Chickens have a cold? what is this? HELPPPPPPPPPP !!!!!!!

[Eagles_View]

I bought 11 laying hens about 3 weeks ago. Put them in with the 7 that I had.

I've had one BR that has had raspy breathing all winter..she still lays, eats fine, drinks ect...

Out of the new hens all a year and a half old, 5 of them have the same raspy breathing, some
make a loud HONK and shake their head, like a human would couph, or a quick squeak sound.

Some of them have a light tan loose stool, 3 of them are often standing around all puffed up,
neck tucked down, eyes closed like they are sleeping standing up. They actually act like they
have a cold. Weight is good, egg production is down...

They are housed in a new building, (building is about 6 months old) have shavings on the floor, nice run of sand, gravel, dirt. They
get turned loose about 3 times a week in the evenings when I'm out side to free range, take a dirt
bath/dusting...

They all have good feathers...eat crumbles and cracked corn, love stale bread....
and their room mates are 3 year old turkeys.

What is wrong with these birds?...I'm going to Farm and Home and see if there is something I can give them...but wanted
to check with you guys first...It's 3:30am...I'll check for replys later today before I go shopping.

Oh and the sickest ones are all one breed, production reds. A few barred rocks too. They dont' even like to head out the door
to the run when I open it in the am....just like to sit and snooze on the perch...If I shoo them out the door, they head to a
corner of the run and just stand there...

thank you in advance....

-Eagles View Farm
NE MO.

 

[limsan]

Dear Eagles-view: I am sorry to hear about your new hens. I would separate the new ones from your old ones as it seems apparent that what they have has spread to the rest. I experienced a similar if not the same sickness with 2 of my older girls.(they both died after about a week of me nursing them to no avail) I still don't know what they suffered from although not from lack of researching their symptoms! I suspect it was an upper respiratory type of infection. I don't appear to have a poultry vet. near me so the times I took chickens to the vet. were very unsatisfying and expensive and the hens still died! I have a terriblle time seeing any animal suffer but, I always hope a miracle may happen and my hen will get better. They rarely do. I suspect because 'prey' animals like hens hide their symptoms so well that the time we notice they are ill it is often to late. I am sorry to seem so negative this is just my experience. If you can afford it and have a good vet. nearby by all means take one of them in. You could catch whatever it is and save them. I wish you the greatest luck.

 

[Mek]

I don't know much only got my birds two weeks ago ...so I am quoting from an old poultry book:
Pure breed Poultry raising - Rick Kemp

Bacteria
Three Bacterial diseases affect poultry are:
Pullorum: which the state department of agriculture testing program has reduced the incidence of.
Chronic Respiratory disease: where outbreaks occur they are treated with antibiotics and can be lessened by sound management as well as correct housing.
Coryza: The fowl appear to have a "cold" with watery, bubbly discharge from the nostrils, and can be treated with antibiotics.

I dont know if this helps or not...

 

[easttxchick]

It's hard to say if your sick bird infected the new birds or if the new birds were already sick when you got them.
Could very well be CRD or MG. Try giving them some Tetracycline water soluble antibiotic in their water(you can get it at most feed stores-comes in an envelope). My vet says tetracycline is the best wide-spectrum antibiotic you can buy at a feed store.
Just for future reference, always quarantine new birds for 30 days when you get them home. HOWEVER, I will tell you that some of these respiratory things will show themselves in times of stress, so quarantine, while it is something I ALWAYS do, will not necessarily protect your flock from a respiratory disease that doesn't show up in 30 days. Quarantine can protect from other things, though, such as fowl pox, etc, mites, worms, etc.
Something else-while most respiratory illnesses can be treated, it can leave the sick birds(and even the ones that aren't showing outward signs of illness) as carriers for life. Some will tell you to cull your flock. What I will tell you is if you keep your flock for your own enjoyment, don't add new birds, don't sell hatching eggs or birds and practice good biosecurity-you don't have to cull them.
Just want you to have as much info as possible.
I wish you good luck with your birds and hope all goes well for you and your flock!

