E. Coli Infection in Trachea and Capallaria Parasites - Please advise

[ahodges]

Hello all -

A little over a month ago I made the very regretful mistake of introducing 7 new pullets (age 12 weeks) to my original flock of 10 (age 2 years) without giving them a proper "quarantine period." Horrific, unfortunate, lesson learned. I had them all in the same run, although I had the new ones separated in the corner with some garden fencing. One of the new girls started acting sick (ruffled, lethargic, eyes weeping, nasal discharge), I separated her and she passed. Then one of my original girls started with the same symptoms but exacerbated - would not eat or drink, green watery feces, and could barely breathe with heavy respiratory gurgling. She passed within 2 days. Another hen started with the same symptoms and I was able to get her to a local vet where we had to euthanize her. We started the entire flock on Tylan powder and I chose to have her sent off for a necropsy to try to figure out what was causing this. Her report came back positive for "moderate" capallaria parasites in her feces and e.coli in her trachea swab. We started the entire flock on a dewormer (safeguard - fenbendazole). It is now a week after their last dose of the dewormer and I am still seeing symptoms in some of my girls. One in particular is very lethargic, green watery feces, and walks with a limp. Some others are also having green watery feces but seem to be getting along fine.

Unfortunatley the vet is not a poultry specialist so I have been left with a lot of questions unanswered. Is this something that just has to run its course? Should I try another antibiotic? Should I try another dewormer? Even once they hopefully recover, will they ever lay eggs again (out of the 8 remaining layers, only 3 are now laying)? Unfortunately I cannot take anyone back to the vet due to financial reasons. My original flock was beautifully happy and healthy for 2 years, never a sickness or issue, so this has all been a huge shock and stress knowing it was my fault for bringing the new girls in. I welcome any and all advice, experience, wisdom you may have to address this and how to move forward. Hopefully I have provided enough information but feel free to ask any questions that may be of importance that I did not address.

Thank you in advance for your time - I sincerely appreciate it.

 

[Chicken_Obsesser]

@Eggcessive @azygous

 

[Eggcessive]

Capillaria (thread) worms requires a 5 day course of 10% fenbendazole (Safeguard liquid goat wormer or horse paste) at a dosage of 1/4 ml per pound or weight given undiluted orally. Sorry for your loss. The state vet lab is the best place to get a necropsy and find out what respiratory disease that you are dealing with. That is the best thing you can do if you lose another. E.coli is usually a secondary infection in respiratory diseases, and enrofloxacin or sulfadimethoxine are some antibiotics used to treat that. But the primary respiratory disease would be good to know what it is. MG or coryza are common ones. Testing is done with a necropsy, so that is a good way to find out. Zoologix is a national lab that does testing for up to 8 respiratory diseases I believe.

 

[ahodges]

Capillaria (thread) worms requires a 5 day course of 10% fenbendazole (Safeguard liquid goat wormer or horse paste) at a dosage of 1/4 ml per pound or weight given undiluted orally. Sorry for your loss. The state vet lab is the best place to get a necropsy and find out what respiratory disease that you are dealing with. That is the best thing you can do if you lose another. E.coli is usually a secondary infection in respiratory diseases, and enrofloxacin or sulfadimethoxine are some antibiotics used to treat that. But the primary respiratory disease would be good to know what it is. MG or coryza are common ones. Testing is done with a necropsy, so that is a good way to find out. Zoologix is a national lab that does testing for up to 8 respiratory diseases I believe.

Hi there - thank you SO much for taking the time to respond and kind condolences. Yes, 5 days of fenbendazole is what I used on the rest of the flock once we received the report of the capillaria worms so hopefully that was taken care of.

Re: Necropsy - so are you thinking they may have not actually tested for all the respiratory diseases?? I thought that is what I was paying for when I requested a full necropsy to begin with. They did it through the UGA lab. I did ask the vet if they tested for all of those things when she called and she said that the report did not show positive for any of those diseases, that they only reported e.coli? I did receive a copy so I am going to attach it below if you don't mind looking at it... I have never had one done before so I am obviously ignorant on how to properly read them. Again, I sincerely appreciate your time and insight.

 

[Eggcessive]

Thank you for posting the necropsy results. It looks like they are suspecting virus being the cause and the E.coli was secondary. They suspected infectious larygo tracheitis (ILT,) but could not confirm it. It looks like they are still testing for a herpes virus, which are common viruses, that include infectious bronchitis virus. They diagnosed myocitis, which is a condition that causes muscle weakness and illness, and may be caused by a virus. So, that seems to rule out MG or coryza as a cause.

 

[ahodges]

Thank you for posting the necropsy results. It looks like they are suspecting virus being the cause and the E.coli was secondary. They suspected infectious larygo tracheitis (ILT,) but could not confirm it. It looks like they are still testing for a herpes virus, which are common viruses, that include infectious bronchitis virus. They diagnosed myocitis, which is a condition that causes muscle weakness and illness, and may be caused by a virus. So, that seems to rule out MG or coryza as a cause.

Wow, interesting. Thank you - this is much more information than I got directly from the vet! Do you have an opinion on what to do moving forward with the remaining flock? No one else has shown any respiratory symptoms surprisingly. Only lethargic, green watery stools, and no eggs. One in particular does not move much and when she does she walks with a limp. I did order an Amoxy-Tyl blend from Jedds because it mentioned treating e.coli (https://jedds.com/products/amoxy-tyl?_pos=1&_sid=fcf69d19b&_ss=r) and it is supposed to arrive Saturday. Should I try that?

 

[casportpony]

Should I try that?

I would get some of this to have on hand:
https://jedds.com/products/enroflox...iUe9JJoIpFxrG06N4fKWCE_9YrSJDQ4kVFg8Hlk-uKoTm

 

[ahodges]

I would get some of this to have on hand:
https://jedds.com/products/enroflox...iUe9JJoIpFxrG06N4fKWCE_9YrSJDQ4kVFg8Hlk-uKoTm

Thank you, I will order it!