Dead bird

[sagealbright]

This morning we lost our lavender orphington. She started acting funny a few days ago and we finally got a hold of our chicken guy this morning. He told us to go get Tylan and bring it to him with the bird. When we got there, it was too late and we lost her. We were told it was Bronchitis and he showed us puss that was on her eye. Now we are wondering if the rest of our flock has been infected. Our birds are pretty wild and do not like to be touched so it's hard to get a close look at them. I did notice one standing alone and not eating when I got home. I called our chicken man and he said to give her the Tylan as well. Does anyone else have experience with this sickness? Any advice on how to notice symptoms before it's too late? Any help would be great!

 

[Outpost JWB]

So sorry for the loss of your lavender orphington. Not had experience with Bronchitis, but you could listen to their breathing when they go on the roost at night. Sometimes the sick ones do not show any symptoms. It does sound as if the one standing alone may be infected too. I would take the advice on the Tylan. I would isolate, treat her & keep a close eye on the others..

 

[sagealbright]

Thanks so much for your advice. We found out we have 3 infected chickens total. They are now being treated. I'm a little worried about giving them shots but I guess I'll have to get over that fear. Hopefully we can save these three.

 

[sagealbright]

Also found out a few were under weight. Which I thought was astonishing since they eat better than I do! So now we are also de-worming them with SafeGuard. We are new to chickens and never knew this was necessary. Hopefully we can get everything worked out.

 

[cafarmgirl]

You can also give the injectable Tylan orally at 1/2 cc per standard size bird, once a day for 5 days.

We have dealt with infectious bronchitis here, it did not involve puss in the eyes. Birds started out sounding hoarse then developed a wet sounding cough, runny noses, sneezing, wheezing, rattling, one developed pneumonia as a result. The Tylan will not cure the disease but it will help prevent the nasty secondary bacterial infections and pneumonia that so often kill the birds.

No way to know exactly what your birds have without have one tested or having a necropsy done on a dead bird.

 

[sagealbright]

Thanks for your input cafarmgirl. They received their third dose of Tylan this morning along with more dewormer, and plenty of probiotics. All the chickens seem to be eating on their own. Our little Wyandotte is in the worst condition as of now. She keeps her head hunched in. But I did see her eating and drinking which is good. I'm hoping they all make it since I'm really trying my best to keep them in good health.

 

[sagealbright]

Also wanted to add that the Wyandotte was loosing some feathers this morning. Not sure what that could be from.

 

[cafarmgirl]

The lost feathers could just be the start of molt, it's that time of year. Good luck with them.

 

[sagealbright]

Today is day 3 of the Tylan. Not much of a difference in their behavior so far. I'm starting to question is the Wyandotte is sick with the same illness as my other two sick birds.

The sick birds are my Silver laced wyandotte, blue double laced barnevelder, and my gray silkie. All pullets.

The Barnevelder had bubbles in her eyes, and has not been acting like her normal annoying self. She's typically the loudest and is constantly running around. She's still active and eating on her own but is keeping her head hunched in most of the time.

The Silkie was breathing heavy with her beak open. No eye bubbles. She's always been a little odd, she moves very slow and keeps to herself. But lately she's also kept her head hunched in more. She is still eating and drinking on her own.

The Silver Laced Wyandotte is the worst of the three. However, she is not showing the same symptoms of the others. She does not have bubbly eyes and she is not breathing deeply. She is pretty thin, she keeps to herself and does not move much, she is always hunched over with her head pulled in. She is also eating and drinking on her own. The strange thing about little Lacey is that she does not appear to have a comb. It is mainly flat and purple. It was this way when I brought her home at 6 weeks and it never grew. The rest of my pullets around the same age as her seem to be getting bigger combs and wattles. Not sure if the comb is just something unique about her or if it is something serious.

All three of these girls are all around 17 weeks.

I will try to take some pictures of them tomorrow to post.

Do I have a single illness circulating my flock? Or am I looking at multiple illnesses?

 

[sagealbright]

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