Do chickens get colds? UPDATE

[hammytammy]

I'm so sorry you are having respiratory issues with your flock. I am dealing with the same thing. My rooster shakes his head and he and his flockmate hens are having a small amount of watery sinus drainage. I guess when the original affected one drinks from the waterer, the sinus drainage washes off their beak and gets into the water. Then each one that comes along and drinks that same water, is also taking in the sinus drainage as well, thus infecting them too. That's why it's important to separate and quarantine new or sick birds. I have been treating mine with antibiotics for 3 days so far. I have also used some VetRx on the roosters beak, because he is wheezing a little also. VetRx is an all natural liquid that kinda smells like vicks vapor rub. It is used to break up some of the mucus that is causing congestion. I also use Apple Cidar Vinegar in their water occasionally. Yes culling means killing. At this time, I do not plan on culling my chickens. I just won't be adding any new ones to the flock. I don't breed, hatch or sell eggs.

hi
i took a long time to cull for the first time last week.
im so glad i did because i necropsied her and she was a mess inside.
i feel bad, but she doesnt have to face suffering from internal
problems from resp illnesses now.
and i never would have known.......
hope your birdies get better Quick.
tammy

 

[chickenchick99]

hi
i took a long time to cull for the first time last week.
im so glad i did because i necropsied her and she was a mess inside.
i feel bad, but she doesnt have to face suffering from internal
problems from resp illnesses now.
and i never would have known.......
hope your birdies get better Quick.
tammy

Wow! How do you decide why/if to cull a bird and how do you know what to look for internally?

 

[chickenchick99]

UPDATE: I gave them Tylan last night (in their waterer, so they sipped it all day) and again tonight.
I have a flock of 25 and it seems that approx half have "runny noses". Otherwise they seem healthy and happy.
I was only given enough Tylan for 2 days. Should I get more and continue longer?

Also, I was told by the lady who leads the 4H poultry unit locally that almost everyone with a free ranging flock has this problem right now and not to freak out. She said that talk at the feed store is that there is an abnormal amount of barn swallows etc hanging around, and literally there have been 20 at any given time pecking in and around the barn. It's got to be a difficult thing to control when it is so highly contagious and can be transferred to the flock by wild birds.

I am so attached to the eight 3 month old pullets I have raised that I will be very upset if they don't make it.
I hate that I am learning the hard way (just discovered this site a month ago, and have learned a lot but had no idea about quarantining, not mixing young birds with the laying flock, which I have also done....once we make it through this I will be a lot more careful)

 

[speckledhen]

Quote: I absolutely HAVE to disagree with this woman. There is that statement again, the one that almost all flocks in this country carry MG/MS. I happen to know from testing that mine does not. My friend in Kentucky also has an MG-free flock. I've free ranged for 9 years, she does, too, and never had a contagious respiratory disease in my flocks. We live in the mountains, surrounded by wild bird filled woods. Those statements are a way to slough off the problem and it has the unfortunate result of making people lax about biosecurity and eases the guilt of the ones selling the sick birds.

I agree that you can't freak out because it doesn't help anything, but when you have carrier birds you are extremely restricted in what you can ethically do with them. You can't sell extras, which means if you hatch chicks, what will you do with extra males? Are you prepared to eat all of those? You have to always be sure you change your clothes before you leave your property to go to the feed store or other friends' homes with flocks so you do not inadvertently pass on the disease to someone else. It's a bit more complicated when you have a carrier flock than if you do not.

I do mix ages in my flock because I hatch with broody hens. The hen goes into a flock when the chicks are "teens". The Belgian D'Anvers raise their chicks right in the flock and the roosters help take care of the chicks. Seems a natural way to raise a chicken to me, in truth, so the not mixing ages, while logical on the surface, has always seemed odd to me. But, that's me.


I'm very sorry you're dealing with this and have all this conflicting information. It's not easy.

 

[hammytammy]

Wow! How do you decide why/if to cull a bird and how do you know what to look for internally?

im really glad you asked.
i educated myself. I trust the Truly Seriously experienced peoples

knowledge here on byc. i am not a breeder or show birds, so my reasons are not just for her, but for the Health and egg Utility of my flock.
she was sick. she was contagious for an extended time. it became chronic so she was NOT going to improve. she was health hazard to the whole flock.
it was respiratory, the # 1 debilitator (imo) of chickens. she was a source of continuous

infectious virus 24/7. reinfection of the rest of my birds was of major concern.
her eggs could carry the virus. (i dont care if you could eat them, i dont want eggs from a sick chicken) and she could pass it to her chicks even if i took them away and hatched them separately. she was miserable because of this CRS/CRD--Chronic Respiratory Syndrome, CRD Chronic Respiratory Disease.
my other birds needed the attn and resources that i tied up with her.
so i culled her. with tree loppers. gently, but swiftly and quickly.

necropsy? what to look for? like i said, i educated myself. Lots of pictorials on byc.
i opened her up as suggested here on byc. it was my first necropsy so it was messy. However,
i found the signs of internal laying and tumors that are WAY too common in these poor birds.
THIS IS TYPICAL of resp illness. if more people new what their insides were suffering from, they
would consider culling a mercy, not just duty.
whew!

tammy

​

b

 

[speckledhen]

You did great, Tammy. Just had to say that. Having done quite a few necropsies myself, you get better with time, learn to know what you're seeing, when organs are moved around from conditions that make them "migrate", etc. Sometimes, you are surprised by what you find inside, sometimes it's not at all what you expected, sometimes not as bad, sometimes worse, sometimes just weird as in this last one we did:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...cc-yellow-fluid-rip-hope-graphic-photos-added

or, this one:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...arning-giant-cyst-contained-this-not-expected

You learn something every time.

