Hens with cold?!

[jak2002003]

Oh, I forgot to mention that I was very shocked on how quickly this disease spread. From one 2 or 3 sick birds, now all 20 are affected in less than 3 days!

 

[dawg53]

Thanks dawg53 for you information. They have no foul odor to be noticed. Also there is no sign of blood or any sort of body slime around the place, or on the chickens faces. All are sick now with whatever it is. I don't care if they remain carriers of the disease as I won't be adding any new chickens and at least they will be immune to it in the future.

All on the hens have stopped laying now. I got only 1 egg today (usually 6 to 8). The egg was normal, but I think it was from one of the least affected birds.

I think they must have got this disease form wild birds in the garden. We get many doves and sometimes even the village chickens fly over the fence.

Its so sad to see them. They seem really fed up, like if we get a bad cold. Most seem to be doing OK, and can still breath normally and are eating. But 2 are quite sick. One stopped eating and just sits in a corner. Another one stands in the middle of the run gasping for breath and letting out loud coughing sneezing sounds. All their breathing sounds crackly or rattly, but not all the time.

As I said before, my favourite hen is one of the most sick. She is the only one to have stopped eating. I would be heart broken if she died. Reading about this disease I hope they will recover in about 10 days. Poor things.

They wont be immune to the disease, they will be carriers and susceptable to more deadly strains of whatever the disease it is. As a matter of fact, the disease weakens their immune system making them more susceptable to other viral and bacterial diseases...ecoli bacterial infection comes to mind for instance.
You are correct that wild birds or village chickens couldve introduced this to your flock.

 

[jak2002003]

Update so far.

Today I was surprised by the hen that was so bad yesterday. She was the worst affected and she could hardly breath and was very distressed and making loud high pitched coughing noises, standing with her head held up and beak open.

Now she seems fine!!! I picked her up and can not hear any breathing problems, and have not seem her cough or sneeze at all today. She has rejoined the flock and acting normally. This gives me hope for the others.

Sadly some that did not seem as bad are worse today, or the same. My fav white hen is still not eating anything - although she does not seem as badly affected as the others that are still eating.

I have now put her in a cage in the main run with all her treats. Today at least she is pecking at them and picking them up.....yesterday she was not interested at all.

How long can a hen go without food? She still seems bright and alert with a deep red comb.

One of the roosters who lost his crow is now able to crow again too. Hope this works out in the end I will be so upset if I loose any.

 

[fishnet1971]

oh wow. this sounds so heart wrenching for you. It also sounds exactly like what I had going on with one of my hens two weeks back. My girl has made a 90% recovery so far. I kept her calm and quiet, no stress, warm, etc. I hope that your girls and roo recover this easy as well. Keep us posted please?

 

[jak2002003]

Thank you. I am glad you hen is better! Did she stop eating too? If she did, how did you get her to eat again. My hen has been pecking at things, but not eating. Its her second night with an empty crop and I am getting very worried. I have not seen her drink either. She still looks bright, but I do not know how long before she will go downhill if she does not eat.

I hope this disease does not go on for a long time. Its so depressing for me. I have had my chickens for 2 years but these last few months everything has been going wrong.

Scaly leg, dog attack, fowl pox, chicks eaten by big bird, and now this cold thing. I am fed up with it all and feel like I am not getting much pleasure from my chickens now. I know its a run of bad luck, but really I am frustrated as I take real good care of them.

 

[Reurra]

Dont be discouraged. I know you are really distraught over the things that have happened. If you have gone 2 years without trouble up to now, I would say you are doing ok. I would suggest though that you take everything out of the coop, scrape it down really well and get out any poop or anything else that might harbour bacteria. Sanitize all youe watering and food dishes with chlorox and make sure to rinse really well. After you do that, research some good sanitizers online. Ive heard that Oxine is good, though I am no expert on the stuff. I would use that, per directions, clean out the entire coop with it. Re bed the whole thing with new stuff. As for the yard I dont know what you would use to sanitize that.

Good luck with your birds!

 

[jak2002003]

Yes that is a good idea. I will wait to see if they recover first, then do all that. I won't let them free range after either. They will be fine in the run as its HUGE and my chickens are small Bantams.

Thanks.

 

[my3under4]

Has anyone tried Oxine? and where did you get it from?