Do chickens ever get well?

[foghat leghorn]

I'm still a rookie at this but every chicken I've ever had get sick eventually dies no matter how well I care for them....all ages, chicks and ful grown.
I went for about 2 months now with no sick birds, but now a 3 month old cockerel has congestion.been using vet-x.... Wondering if I should just cull now.

 

[appps]

I've had two sick birds in 2 1/2 years and only one of those had to be put down. it sounds like something isn't right if you are getting them constantly. What exactly is your setup to see if it gives any clues.

ie: what is their regular feed?
What treats do you give them
How often do you worm
Have you checked for lice and mites on feathers and feet.
Do you quarantine new stock totally away from existing flock and for how long.
How many birds do you have
How large in their run
How large is where they sleep
Have they all died of the same symptoms, or if not what were the others sick with?

 

[CMV]

When chickens get respiratory illnesses, they generally do not get well. Respiratory illness are usually something that renders all exposed birds carriers of the disease for life. Even if they do not have signs/symptoms they are busy infecting the whole flock to their illness. It is often recommended that you cull flocks exposed to CRD and do a thorough cleaning/sanitizing before getting any new poultry.

When chicken have reproductive issues, those issues are often fatal as well, but not always. These don't spread to the flock, though, so you can let them ride until the time comes when a bird's quality of life has deteriorated to the point where culling is a kindness.

Chickens are masters of healing traumatic injuries, though. They can withstand injuries that would render most of us dead at the outset. They can get torn half apart, fully heal, and still lay an egg everyday.

It is all about what they have wrong with them in the first place. Sorry for your losses.

 

[stephbr]

I have some hens that have a respiratory illness. They gave swollen infected eyes and raspy breathing. A couple have already died. What medication do I need to use to treat rest of the flock to keep them from getting this.

 

[stephbr]

I have some hens that have a respiratory illness. They gave swollen infected eyes and raspy breathing. A couple have already died. What medication do I need to use to treat rest of the flock to keep them from getting this.

 

[ClaireDL]

You need to check the environment.

 

[CMV]

I have some hens that have a respiratory illness. They gave swollen infected eyes and raspy breathing. A couple have already died. What medication do I need to use to treat rest of the flock to keep them from getting this.

You don't. All the others likely already have it. There are ways to treat, but they are expensive, time-consuming and counter-productive unless you are keeping these birds strictly as pets, and don't intend to ever sell hatching eggs or bring in any more birds, or give any of these birds away to a new home. Productive flocks that get CRD are generally destroyed to prevent the perpetuation of CRD. It spreads rapidly and readily to any bird that comes in either direct or indirect contact with infected birds.

Should you opt to treat, the first thing you need to do is get these birds tested to see exactly which CRD you are dealing with. You can contact your state lab to find resources to do this. They may also want one of your dead birds for necropsy, so the next one that dies should be shipped out for testing. The state lab can tell you how to do that, too, although there is a handy sticky note here somewhere with all this info. I haven't been around BYC in a few years and haven't found all the pertinent info sticky notes yet.

ETA here it is-
http://agr.wa.gov/FoodAnimal/AnimalHealth/statevets.aspx

 

[jranee]

i have had chickens for 6ish years and my first year we had them die often but just keep the coop clean and the chicken itself clean and put some medication in their water we put duramycin-10 in the water every once in a while if they don't look well and when it gets cold.

 

[casportpony]

I have some hens that have a respiratory illness. They gave swollen infected eyes and raspy breathing. A couple have already died. What medication do I need to use to treat rest of the flock to keep them from getting this.

@foghat leghorn! welcome to BYC! If you live in the US you could try treating the sick ones with Baytril. Baytril is banned for use in poultry, so you'd want to look into that and decide if that's something you want to treat with. I'll post a link with Baytril sources in my next post.

-Kathy

 

[casportpony]

@foghat leghorn, here's the link:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/959119/baytril-enrofloxacin-sources

-Kathy