help, possible sick Barred Rock

[simplyseren]

Hi there, as some of you know I am still new to this chicken adventure... so please be nice, im not here to start argument, im here for advice and thoughts from people who may understand or know what im talking about.
So last Saturday I bought 5 chickens for my birthday. I bought 3 silkies, an Easter Egger, and a little barred rock. The barred rock i was told is about 12 wks old. I placed them all in a large dog kennel in the coop. separated the silkies from the other two for three days in the kennel. I let them all out with the others after 3 days and brought the barred rock in the house because it was getting cold and I didnt think she was old enough to be out with the others.. good thing i brought her in the house. i noticed that after a few days there was a snot like substance on the sides of the tote from her shaking her head, it had a slight yellow tint to it. this happened for a few days. i did some research and came up with nothing, just more confusion. i took her out today and inspected her and tried to clean up the dried stuff around her nostrils and noticed that she was breathing a little heavy, and there was a little bug on her head that i was able to get off and kill. i looked in her feathers and found another little thing moving around.
Now I bought them from a place that has lots of chickens, and other birds; they were getting rid of everything due to medical reasons. I checked all the silkies and they all seem ok, no bugs found and no abnormal actions from them. would anyone have any ideas of what this could be, is there going to be a treatment for her or am i at a lost cause.
I wanted to take her out to the coop today since its been kinda nice out, but after looking at her closely I do not / can not afford to lose the rest of my children or get them sick.
Thank you
Serenity from NWPA

 

[MrsBrooke]

You are doing the right thing keeping her isolated.

Other than the runny nose, is she rasping, sneezing, coughing, gasping? Does she have bubbly eyes?

Is she eating and drinking normally? Is she lethargic?

Does she have egg sacs along the shaft of her feathers where they "plug in?" You can also check her vent. Is she itching at her eyes/ears/face?

How are her poops?

With a little more info, I hope we can help you.

MrsB

 

[cafarmgirl]

First, one question: When you say you "let them all out with the others..." did you already have some birds at home that you integrated these 5 new ones with?

As for treatment....dust all your new birds for mites/lice. If the barred rock has them and they all came from the same place then they most likely all have them. It would be wise to deworm everybody as well.

You definitely do need to keep the sick bird isolated, and make sure you always care for her last. Don't care for her and then go out to the other birds. Though since she's already been with them it may be too late already. She may have a respiratory disease picked up from the flock she came from. It can be very hard to diagnose without having testing done since many of the disease symptoms mimic each other. You can keep an eye on her to see if she develops more symptoms and treat her symptomatically which would include antibiotic's to prevent it from turning into pneumonia. However even when she recovers she can still infect your other birds. Since she has already been in contact with them you will need to watch them carefully in the next week and see if any more develop symptoms. If they do you might want to consider taking one to an avian vet to have some lab work done and see if they can get you a diagnosis. It helps a lot to know what you are dealing with so you know how to treat and manage it, or if you even want to treat it versus culling or returning the bird/birds to where you got them.

 

[simplyseren]

@ Mrs. Brooks, I have not heard her rasping, gasping, her eyes are fine, she closed them while i was using a damp q tip to clean around her nostrils, other than that she seems fine. she was breathing a little hard when i was holding her in a towel, but i could have had a little too tight of a grip on her and that cold by why. She is eating a drinking fine, her poo looks normal, and she is not lethargic, she is actually rather active and talkative. I have her in a large tote with straw and a screen over the top so that she does not get out. I have not noticed her itching anywhere, but then again i dont sit on top of her and watch her all day, i go in and out of the spare room and check on her.
@cafarmgirl, yes I already had 6 other birds (3 rir hybrids, and 3 silkie roos) I have read and heard and was told to keep the new one separated from the old ones so that they are all familiar with each other, yet not totally integrated. this way the new ones get used to the coop and the their new (old) friends.
I am grateful that you both are able to give me some info, as i stated before the chicken thing is new to me, i consider them my "children" as i do not have any. I love Silkies, they are my favorites, but i like the barred rocks also. I hope that whatever is going on with her can be taken care of. I dont want to get anyone else sick, and i make sure that i wash my hands after i touch her then go out to the coop.
what is culling?

