Eye infection spreading through flock, have allready lost 1.

[Trophamus]

Hi, we have a serious problem in that a really bad eye infection is spreading throughout all are chickens, The first to get sick was a sablepoot girl who's face had swollen so badly she couldn' open wither bad, owever we removed massive amounts of pus from the eye, gve her eyedrops and antibiotics and she i cosiderabley better, however not completally. yesterday her 2 brothers fell ill one with watery eyes and another with puss-filled eyes again, sadly over night the puss-filled one died. also my 2 araucana girls have each had watery eyes but that seems to be clearing up with eye drops. then this morning i found my 2 oldest millefluer sableppot girls had the same horrible puss fileed thing that the first one had, except only in one eye each. along with this they have coughs, sneezes and several others have foamed from the eye and just generally have funny breathing. By searching online it seems likally that this is a respiratory infection? does this seem possible, and if so what is the best from of treatment?

thanks, mia

 

[RedRoosterFarm]

My chickens had a respitory thing some months back and I lost a lot. try to seperate them. Only my chickens got it not my geese,ducks or turkeys though. I lost some and gave tylan injectable to them for 3 to 5 days. The ones that lived I was told were carriers so I did away with them. I did bring a few to the expermental station at WSU and they said respitory problems. Good luck. I know you can use tylan in powder form but its pricy like 80.00 with shipping.

 

[bobby d]

This is interesting because I walked out this morning and found one of my RIR hens with a swollen eye and scratching at it. Then walked over to another pen and saw one of the other hens has a little bit of swelling around her eye. Gosh..I just don't know what to do

I guess I should go and get some Tylan from the feed store. I sure hope your's gets better and I'm sorry for your loss of the other.

 

[StormyRidgeChixLady]

Along with treating them orally for an infection, I like to use NFZ Puffer. It is used for eye infections. It is Nitrofurazone in powder form. You squirt it into their eye. It helps to dry up the eye and treat the eye infection. It is great to keep around bc it is good for all animals. Good Luck!

 

[Southernbelle]

Sounds like Mycoplasma Gallisepticum (MG) aka Chronic Respiratory Disease (CRD). It's an upper respiratory infection that often starts as swollen, bubbly eye and progresses to coughing and sneezing. You can treat with Tylan 50 injectible or LS-50 water soluable - those are the only drugs that I know of that have any effect on this disease. The bad news is that once your birds get this, even if they recover, they will be carriers for life, so you would need to close your flock and not sell any birds or hatching eggs. It can even be passed from hen to egg.

You can contact your state vet to come out and test for you. It's a free service offered through your state's Dept of Agriculture. Then you can be sure of what you're dealing with, but it sounds like MG to me.

 

[bobby d]

Stormyridge- where can you find that puffer? And do you use it daily? And for how long? Sorry so many questions.

Southernbelle- If this is a respiratory infection can you still eat the eggs? Or is everything fine other than hatching the eggs?

 

[StormyRidgeChixLady]

You can usually find it @ feed /farm supply stores. I would call around first to a couple instead of driving. Save some leg work. I dont think they would have it at pet stores but who knows. I believe I got mine from a bird supply store online, but I know your needing it quickly, guess you could overnight it. Or check w/ your local vet they may have it and sell it to you. Good Luck!

 

[StormyRidgeChixLady]

Sorry, guess I should answer your other questions too. Yes, I would apply it daily until the eye cleared up. Maybe 4-5 days at the most. It will say for cats and dogs on it, but it is good for all animals. Alot of products for other animals are too strong for birds, but this one is fine. I got it from a bird supply store, and have used it for years. It is also good on any wounds, especially head wounds eye pecks etc. It will help stop bleeding and infection. Do seperate the birds w/ the eye infections though, they are very contagious.

 

[Trophamus]

thanks for the infor

last night another sablepoot got infected :S il order that stuff as soon as i can

 

[Southernbelle]

Quote:
MG is not zoonotic (doesn't pass to humans or other animals), so I was told by our state vet that it was safe to eat the eggs and eat butchered chickens.