help save my chickens please!

[chickenmama1975]

About 3 weeks ago one of my chickens just didn't seem to feel well. She just wanted to lay around and wasn't really eating. I separated her and brought her to the porch in a separate pen. I started giving her pedialyte. I noticed when I picked her up that she has either mites or lice. We immediately went out and bought dc earth and placed it in a shallow tub and gave her a dust bath. Leaving the tub in the chicken run. after a few days she started feeling better and we returned her to the coop. Fast forward another week and I noticed several of my chickens was getting sick. They are coughing, sneezing and crusted eyes and nostrils. I was searching all over the internet what it could be for 2 days. All of a sudden I realized all this started when I had cleaned out my coop. I didn't know that you could not use cedar bedding for chickens. My husband and I immediately went out and took all the cedar out. My chickens was still gasping for air and crusty eyes. We thought gapeworm. We gave all the chickens a dust bath, cleaned their faces with warm water, used vet rx on comb and nostrils and added safe guard wormer to their water. We also added another water bucket with pedialyte. After that we pressure washed the coop down and lade all new straw bedding, we turned over the coop sand and put barn yard lime down. Someone suggested la 200. I was really scared to do that but I did give my sickest 5 the injection. All died a few days later.. My chickens have still been sick and im losing more. I have added flock fixer now to water and no more wormer or pedialyte. I was told to start them on a antibiotic so I ordered Levamisole hydrochloride anthelmintic from ts and it should come tomorrow. What else can I do to save my chickens?

 

[Tonyroo]

Sorry your going through that, hope someone with more knowledge can chime in and help.

 

[xiggystardust]

I’m so sorry to hear you are going through this. I was lucky that somebody at the tractor store mentioned that chickens cannot have cedar bedding otherwise I would’ve used it too!

 

[Smurtha3689]

It sounds like it is more than just a bedding issue... Sounds like an URI (Coryza) which will need to be treated with antibiotics- I suggest Tylan and since they all are ill- mix it in their water. It's highly unlikely that it was caused by the cedar bedding (not sure how long it had been used) but it doesn't cause the symptoms that you described. Coryza is generally bacterial and it can take weeks for it to settle down but if it is Coryza- it'll remain dormant (will never leave their systems entirely) and so there's a higher chance of it becoming an issue again later on down the road. Have you introduced any new chickens to your existing flock? It has between a 20-50% mortality rate if not treated properly and even with treatment you're looking at at least a 5-10% mortality rate. It's highly contagious so even if you have chickens that aren't exhibiting any symptoms- treat them anyway because within 3-5 days (up to 10 days) it can be "dormant"... I would make sure they are drinking at the very least (they can go without eating- they can't live without water) and add some hydro-hen to keep them from being extremely dehydrated. They have an internal body temp of 104-107; add a fever to that and the summer heat and their demise could be from dehydration opposed to the infection. Definitely get Tylan though. It's one of the few antibiotics that will help with the treatment of Coryza.

 

[chickenmama1975]

It sounds like it is more than just a bedding issue... Sounds like an URI (Coryza) which will need to be treated with antibiotics- I suggest Tylan and since they all are ill- mix it in their water. It's highly unlikely that it was caused by the cedar bedding (not sure how long it had been used) but it doesn't cause the symptoms that you described. Coryza is generally bacterial and it can take weeks for it to settle down but if it is Coryza- it'll remain dormant (will never leave their systems entirely) and so there's a higher chance of it becoming an issue again later on down the road. Have you introduced any new chickens to your existing flock? It has between a 20-50% mortality rate if not treated properly and even with treatment you're looking at at least a 5-10% mortality rate. It's highly contagious so even if you have chickens that aren't exhibiting any symptoms- treat them anyway because within 3-5 days (up to 10 days) it can be "dormant"... I would make sure they are drinking at the very least (they can go without eating- they can't live without water) and add some hydro-hen to keep them from being extremely dehydrated. They have an internal body temp of 104-107; add a fever to that and the summer heat and their demise could be from dehydration opposed to the infection. Definitely get Tylan though. It's one of the few antibiotics that will help with the treatment of Coryza.

Do I have to have a prescription for tylan?

 

[chickenmama1975]

It sounds like it is more than just a bedding issue... Sounds like an URI (Coryza) which will need to be treated with antibiotics- I suggest Tylan and since they all are ill- mix it in their water. It's highly unlikely that it was caused by the cedar bedding (not sure how long it had been used) but it doesn't cause the symptoms that you described. Coryza is generally bacterial and it can take weeks for it to settle down but if it is Coryza- it'll remain dormant (will never leave their systems entirely) and so there's a higher chance of it becoming an issue again later on down the road. Have you introduced any new chickens to your existing flock? It has between a 20-50% mortality rate if not treated properly and even with treatment you're looking at at least a 5-10% mortality rate. It's highly contagious so even if you have chickens that aren't exhibiting any symptoms- treat them anyway because within 3-5 days (up to 10 days) it can be "dormant"... I would make sure they are drinking at the very least (they can go without eating- they can't live without water) and add some hydro-hen to keep them from being extremely dehydrated. They have an internal body temp of 104-107; add a fever to that and the summer heat and their demise could be from dehydration opposed to the infection. Definitely get Tylan though. It's one of the few antibiotics that will help with the treatment of Coryza.

I have called every vet around and every tractor supply within 4 hours and I can not get tylan and no vet office that will give a prescription. The tractor supply I did find that had a antibiotic but wasnt tylan but was for coryza. Can I use that?