Do chickens get colds? UPDATE

[dawg53]

This is clear snot (one actually had a snot "bubble" like kids do!)
The breeder says that everyone on Vancouver Island has dealt with this, which would mean that she implies she has had sick birds, treated them and still sells birds from her property (hopefully not sick birds).
She gave me Tylan, but it says right on the bottle not to use for laying hens, although for meat birds you have to wait 24 hrs before slaughter, which to me would mean that it clears out of their system. Supposedly there is lots of controversy online over this. Is it ok to use Tylan? And should I put it in the waterer and treat the whole flock?
I have never quarantined any birds although I have amassed 25 over 3 months. Lesson learned.

There's a 7 day withdrawal period after using tylan injectables, 1 day withdrawal period after using tylan soluable powder.
http://ultimatefowl.com/wiki/index.php?title=Tylan

 

[chickenchick99]

thanks!

 

[darjarnoc]

Yes, culling means to kill the birds.  Some people do cull birds that come down with a respiratory disease for the reasons mentioned above.  Other's choose to treat.  What disease they have makes a difference in how successful treatment will be.  Some diseases just keep coming back, other's, like infectious bronchitis may not come back.  I treated a small flock for IB and never had another occurrence in that flock.  But I only had 8 birds at the time, I did not breed birds, hatch chicks or sell birds or eggs and I kept a closed flock.  And we did have a bird tested when they first got sick so we did know exaclty what we were dealing with and how best to treat/manage it. 

What kind of antibiotics are good, I've been using TetroxyHCA-280 (oxytetracycline) hoe 3 months and it's not helping! I'm sure as heck not going to kill my babies.

 

[Almosta Farm]

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)

I guess I'm one of the lucky ones who does have an avian vet in the area ... one who actually specializes in poultry. He suggested Tylan Soluble Powder (1 tsp. per gal. of water) for my flock. He said to treat all of them for 7 days and, if after 7 days still seeing symptoms, to continue for 3 more days (10 days total), but no more. If symptoms persist after 10 days of treatment, he said to treat for 5 days with L-S 50 (Lincomycin-Spectinomycin) Soluble Powder which is a different class of antibiotic. These are to treat bacterial infections and/or secondary infections from viral diseases.

If birds are still sick after the above, he suggested culling and necropsy.

 

[speckledhen]

What kind of antibiotics are good, I've been using TetroxyHCA-280 (oxytetracycline) hoe 3 months and it's not helping! I'm sure as heck not going to kill my babies.

Could be they don't have a bacterial infection at all but a virus, which NO antibiotic will touch. Three months is a LONG time to be on some antibiotic. Their gut flora is probably pretty messed up by now so you'd need to have them on probiotics and get them off an antibiotic for awhile, since it isn't helping anyway.


Just know that whatever they have will most likely leave them carriers for life-that's how most of these diseases work and that is why people who know they will hatch by incubator or by broody hen and will want to rehome extra birds in the future do euthanize birds who develop respiratory illnesses. You cannot ethically do that if you have a carrier flock-it's not about "killing babies", though I realize that is a problem for many people.

Culling birds is something most of us must learn to do at some point in time, for whatever reason. It's just one of those sad facts of this hobby, unfortunately.

 

[bobhoke]

Do you eat the birds with the respiratory infections? Is it unhealthy to harvest chickens that were sick?

Bob

 

[cafarmgirl]

What kind of antibiotics are good, I've been using TetroxyHCA-280 (oxytetracycline) hoe 3 months and it's not helping! I'm sure as heck not going to kill my babies.

As mentioned above, using antibiotic's for such a long period of time is never a good idea. I would try to get a bird tested, either by a vet who can send off a blood sample or, if one dies, get a necropsy done. If you really don't want to cull then you really need to know what exactly you are dealing with here. Nobody likes to cull birds but when the alternative is chronically sick birds as well as birds that will spread disease then sometimes it's the only responsible thing to do.

 

[darjarnoc]

As mentioned above, using antibiotic's for such a long period of time is never a good idea.  I would try to get a bird tested, either by a vet who can send off a blood sample or, if one dies, get a necropsy done.  If you really don't want to cull then you really need to know what exactly you are dealing with here.  Nobody likes to cull birds but when the alternative is chronically sick birds as well as birds that will spread disease then sometimes it's the only responsible thing to do.

I have been giving them a probiotcic, 10 days on the med then the probiotic then in a couple of weeks another 2 or 3 would be a sneezing and snotty thing or a total wheezing and gasping for air thing. I would separate them till they were better and even keep them in the house a week extra to make sure. I was told that they would be carriers for the rest of thier lives but was not told they would have to be culled. Now another question, are their eggs ok to eat, I know not while they were on the med but now that they are not but are still carriers and are the ones that haven't gotten sick carriers too?

 

[chickenchick99]

I guess I'm one of the lucky ones who does have an avian vet in the area ... one who actually specializes in poultry. He suggested Tylan Soluble Powder (1 tsp. per gal. of water) for my flock. He said to treat all of them for 7 days and, if after 7 days still seeing symptoms, to continue for 3 more days (10 days total), but no more. If symptoms persist after 10 days of treatment, he said to treat for 5 days with L-S 50 (Lincomycin-Spectinomycin) Soluble Powder which is a different class of antibiotic. These are to treat bacterial infections and/or secondary infections from viral diseases.

If birds are still sick after the above, he suggested culling and necropsy.

I only had enough Tylan soluble powder for 5 days. I added colloidal silver to their water for two. I also did vitamin powder and electrolyes in their water, followed by home made kefir (about 1000% more good bacteria than yogurt!) They are all fine, they all made it and none are displaying any symptoms, yay! (of course one of our fav girls - a partridge silkie had to go drown in the cows' water bucket the other day - I feel like I can't win - I beat something and then someone drowns or gets eaten by a hawk)

 

[Wrightfamily]

Glad they are doing better.

It happens on a farm. As soon as one thing is fixed another falls apart. A friend once told me not to get attached because chickens don't live long. I have an old rooster that would clearly disagree with him on that


In case it ever happens again. Anything to do with respiratory can turn straight into pneumonia very quick. Separate them right away from the others and keep them warm.

Also from feed store or Co-Op they sell VetRX and place it in a little spray bottle.

Then take each sick chicken and spray the stuff into the crease of their beak slowly, give them time to lick it as you go or it could go down the wrong way. Wipe their heads down with it mixed with a little warm water at least 4+ times per day. It has a menthol smell and feel to it and I always use it in the winter time in an emergency. This is like chicken vaporub! It may take 4 days of doing this to see results. Other times they are back up as soon as a day of antibiotic is in them.

They may also stop eating sometimes when ill in which give them some warm oatmeal or something they might like while they are ill to keep them going. Mine stopped eating their food and one ate cornbread while sick while another ate scrambled eggs.