Hello all,
I am new here and new to chickens. We just started our chicken keeping about 6 weeks ago. We purchased an initial flock of nine 2-3 week old chicks from a local breeder. We started with the following:
Cockrel: 1 Cream Legbar
Pullets: 1 Speckled Sussex, 1 Blue Andalusian, 1 Blue Copper Marans, 1 Gold Laced Wyandotte, 2 Silver Laced Wyandotte, 2 Cream Legbar
Then, one week later we went back to the breeder and picked up the following day old chicks:
Straight Run: 2 Blue Laced Red Wyandotte, 2 Golden Campine, 2 Swedish Flower Hen
Just a week or so after finishing the flock, we started loosing chicks. First, we lost our Gold Laced Wyandotte. She had eye issues but we had no idea what we were dealing with so did not treat with anything. Then we lost one of the Blue Laced Red Wyandottes but think she was just sat on when we moved everyone into the new coop and think she was over stressed. Not sure but no signs of any issues. Next we lost both of the Campines but this was expected since our Blue Marans kept picking on them and ended up plucking all the down off their heads and rumps. Out fault for not keeping the separate but the breeder thought they would be ok all together. Funny thing is, they were the same age as the other 4 but were the only ones picked on. We think the Marans did not like their leopard spots!
Next I had a Silver Laced Wyandotte start getting eye issues. She was around 5 weeks old. Came in one morning and her eyes were crusted shut. Went to Tractor Supply and bought some eye wash and some Tylan 50. I started cleaning her eyes twice per day and then applying some topical antibiotic (not neosporin). I also gave her 1/4 cc shot of Tylan 50 once per day in the breast muscle with expectations of giving another shot 48 hours later as I had read as a recommendation here on BYC. Well, I had to go out of town so I showed my wife how to give the second shot while I was gone. She must have done something wrong because she gave the shot and the chick died an hour or so later.
The next day, one of my Swedish Flower hen chicks died. I was not there to inspect so I am not sure what the issues were but suspect the same issue that SLW was sick with. When I got home, my last Swedish Flower Hen chick was sick with crusty eyes and no energy. She would just lay on the coop floor and not really get up. I took drastic action and started immediately giving her 1/4 cc Tylan 50 injections once per day. I also washed her eyes out and gave her liquid B12 to try to give her a shot of energy to eat and drink. Once I would get her eyes open, she would drink if i dipped her beak in the water and would eat enough to get by. She quickly started getting better to the point where her eyes were no longer crusting shut but still looked terrible. I kept up with the Tylan 50 1/4 cc injections daily for 5 days. She got much better to the point where she was running around in the outdoor run and scraping for food when I would give them cucumbers and such.
She is still doing pretty good but is not well yet and I am not sure what I should do. Her eyes are still bulging and red and oozing something that she keeps wiping on her back. She seems to have a hard time seeing. The oozing is not foamy at all and she does not have any bad smell. She does seem to have laryngitis some times and is trying to "peep" but no sound comes out. She does not have any cough or sneezing and her poop seems normal. I also have noticed that my Cream Legbar roo has an eye the is crusted shut. I have just started giving him injections.
I believe I have something running around in my flock. My Speckled Sussex started having a swollen eye late last week so I started giving all the birds tetracycline in the water at a rate of 1 tbs per gallon and changing it daily. I also give Rooster Booster vitamins and electrolytes as well as 2 tbs of ACV per gallon. That cleared up the Specs eye issue right away before it became an issue.
So, basically, after all the above, I have an issue which I assume is a respiratory infection. I am treating by giving antibiotics in the water and injecting the more sick birds. One of the chick got a lot better after 5 days of Tylan50 1/4 cc per day but is not well yet. I am looking for ideas of what I may have in the flock based on this limited info and what i can do to try to get my little Sweedish Flower Hen chick back to 100%. Here are a couple of pictures of her eyes to give an idea of what I am dealing with hopefully.
Any helpful advice or suggestions you can provide would be greatly appreciated. Sorry for the long post too!
She had her eyes mostly closed in this pic. They are not swollen shut as it appears.