 

[MrsBrooke]

If she is still experiencing the runny, yellow discharge from her nostrils, this says infection. I'd start her on some tetracycline antibiotics.

Tetracycline is available at *most* feed stores... I keep some on hand just in case of such emergencies. For poultry, one $9.99 bottle is ~2,000 doses of Tylan 50. It costs a little up front, but you have it forever.

Tylan 50 is an injectable antibiotic that can also be given orally once or twice a day for 3-5 days. 1/4", 22 gauge needle, right in the breast muscle. Dosage is 1/4 ml for bantams, 1/2 ml for standard chickens under 5 lb, and 1 ml for over 5 lb. If you give it orally, you will still need the needles and syringes.

LA200 is also a good antibiotic. Also injectable. Dosage may vary... We'll have to find someone else for that... It also comes in a water soluble powder.

Duramycin is another water soluble powder.

Basically, go to your local feed store and tell "the resident chicken person" what your symptoms are and see if they have any of the antibiotics listed... If they do, grab one or a couple and let us know which you get. Chickens DO get colds, pneumonia, and suffer from allergies just like we do. They make also have discharge if food get into their nares (nostrils) and irritates it. I am hopeful this is just a quick bug and nothing more - the lack of other signs of respiratory distress comfort me. Plus, she's eating and drinking. As I have seen written countless times on here, "It's rarely the disease that kills a chicken, it's the dehydration." It is VERY important to keep a chicken hydrated, especially if they are breathing heavy... That means they are losing that much more water each time they exhale,

I hope someone with a little more experience with dosage and other medicines comes along!!

As @cafarmgirl said, it's a good idea to de-worm them as well. Even if the person said they did it already, based on the current condition you find your poor Rock mama, I would be skeptical. Grab some Valbazen when you go to get your antibiotics, just in case. Dosage is 1/2-1 ml orally for each bird, then repeat in 10 days.

Keep a careful eye on your other girls. If this is something contagious, we may have to take further steps (blood/fecal tests at vet)

You and your flock are in my thoughts. <3

MrsB

 

[cafarmgirl]

Culling is putting birds down. Sometimes it becomes necessary to do so in the case of chronically ill birds or to protect the greater good of the flock.

For treating your barred rock, I'd probably go with the Tylan 50. Whatever you get it's always best to dose the bird directly, either orally or injected. Water soluble sometimes is necessary when many birds are involved but whenever possible it's always best to dose each bird directly, that way you know it got the exact dose it needs. Many variables, including illness, can affect how much a bird does or does not drink so dosing in the water is far less precise.

Anytime a bird has anything respiratory going on it can very easily and quickly morph right into pneumonia. That is usually the cause of wheezing, rattling and difficulty breathing. Hence the use of antibiotic's to help prevent that. It's those secondary infections and complications that so often kill a bird rather then the disease itself. Antibiotic's won't cure the disease, many of them are viral, but will help prevent these complications.

As far as what she has? I will disagree regarding colds. Chickens do not get simple colds like humans do. They get respiratory diseases, far more complicated then a simple cold. If they recover they will remain carriers, sometimes for months, sometimes indefinitely, depending on what disease it is they have. A lot of these things are very chronic with birds periodically getting sick over and over and of course continuing to expose your other birds to what they have. This is the reason that many people will cull birds that have respiratory disease. However, before making that decision, especially when it's a pet versus a production or breeding flock, testing is always a good idea. We had an outbreak of infectious bronchitis 3 years ago, it spread through my little flock of 8 at the time. We treated them all and all survived never to have another outbreak. With IB they remain carriers for several months generally. So it's one of the easier things to deal with in my opinion. There are other diseases that are much worse and much more chronic.

This is a good example of why strict quarantine of all new birds for a good 30 days is a very good idea. Not just separated by a fence but well away from your existing flock, preferably in a shed, garage or other building. Once birds appear well after that time period then you can work on integration through a fence.