help 3 chickens dead in the last 4 days !!

[liz allen]

hi i have 3 seperate group layers, growers and 1 hen and chick.
1st hen and chick breathing difficulties/mucus nose last sat hen died suddenly sunday morn chick 10 weeks gave baytril 2nd hen 28 weeks ( hatched by me in incubator this easter) same symptoms but with swollen face.
Took her to vet this morning she prescibed baytril and eye drops, said temp was high, took her home she seemed no worse, gave her baytrill and eye drops. Then 10 mins later she had convultions and died. Took her bak to vets for an autopsy and while we were there 10 week old had a fit too and died.
have got whole lot on baytrill now.

Any ideas ? all other hens seem ok all eating well no symptoms.
the worrying thing is they are in different groups and houses and have never come into contact with each other.
They all free range in separate areas. We have a lot of pigeons/wild birds and a badger set in the woods at the end of the garden wondering if these may have bought something in?

is there any way i stop this spreading? Any ideas would be gratefully received.!! I've had a very stressful few days.

 

[tdgill]

so sorry to hear :-( I will be watching to see what the vet says. Wish I could offer some insight, but hopefully someone more experienced will be able to. Will be thinking of you. Hang in there, take a deep breath and try not to be too hard on yourself.

 

[liz allen]

Thanks , vet is doing autopsy in the morning. it's a bit expensive but i thought it was worth it to find out exactly whats going on.

 

[En Plein Air Farms]

No advice to offer, just offering sympathy (((liz)))

 

[liz allen]

So far we got Gape Worm, blood in lungs and a worm that turkeys carry ,cecal worm ( Odd we have no turkeys and she was hatched by us and never left the premises)
vet thinks earth worms may be main source of infection. Or a hen we rescued over the summer.
She prescibed panacur wormer and advised to switch to Flubenvet.
I was using vermex and vet says it is worse than nothing.
She is sending cultures off to check for Mycoplasma and other stuff i can't remember names of.

I wormed them every month and was told Vermex was a good wormer.
My chickens free range all day and now i'm told it's probably this that has made them poorly and die.
I can't keep wild birds and pheasants out of the area so i can't protect them completely.

The fact that it all happened so quickly has made me even more aware how chickens cover up illness really well and then suddenly drop.

 

[Tracy the chick]

Mine too

. I took my 16 week old exchequer to the vets today with sneezing, swollen eye and very high temprature, she gave me baytril and eye drops till monday when i get antibiotic injections, cant remember the name but i will let you know... Ive had 2 die in 2 days its horrible..x

 

[Tracy the chick]

There getting " Bacterin injection " not sure what that is mind just letting you know. I will also let you know how they get on with them x

 

[liz allen]

Sorry your're going through the same thing
The vets prescibed panacur for all chickens. Had one of my two ducks start wheezing on Saturday vet prescibed panacur , it died in the night
I just hope i don't lose any more as i don't think i can cope with any more upset.

 

[Tracy the chick]

I put a post on today " I just want to cry" i feel like im going through hell.. I get my new medication tomorrow so ill let you know... Im supposed to be getting ducks next spring but i think ill hold off lol..x

 

[seminolewind]

It sounds like they have some sort of respiratory thing. Any new chickens?
I'm glad your vet is sending off some samples for the bad stuff like MG and Coryza (hopefully)

I know how you feel. I spent last summer losing a chick/chicken a week for 10 weeks. I cried my eyes out. Don't feel bad crying it out. It's better than keeping it in and carrying it around with you.