chicken sick for the second time

[kerricascade]

Hi- I have 9 laying hens in my back yard. I got 4 initially, who are now about 7 months old. 1 Golden Comet, 2 Wyandottes and 1 Brahma. about 2 weeks ago, I bought 5 pullets- about 7/8 weeks old. They had been vaccinated. The chickens share a coop, but I had the babies sectioned off from my big girls. About 10 days ago, my Brahma and one Wyandotte started acting lethargic, tail drooping, yellow diarrhea. I separated them, took care of them, and they both appeared to recover after 2 days. I returned them to the other chickens. Now my other Wyandotte is showing the same symptoms, and the Brahma is sick again with even worse symptoms. I have them separated from the rest. I'm giving water soluble antibiotics. The sick ones won't eat and we have to force them to drink water. Not sure at all what to do from here. Any advice? Oh, it appears that the Brahma's irises are changing color to a brownish-red from golden.

 

[speckledhen]

Vaccinated for what? There are several vaccinations for poultry.

Why give antibiotics? If it's an intestinal thing, that may make it worse by destroying good gut bacteria. If it's viral, antibiotics do nothing for it.

Doesn't sound like you quarantined them away from the resident flock. I'm not sure what the issue is, but you should always quarantine for 4-6 weeks so they cannot walk the same ground or breathe in the same air space so if they are carriers of something, it may show before you have put them with your birds. If it's just a poop issue, could be worms, but hard to say. No idea about the eye thing.