Coryza? Please tell me it's not...

Wynette

Crowing
Premium Feather Member
12 Years
Sep 25, 2007
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Michigan
I've got a 17 month old EE hen that I noticed appeared swollen around her eyes last night; this morning, she was the last one out of the coop (I had to call her), and one of her eyes was either swollen or stuck shut. She started to scratch at it, and it opened. She is in a heavy molt right now, so I'm HOPING that the area around the eyes that appears swollen could be due to new feathers coming in....her being itchy and maybe her scratching at them?

History: Most of the girls in this flock recently began to sneeze, one of them with a wet sounding sneeze. I'd previously had a respiratory issue in another pen that was resolved with a short course of Tylan for those affected (I treated them independently - only those with issues). Because of the recent issue in the other pen, I decided to treat all the birds in this pen with water soluble Tylan. Day 3 was yesterday; they are now on 1/2 dose for 2 days. When I saw that Carmen's eye are was swollen and one eye stuck shut this morning, I separated her, and might have made a mistake: I gave her water with Gallimycin in it, just in case this is Coryza. If this is a mistake, I will run home at lunch time and pull her water. I took these pictures this morning. I'm really, really hoping that this could be due to her molting so strongly. She's sneezing, although not a wet sounding sneeze and I didn't hear her sneezing after I separated her. She's got an appetite, and thought she looks horrid from molting, seems to be doing fine otherwise. Carmen's a beautiful girl when she's not molting!! She looks awful now! (edited to add that there is no offensive odor coming from her mouth or sinuses.)

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I would leave the medicated water in with her. If it is coryza, earlier treatment is better. Actually, that's true with ANY poultry disease. She could have just gotten something in her eye. Perhaps use some terramycin eye ointment in her eyes in addition to the antibiotic.
 
I would not have changed her antibiotic mid-course. Doing so builds resistant bacteria and eventually the antibiotics do not work like they are supposed to.

Moulting is very stressful on birds, especially a heavy moult where they strip feathers rather quickly. During moult, I recommend vitamin supplements to help them through this time. Although with her being on meds, do not mix them together in her water. You may want to keep this in mind for other birds though.

I don't know what she has and I'm not sure I would have treated her with any antibiotics without a diagnosis of what you're treating. That's a tough call and an individual decision. I hope she recovers for you.

Jody
 
Jody, I can run home @ lunch & switch her water back to the Tylan water...is this what you would recommend? There are 2 days left for that, then I could put her and the rest on water with Avia Charge 2000, supplementing with yogurt...what are your thoughts?
 
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I'm not sure what to say because she probably already started drinking the Galy..and you can't know for sure how much she ingested. I don't know the differences in the meds to advise you on that. I do know you should not follow one antibiotics right with another. They need time in between typically to restore gut flora and let the original antibiotic do its thing.

Jody
 
Okay, I THOUGHT I'd made a mistake in switching her. I was so panicked this morning, as I've been dealing with other illnesses in a different pen, trying to be so careful so as not to contaminate my layer flock, and now THEY are sick. I'm about ready to throw in the towel, I'm so upset & frustrated.

I think I'll take her off any anitibiotic since I screwed it up already
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and just put her on Avia Charge 2000. Thanks, Jody.
 
Now this is just my opinion, Wynette. I would NOT stop her antibiotics. Whatever you have her on now...leave her on it for a minimum of 10 days. The worst thing you can do is the "on again..off again" of antibiotics.

I know that humans aren't necessarily like poultry, but I think there is too much made of resistance to antibiotics. Yes, it happens, but not as easily as one might think. I'm an oncology nurse and we use antibiotics often and repeatedly for our patients. Yes, over time bacteria can become resistant to antibiotics...like MRSA...but it takes a LOT of them over a LONG period of time.

Now some folks just don't believe in using antibiotics unless they know exactly what the disease is. Personally, if I had an ill chicken, I would treat it with a broad spectrum antibiotic for a full 10 days...beginning as soon as possible. I do believe in separating them and also boosting them with electrolytes and vitamins.

It's unlikely that you will have enough disease in your flock that whatever they develop would have resistance to the antibiotic. Remember, it's not the chicken who is resistant to the drug...it's the bacteria/mycoplasma, etc.

Good luck with your hen, whatever you decide...
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Thanks for your feedback, Gator...so, do you feel I should leave her on the water soluble Gallimycin, or switch back to the water soluble Tylan? I'm feeling that you'd recommend leaving her on the Gallimycin. I think I'm just panicked and not making good decisions...I've had a few illnesses run through BOTH of my pens, and I'm worried sick I'll eventually need to just cull all & start over...don't want to do that, as most of these I hatched myself, and some are babies from my own stock. Sigh...thanks for your input, I really appreciate EVERYONE'S input!!

I'm also wondering if I can get more feedback on the terramycin eye ointment. Believe it or not, I'd much prefer NOT to treat with drugs, and this would be adding one more...can I get opinions on that?

And, is it at all possible that it's due to her molting to heavily and the feathers growing in around her eyes and possibly itching?

(I also have water soluble Terramycin on hand...)
 
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I've done a search of broad spectrum antibiotics and it looks like Terramycin has the broadest spectrum for poultry. So, that is what I personally would switch to and treat for a FULL 10 days.

I don't think the feathers growing in would irritate her eyes that much. I do know that moulting is hard on them and I would support them all with some vitamins. But I would not add them to the Terramycin water...just give it dribbled along side their beaks.

Try not to panick....you notice I said "try" not to. I would probably do the same thing because I know that resp. diseases in poultry is so often fatal. Your doing fine.
 
Thanks for the feedback, gator. I've got lots to think on with this bird, and you've given me much useful info. I sure appreciate it.
 

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