Need a little advice. I am treating my flock for bacterial infection after my son got into chicken poop and put it in his mouth. He got sick about 2 days later, his stool was tested. Flock has been on amoxicillin for 7 days, now suddenly I have a hen in the same flock who suddenly has sneezing, wheezing, nasal discharge, and gurgly breathing. Shes on amox already, should I continue this or maybe isolate her and switch to tylan? I am a little confused how shes sick now when theyve all been on meds for 7 days. I do let them out in the yard during the day, maybe shes been finding other water to drink?? Please be kind, I don’t like overusing antibiotics but I am a little at a loss on this one and just want to help her.

 

[Eggcessive]

What bacterial infection did your son have, campylobacter? Or did the doctor treat for that? People can get campylobacter and salmonella from eating slightly undercooked chicken, and other ways. Have you had your vet do a fecal float on some collected chicken droppings? That is what I would do.

Can you tell us if you have seen any sneezing, gasping, watery or bubbly eye, mucus from the nostrils or beak, head shaking or a lot of swallowing mucus in the sick chicken? Respiratory diseases, of course are not spread from chickens to humans, and vice versa. Amoxicillin does not treat MG, the most common bacterial respiratory disease. If the chicken had that you would see bubbles in an eye, eyelid or facial swelling, and lethargy. Tylosin, Tiagard, or oxytetracycline may be used to treat MG. If she is sneezing often, that could be environmental from dust or pollen, ammonia fumes in the coop, or mold. If she is sneezing every few minutes day and night, that could be a sign of a virus called infectious bronchitis. There is no treatment for that. It lasts a couple of weeks. Others would also get it. Occasional sneezing especially when eating chicken feed is usually not an illness. I hope that helps.

 

[aking19]

What bacterial infection did your son have, campylobacter? Or did the doctor treat for that? People can get campylobacter and salmonella from eating slightly undercooked chicken, and other ways. Have you had your vet do a fecal float on some collected chicken droppings? That is what I would do.

Can you tell us if you have seen any sneezing, gasping, watery or bubbly eye, mucus from the nostrils or beak, head shaking or a lot of swallowing mucus in the sick chicken? Respiratory diseases, of course are not spread from chickens to humans, and vice versa. Amoxicillin does not treat MG, the most common bacterial respiratory disease. If the chicken had that you would see bubbles in an eye, eyelid or facial swelling, and lethargy. Tylosin, Tiagard, or oxytetracycline may be used to treat MG. If she is sneezing often, that could be environmental from dust or pollen, ammonia fumes in the coop, or mold. If she is sneezing every few minutes day and night, that could be a sign of a virus called infectious bronchitis. There is no treatment for that. It lasts a couple of weeks. Others would also get it. Occasional sneezing especially when eating chicken feed is usually not an illness. I hope that helps.

It was campylobacter in my son. He hadn’t had any chicken to eat, so I was pretty sure it was from putting poop in his mouth before I could stop him.

The only symptoms she has are what I described in initial post and did not have a fecal test done on the birds. Don’t have an avian vet anywhere around me. Symptoms: sneezing, wheezing, nasal discharge, and gurgly breathing. No bubbling in the eyes or anything like that. Thank you for the bronchitis suggestion, she is not sneezing constantly but it sounds gurgly and raspy when she does. Its more than a normal dust bath sneeze.

 

[Eggcessive]

I would try to get some Tylosin online. It doesn’t have any egg withdrawal time. It will take awhile, probably 5 days at least. Many sellers are out of it lately, so check with this one and jedds.com about how long to get it:
https://thecanaryfinchstore.com/product/tylosin-powder-for-birds/
Dosage is 1 tsp per gallon of water for 5 days. Change it every other day or sooner. That can help on the chance that she has MG and not IB virus. In the meantime, give some probiotics or plain Greek yogurt 1 tsp per bird daily until you can get Tylosin. That will help since they have had antibiotics. Have you added any new chickens in the last couple of weeks? They usually get respiratory diseases from a carrier, even from wild birds.

 

[aking19]

I would try to get some Tylosin online. It doesn’t have any egg withdrawal time. It will take awhile, probably 5 days at least. Many sellers are out of it lately, so check with this one and jedds.com about how long to get it:
https://thecanaryfinchstore.com/product/tylosin-powder-for-birds/
Dosage is 1 tsp per gallon of water for 5 days. Change it every other day or sooner. That can help on the chance that she has MG and not IB virus. In the meantime, give some probiotics or plain Greek yogurt 1 tsp per bird daily until you can get Tylosin. That will help since they have had antibiotics. Have you added any new chickens in the last couple of weeks? They usually get respiratory diseases from a carrier, even from wild birds.

Thank you! My hubby and I were thinking of switching just her to that. Or maybe the whole flock. I don’t know, I hate to do it.

I do have Tylosin on hand. I misspoke earlier, do not have Tylan. No new birds in the flock yet, we do have 11 week old pullets but they have all been separate. Actually did not know that Tylosin has no egg withdrawal time. I had planned to give probiotics after amox anyway. Regularly give greek yogurt about once per month and have started fermenting feed too.

 

[Eggcessive]

Did the pullets come from a breeder or another person, not a hatchery or feed store? Respiratory diseases are easy to bring in to a flock, because carriers may not have any symptoms. It is hard to keep one like IB from spreading because it can spread in air. I would personally just use the Tylosin on the one hen if possible by keeping her in a wire crate during the day with food and medicated water. Then at night she could roost with her flock. Let us know how she gets along.

 

[aking19]

Did the pullets come from a breeder or another person, not a hatchery or feed store? Respiratory diseases are easy to bring in to a flock, because carriers may not have any symptoms. It is hard to keep one like IB from spreading because it can spread in air. I would personally just use the Tylosin on the one hen if possible by keeping her in a wire crate during the day with food and medicated water. Then at night she could roost with her flock. Let us know how she gets along.

Thank you! The pullets were approx 1 week when I got them in February. I should have been more specific, they have not had any issues. Got them from a local breeder. I will isolate her and put her on tylosin. Thank you for all the advice. I appreciate. Will post update in a few days.

 

[aking19]

5/16 Update: my gal has been on Tylosin for 5 days and really shows improvement other than no nasal discharge; however, she is no worse either. Aside from constant sneezinggurgly breathing, she acts pretty normal. The rest of my flock doesnt seem to have any symptoms either. I intend to finish the 7 days of antibiotics for her but she is eating, drinking, and loves her treats. I will give her some probiotics too but really am at a loss now. Thinking i should at this point take a wait and see approach? Kinda scratching my head on this one.