I am new here and new to chickens. We just started our chicken keeping about 6 weeks ago. We purchased an initial flock of nine 2-3 week old chicks from a local breeder. We started with the following:
Cockrel: 1 Cream Legbar
Pullets: 1 Speckled Sussex, 1 Blue Andalusian, 1 Blue Copper Marans, 1 Gold Laced Wyandotte, 2 Silver Laced Wyandotte, 2 Cream Legbar
Then, one week later we went back to the breeder and picked up the following day old chicks:
Straight Run: 2 Blue Laced Red Wyandotte, 2 Golden Campine, 2 Swedish Flower Hen
Just a week or so after finishing the flock, we started loosing chicks. First, we lost our Gold Laced Wyandotte. She had eye issues but we had no idea what we were dealing with so did not treat with anything. Then we lost one of the Blue Laced Red Wyandottes but think she was just sat on when we moved everyone into the new coop and think she was over stressed. Not sure but no signs of any issues. Next we lost both of the Campines but this was expected since our Blue Marans kept picking on them and ended up plucking all the down off their heads and rumps. Out fault for not keeping the separate but the breeder thought they would be ok all together. Funny thing is, they were the same age as the other 4 but were the only ones picked on. We think the Marans did not like their leopard spots!
Next I had a Silver Laced Wyandotte start getting eye issues. She was around 5 weeks old. Came in one morning and her eyes were crusted shut. Went to Tractor Supply and bought some eye wash and some Tylan 50. I started cleaning her eyes twice per day and then applying some topical antibiotic (not neosporin). I also gave her 1/4 cc shot of Tylan 50 once per day in the breast muscle with expectations of giving another shot 48 hours later as I had read as a recommendation here on BYC. Well, I had to go out of town so I showed my wife how to give the second shot while I was gone. She must have done something wrong because she gave the shot and the chick died an hour or so later.
The next day, one of my Swedish Flower hen chicks died. I was not there to inspect so I am not sure what the issues were but suspect the same issue that SLW was sick with. When I got home, my last Swedish Flower Hen chick was sick with crusty eyes and no energy. She would just lay on the coop floor and not really get up. I took drastic action and started immediately giving her 1/4 cc Tylan 50 injections once per day. I also washed her eyes out and gave her liquid B12 to try to give her a shot of energy to eat and drink. Once I would get her eyes open, she would drink if i dipped her beak in the water and would eat enough to get by. She quickly started getting better to the point where her eyes were no longer crusting shut but still looked terrible. I kept up with the Tylan 50 1/4 cc injections daily for 5 days. She got much better to the point where she was running around in the outdoor run and scraping for food when I would give them cucumbers and such.
She is still doing pretty good but is not well yet and I am not sure what I should do. Her eyes are still bulging and red and oozing something that she keeps wiping on her back. She seems to have a hard time seeing. The oozing is not foamy at all and she does not have any bad smell. She does seem to have laryngitis some times and is trying to "peep" but no sound comes out. She does not have any cough or sneezing and her poop seems normal. I also have noticed that my Cream Legbar roo has an eye the is crusted shut. I have just started giving him injections.
I believe I have something running around in my flock. My Speckled Sussex started having a swollen eye late last week so I started giving all the birds tetracycline in the water at a rate of 1 tbs per gallon and changing it daily. I also give Rooster Booster vitamins and electrolytes as well as 2 tbs of ACV per gallon. That cleared up the Specs eye issue right away before it became an issue.
So, basically, after all the above, I have an issue which I assume is a respiratory infection. I am treating by giving antibiotics in the water and injecting the more sick birds. One of the chick got a lot better after 5 days of Tylan50 1/4 cc per day but is not well yet. I am looking for ideas of what I may have in the flock based on this limited info and what i can do to try to get my little Sweedish Flower Hen chick back to 100%. Here are a couple of pictures of her eyes to give an idea of what I am dealing with hopefully.
Any helpful advice or suggestions you can provide would be greatly appreciated. Sorry for the long post too!
She had her eyes mostly closed in this pic. They are not swollen shut as it appears.
