Help! My chickens seem to have a cold

[sunshinegirl432]

Hi!
I have 1 rhode island red rooster, 15 purebred hens (different breeds) and 10 8 week old chicks that I hatched out myself. They are all mix breeds from my own eggs. They live in a pen with a big coop and get fed with laying pellets, scratched grain and I cut some gras or something green every day. Sometimes a few leftovers.
About 5 month ago I had bought some of my hens, and right after that the ones that I already had got sick. They started sneezing bad, had the beak open, it looked like they couldn't breathe. congested breathing. They have one eye or both closed, in some eyes is some kind of foam.
I gave Terramycin to all of them, and it got better. About 2 month ago even the ones that I bought got sick too. I gave Terramycin again, it gets a little better, than worse again.
The babies are all very sick now, and I already lost a few.
The old ones seem to be able to deal with it, they all eat and act normal, lay eggs very good. Just a sneeze from time to time, and not from all of them.
I don't know what to do. Should I just give Terramycin again to all of them and desinfect the cube? Ones again and hope it will help this time?
I just don't wanna give Antibiotics all the time, if it would help - ok, but it doesn't seem to help.
I am afraid if I put the next babies in there they will get sick too.

Thanks for the help, Sunny

 

[speckledhen]

First, chickens do not get colds. You may have CRD in the flock now. That is a disease where the recovered birds are carriers for life. The new ones infected your current flock. Antibiotics won't fix it, especially Terramycin, which is very weak. That is why I never add any started birds to my flock. Not sure if it is CRD(mycoplasmosis) or Infectious Bronchitis or what, but if it is a virus, antibiotics will do nothing. Quarantine is so important. My own personal solution would be to cull all the ones with symptoms and watch for new symptoms in the others. If you don't, you will have it in your flock permanently.

 

[sunshinegirl432]

But if I buy a new chicken, and seperate it for a few weeks, and it is a carrier of any of those diseases, how do I know? It won't get sick cause it already got over it. I just find out when my other chicks get sick.
And if I hatch some of my eggs, those chickens will be ok right? If they don't get in contact with my old chickens.
I am sorry, I probably ask some stupid questions, but I just don't know what to do.
I feel like I should cull all of them and hatch some of the eggs out, but then I still need a rooster from somewhere else.

Poor things, I got so pretty hens, they all lay good, I don't wanna loose them.

 

[AHappychick]

some forms of crd can be passed down through the egg. I would follow speckledhens advice and hatch from new eggs.

Nothing is perfect but often stress can induce symptoms or make them come back up. So the new move might cause a sick chicken that does not appear to be sick at first show symptoms during the quarentine.

 

[speckledhen]

Even quarantine is not perfect. If the new bird is a carrier, but is not stressed by its new location, then the symptoms may not come to the surface. It's a a gamble, that's for sure. Quarantine for a month is the very least you can do to see if the new bird has anything, but may not be enough. I wish I had something reassuring to tell you. Seems so many have bought sick birds lately, it's sad and frustrating.

 

[Darin115]

When I had my first chicken come down with a "cold" I asked the same question. I received the same advice. I really didn't want to take the advice so I didn't. I treated with antibiotics. Everything cleared up nicely. Then a month later several more hens and the same hen got the "cold" again. Back to antibiotics. Cleared it right up again. Then a month later the "cold" came back. I lost 2 hens at this point. Antibiotics would no longer clear it up. Then my hen turkey got the same thing. Stronger antibiotics would not help her. I finally culled the turkey because I was afraid it would give it to my other turkeys.

The last time the hens came down with it I culled them all. Every chicken I had came down with it over the next month. I culled one at a time until they were all gone. I cleaned the house and sprayed it with clorox 2-3 times. I let it sit for a month before I put chickens back in it. I have not had any problems since.

Now if I had taken the advice the first time I would not have lost my entire house full of hens.

Cull the sick chicken.

Darin