Gurgling hens with upper respiratory issue & treatments

[egghead@1265]

We must have been posting at the same time! Funny!

No, I don't think I need any more birds for awhile! Our theory originally was to keep the young layers and sell when over a year,..well, that lasted the first two years! Now, as the hens are mine, I keep them their entire life! This habit of keeping them, explains why I still have a 4 year old leghorn a rescue brahma bantam of about the same age or older, and one Delaware about 2+ years. The remaining 25 are from this spring.

Good to know this though, as we don't need to introduce any new birds or these, to potential illness either. It's not fun.

Is there anything I can do with all the eggs they are laying now, while taking the LS-50?

 

[Eggcessive]

No, I would just toss them, since there will be drug residue in the eggs, so not food for dogs or the chickens to eat. It would be wise to wait at least 2 weeks after the last dose of antibiotics to eat eggs.

 

[egghead@1265]

That's what I thought as well, but just wasn't sure. If it was gardening season I wondered if they could be put in the ground for fertilizer? But perhaps the drug thing would be a problem as well? Someone told me once to bury eggs when planting tomato plants, for a boost and amazing boost for the fruit. I never tried it!

 

[bmaw]

Lincomycin/spectinomycin is one of many drugs used for treatment of mycoplasma. But most of the information I see about it is that it is for use in baby chicks in their first week of life. Since you have so many sick birds, treating them with Tylan 50 injectable might be a bit to difficult and expensive. It is more for treating one sick bird. It's not a good thing to give antibiotics unless you know what disease they may have, and also not good to treat a bird without symptoms. Since respiratory diseases are a result of viruses, bacteria or mycoplasma, fungus, you need to know that antibiotics will not effect a virus or fungus.And the right antibiotic needs to be given for the bacteria or mycoplasma. It's unfortunate that some vets know less about chickens than most people. Some can be very good though.

Most respiratory diseases will last several weeks to over a month whether antibiotics are used or not. The viruses just will run their course over time. Sometimes they can get secondary infections such as other bacteria or air sacculitis, where E.coli may spread throughout the body. If you lose a chicken or decide to put a sick bird down, it would help to get a necropsy to look for the diseases. Some states will do 3 birds for one price.

Here is a good link to read about the common symptoms of the most common respiratory diseases which are infectious bronchitis, mycoplasma gallisepticum (MG,) infectious coryza, ILT, and aspergillosis:
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ps044

And another link for a thread I just finished which contains good info on how to prevent respiratory diseases:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1155414/sneezing-flock-of-chickens#post_18121579

DESCRIPTION of LS50

Lincomycin Spectinomycin Water Soluble Powder

For use in chickens up to 7 days old to help control chronic respiratory disease (CRD).

Contains 16.7 gm of lincoymcin and 33.3 gm of spectinomycin.
1 bottle treats 25 gallons of drinking water.

What about combining Spectinomycin with Tylosin? What is the dosage of Spectinomycin? I just ordered some from Toltrazuril Shop 50mg/mL