Help... sick chickens

[countrychikgirl]

Hello, I am a new member to BYC but have been using your site quite a bit to learn about recent illnesses I have had.
I have had chickens for over a year, I have lost some to foxes and have also incubated twice with great results! I lost an 8 week old chick some time back and she was lethargic and refused to eat, I gave her water and vitamins with a dropper but she passed.
Recently, I had a 14 week old chick gasping for air and just flopping over. I went to supply store and got Sulmet. Gave her some full strenghth (couple drops) then put some in water. She passed a few hours later

. I was heartbroken... that was last Thursday. Yesterday, I went in the coop and her sister was gasping for air and "barking" ?? she had a droplet of blood in her left nostril and she will not eat but has had water with Sulmet and some Nutra Drench. She is walking around barking alot and scratches at her beak??
I called the vet and he said antibiotic Sulmet will treat anything and should help. She is not getting any better and I am worried I will loose her too

. Can anyone please help? I have not read anything like this on any posts here so I am not sure what is going on...
Thank you!!

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

http://www.amerpoultryassn.com/respiratory_disease.htm
here is a respiratory disease link...sorry I don't know how else to help

When your 8 week old chick was sick I would have said to see whether you thought it was coccidiosis.
http://www.clemson.edu/public/lph/ahp/disease_links/images/coccidia.pdf

 

[delisha]

Hello, I am a new member to BYC but have been using your site quite a bit to learn about recent illnesses I have had.
I have had chickens for over a year, I have lost some to foxes and have also incubated twice with great results! I lost an 8 week old chick some time back and she was lethargic and refused to eat, I gave her water and vitamins with a dropper but she passed.
Recently, I had a 14 week old chick gasping for air and just flopping over. I went to supply store and got Sulmet. Gave her some full strenghth (couple drops) then put some in water. She passed a few hours later

. I was heartbroken... that was last Thursday. Yesterday, I went in the coop and her sister was gasping for air and barking" ?? she had a droplet of blood in her left nostril and she will not eat but has had water with Sulmet and some Nutra Drench. She is walking around barking alot and scratches at her beak??
I called the vet and he said antibiotic Sulmet will treat anything and should help. She is not getting any better and I am worried I will loose her too

. Can anyone please help? I have not read anything like this on any posts here so I am not sure what is going on...
Thank you!!

do you have anymore chickens?

I would assume from the information you have given, your coop or a carrier bird is the issue and you need to start from scratch.

You need to cull your birds if you want to bring in healthy birds, or this will be what you face all the time. Or, you can deal with your sick birds and NOT bring in another bird ever and not hatch any more chicks until you get to the source of the issue.

Antibiotics treat the symptoms and is not a cure for what is wrong. Clean out your coop. Sanitize the whole thing, every nook and cranny. Do research on healthy deep litter method.

If you do this and you still have sick birds, you have a carrier and you need to cull your flock.

If you are bringing in healthy birds and they are dying of the same symptoms, you have something in your coop, and your other birds are carriers and giving it to the other birds.

You have two choices.
1.Cull and clean the coop
2. Clean the coop and see if you need to cull

I am sorry that you have learned a hard lesson. From the information you have given your birds are not healthy enough to eat. If your birds are not strong and healthy, and are not good enough to eat, you need to make harsh decisions.

 

[Mr MKK FARMS]

Well first of all you need to separate all the sick chickens from the health ones or else your whole flock will get sick! put it in a warm environment and put it really close to feed and water, that is all I can say just keep checking on it and don't let the sickness spread, also keep your whole chicken area and chickens sanitary! KEEP THE SICKNESS OUT!!!
Good luck!
Just keep trying!

 

[cafarmgirl]

The problem is, once you start seeing visible signs of illness, separating the sick ones at that point is like closing the barn door after the horse got out. Most respiratory illnesses in chickens are highly contagious and it's airborne. At that point it's extremely likely, even with separating the visibly sick birds, that everybody in the coop is going to come down with it.

I agree with Delisha, once you have a respiratory bug in the coop your always going to have it until that flock is gone. You can treat symptoms but they will always be carriers. Been there, done that, it's very, very frustrating and discouraging.

 

[dawg53]

Hello, I am a new member to BYC but have been using your site quite a bit to learn about recent illnesses I have had.
I have had chickens for over a year, I have lost some to foxes and have also incubated twice with great results! I lost an 8 week old chick some time back and she was lethargic and refused to eat, I gave her water and vitamins with a dropper but she passed.
Recently, I had a 14 week old chick gasping for air and just flopping over. I went to supply store and got Sulmet. Gave her some full strenghth (couple drops) then put some in water. She passed a few hours later

. I was heartbroken... that was last Thursday. Yesterday, I went in the coop and her sister was gasping for air and "barking" ?? she had a droplet of blood in her left nostril and she will not eat but has had water with Sulmet and some Nutra Drench. She is walking around barking alot and scratches at her beak??
I called the vet and he said antibiotic Sulmet will treat anything and should help. She is not getting any better and I am worried I will loose her too

. Can anyone please help? I have not read anything like this on any posts here so I am not sure what is going on...
Thank you!!

You might be dealing with Infectious Laryngotracheitis, specifically the bloody nostril you observed in one chick. See "ChickensAreSweet" link 'amerpoultryassn' and read up on this contageous disease. Here's another link:
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ps044