chicken with a cold

[BooneChicks]

Hi. I have 3 Barred Plymoth Rock Hens who are 7 months old. One of the hens, "Sleepy", has always been smaller and slower than the other girls. Also her comb never really got that big and has remained a dull pink color. Yesterday I noticed bubbles in one of her eyes. I was told by a vet the bubbly eye might be caused by an upper respiratory infection and he recommended tetracycline and wazine (de-wormer), just incase. I moved her into a large card-board box with towels in my basement and will start the medications today. I am worried about leaving her in the box, but I am also worried about leaving her outside. It is supposed to get cold here the next four of nights (20,15,then 9 &9). Do you think it will be ok to leave her out in the cold while starting medication? Will being inside in a card board box help her get well? Thanks any thoughts.

 

[Judy]

Chickens don't get colds, as in people colds. They do, however, get several chronic respiratory diseases. Sounds like you have a flock with one. Personally, I'd leave her with the flock and avoid getting her used to warmth.

Here is a good article to get you familiar with what they are susceptible to: http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ps044

There are some other antibiotics that people find more useful than tetracycline for some of these diseases. Many or most are not actually sold for chickens so your vet may be unwilling to recommend them for a chicken. The information is on here which ones to give and how.

Mine have never had one of these diseases, that I know of, so I'm not familiar with the details. There are some excellent threads on here about how people handle these things. The search function is quite useful, the button on the blue bar at the top.

 

[speckledhen]

One thing you need to know (and I hate being a bucket of cold water all the time), is that many respiratory diseases, unlike those in humans, make a bird a carrier/Typhoid Mary, even after they seem to have recovered. Most old time chicken keepers don't treat these things if they ever come up; they euthanize the bird since they don't want a cycle of disease to be set up in their flocks. I realize that is a hard concept for a backyard flock owner, I really do. You also don't know if it's bacterial or viral--viruses do not respond to antibiotics, as you know. To truly treat properly, you'd have to have the bird tested for possible CRD (Chronic Respiratory Disease/Mycoplasmosis), which, by the way, is one of the carrier diseases that can be passed through the egg to a chick. Just wanted to throw this information out for your perusal. Best to be fully informed.

 

[Juliezmom]

Please Help!! I have a 3 year old Rhode Island Red. She has been staggering for a few days. Doing a lot of leaning, and her face feathers have turned White :{
I have 10 chickens and all the others are fine!! She circles in place once in a while as well!! Please help, I love my Chickens!!!!

 

[speckledhen]

Juliez, please post a separate thread for your bird so others can find it.

 

[BooneChicks]

Thanks speckledhen and ddawn for the advice!