 

[chickenchick99]

Well, that's not entirely correct about the carrier status, but I think it's limited. Here is an article about IB and it states:
From a series of really good articles. http://www.shagbarkbantams.com/ib.htm


And from another article:

Quote:
http://poultrykeeper.com/respiratory-problems/infectious-bronchitis



All that said, it's impossible to tell for sure if the bird has IB or Mycoplasmosis without a test. Symptoms are way too similar.

speckledhen, I read both articles and none of my birds are showing any of these symptoms. This is confusing to me. Also, in a previous post I said most ppl with free range flocks "around here" as in on VANCOUVER ISLAND, Canada. Talk at the feed stores is that most ppls free ranging flocks around here have drippy noses. I have no way to test my birds. There are no avian vets here at all. I spent $80 three weeks ago on a hen with an impacted crop, only to be told he had to put her down (he specializes in small animals, not birds and I drove 2 hrs to get there). Then I got home and read all the things you can do for impacted crop. I only feed organic, my birds are spoiled, I clean up after them everyday (you could almost have a dinner party in their barn stall, seriously!). I have no idea why I am having such bad luck. We are VERY attached to our birds and culling them is definitely not an option

 

[speckledhen]

speckledhen, I read both articles and none of my birds are showing any of these symptoms. This is confusing to me. Also, in a previous post I said most ppl with free range flocks "around here" as in on VANCOUVER ISLAND, Canada. Talk at the feed stores is that most ppls free ranging flocks around here have drippy noses. I have no way to test my birds. There are no avian vets here at all. I spent $80 three weeks ago on a hen with an impacted crop, only to be told he had to put her down (he specializes in small animals, not birds and I drove 2 hrs to get there). Then I got home and read all the things you can do for impacted crop. I only feed organic, my birds are spoiled, I clean up after them everyday (you could almost have a dinner party in their barn stall, seriously!). I have no idea why I am having such bad luck. We are VERY attached to our birds and culling them is definitely not an option

So, if she was speaking locally, then, I misunderstood. The only way to test is to have a bird necropsied, but you being in Canada, I don't know how that works there. Here in Georgia, they do free necopsies. Some states charge. Some state university veterinary schools will do necropsies for a fee as well, but that's the rub, they need a dead bird to test most of the time. We don't have avian vets here, either, and if we did, I certainly could not afford one on military pension so we are forced to learn to be our own vets or use whatever free or low cost resources we have available. You mentioned the crop. Most chicken keepers do their own crop surgeries, I know I have, but you learn that the crop is not usually the main issue, only a symptom of a larger one. It's a barometer for the bird's condition, the first thing you see go wrong, but not usually the actual problem.

It's not necessarily that your place isn't clean, you can clean all day long, but no one can see a microorganism. Even the most fastidious of us, even the ones who practice strict biosecurity, can be hit with something riding in from somewhere. You just have to do the best you can and decide the course of action you will take if something does happen. Unfortunately, you are on the other side of the door and having to deal with this, learning as you go.

 

[chickenchick99]

So that said, I still don't know what this could be. From reading lots of articles, it doesn't sound like IB and the 2.5 month old that died last week definitely sounded like she had MG. I had her here for 6-8 weeks in the same coop as the others and she never had a runny nose, nor do any others display her symptoms. Therefore, I am still confused. Guessing that she may have had MG (we named her "sleepy" she would just drop down and sleep all the time, continuoulsy peeped and chirped and seemed to have a gimpy leg) do I assume all have it and I therefore need to have a closed flock?

Also, over a 36hr period they have had the recommended does of Tylan in their water (this has been their only water so I am assuming they all got a good dose). Do I need to continue (most sites give powder to water ratio, but not how many days to do it for), if so, how many more days (they are getting 1g in 2 litres of water at bedtime and have had this for 2 consecutive nights)

 

[speckledhen]

So that said, I still don't know what this could be. From reading lots of articles, it doesn't sound like IB and the 2.5 month old that died last week definitely sounded like she had MG. I had her here for 6-8 weeks in the same coop as the others and she never had a runny nose, nor do any others display her symptoms. Therefore, I am still confused. Guessing that she may have had MG (we named her "sleepy" she would just drop down and sleep all the time, continuoulsy peeped and chirped and seemed to have a gimpy leg) do I assume all have it and I therefore need to have a closed flock?

Also, over a 36hr period they have had the recommended does of Tylan in their water (this has been their only water so I am assuming they all got a good dose). Do I need to continue (most sites give powder to water ratio, but not how many days to do it for), if so, how many more days (they are getting 1g in 2 litres of water at bedtime and have had this for 2 consecutive nights)

Generally, you give Tylan for 5-7 days, if I remember correctly. I've never used powder myself, only injections for a bird with pneumonia. I don't know what your birds have and couldn't say for certain. MG would be likely since it is common, but again, with symptoms being so similar, it's hard to be definitive without a bird being tested. Since most respiratory illness does leave carriers, I would treat them as carriers unless you can prove otherwise by testing.