 

[Eagles_View]

Thank YOU so much for the replies.....I suspected this when I got them...as soon as we unloaded them, one sneezed!...my Barred Rock hen that had it, has had it for quite some time...

I'm going to Farm and Home this am and get some tetracycline....start them on that.

I did call the vet, she is a very good one, has been in practice for many many years...she said she could take a stool sample and send
it off, but it would be expensive, and not trying to be harsh, just honost, said, "after all, it's a chicken, be human and start over".....or "let it run it's course with tetracycline"...said "you guys were right on target".

I have a hobby farm...my chickens, turkeys, cockatiels and little house dogs, are all part of helping socialy deprived children that come to us, get over shyness, learn to love and most of all RECEIVE love. We have a foster child and having the animals around makes her day. With just 10 acres, we have to limit ourselves to what animals she wants.

We have all kinds of breeds of chickens...as to have a colorful flock...and yes, she has named them all. LOL
She has them eating out of her hand, perched up on her knees....even the turkeys.

Thank you all...I may not post much, but do read the posts every day...

***now, if someone could give me pointers in convincing a husband that two baby goats would be a good idea...
let me know.

-Eagles View Farm
NE MO.

 

[cocosandy]

Someone recently left some birds here that have what I think is coryza and I sent a roo of mine that got an eye swelling and 2 of those hens to the poultry expension at the state university here. Ive treated with sulmet in the water and that is a good thing to do for coryza...and I had separated the roo and then treated him with antibiotics.
I dont know what to say about this except that the new hens that really had the symptoms of coryza to a T have nodules in their lungs and cloudy fluid...I am awaiting the lab results beyond that.
The shaking of the head and rasping is a bad sign...I would treat any bird with raspy breathing from the get go.
I am waiting for answers from the extension vet on whether to cull my whole flock (ducks and turkeys too??) because if its coryza, the birds will carry it and pass it on to any new birds that come here...I got a vaccine for coryza which is worthwhile but from what I can tell , its not for sick birds...so I have to figure out if my whole flock is infected from being aorund these darn birds.
Im not all that careful about isolating new birds, but I will be in the future. This was an impossible situation because he left them on my lawn.
It was already too late by the time he did that...it was all I could do to catch them with a net and get them in the barn, much less to quarantine them.
a couple had bubbly stuff in the eye by the next AM and that is coryza...its passed in droplets of fluid sneezed and coughed up...and also the head shaking...
It went away with the sulmet but I think it was already too late as the roo had the swollen eye, and even though I quarantined him, and he was the only one who got the eye, there was still some runny noses etc... in the barn.
I would strongly suggest googling the state poultry extension for your area and seeing if they have any sort of courier service or if you can send a bird in a cooler overnight to them to be necropsied and tested...you may lose your entire flock or spread this disease unwittingly....it has to stop somewhere.
Good luck...

 

[speckledhen]

Chickens do not get colds like humans do. Remember, you don't know if you will be treating something viral or bacterial (of course, antibiotics do nothing for viral illnesses) and even if they get over symptoms, they can remain carriers of that disease, able to infect others for the foreseeable future, if not the rest of their lives. That's why most breeders and old time chicken keepers do not treat respiratory disease, but cull immediately. It's a harsh reality of this hobby, unfortunately, and I've been publicly blasted for my stance on this, but I sell hatching eggs, chicks and started birds on occasion, and I do not want to be responsible for heartache in someone else's flock. I would consider it unethical to sell someone else a bird from a flock that had been treated for respiratory illness. If you know you'll never sell one of your birds, then you may base your decision on that.

 

[MaureenL128]

All I can say is that this happend to me last week with just one bird and she didn't make it past yesterday. The raspy breathing loud honking and shaking head were all the same symptoms. I still cannot pinpoint what happened. Good luck to you

 

[Eagles_View]

No head shaking.........no eye problems.

No one has died ...yet.... either.

I'll treat them and go for the best...if they all die, I'll disinfect the new house and
start over....

I do have 5 four week old Buffs in a seperate area right now...
(child just had to have baby chicks)

**lesson for me, do not take said child to feed store in the spring**

-Eagles View
NE MO.