How long are my birds contageous?

[turtleblossom]

I bought a chicken from a swap meet a couple of weeks ago, and *big suprise* she was sick. She showed no simptoms the day I bought her. She was half naked from the attention of some roos, but otherwise fine. Two days later she has a swolen face and bubbly eye. I took her to the vet, who gave her an antibiotic injection. She was quarrentined, but then my OEGB hen decided to break out and go visiting. Now I have coughing hens in all 4 of my coops. I have 33 birds total, and now they all need to be treated. The original hen is fine now, but how much longer do I need to quarentine? I need to get rid of about 6 of my birds, but obviously I can't re-home sick birds. They were going to go to a local egg farmer, but I don't want to threaten his flock (100-200 birds). Will they always be contageous? What medicin shoud I give them? I have seen Tylan 50 mentioned, but how many times do I need to medicate them? I have banties and LF, what dose should I give?

 

[ChickenToes]

I can't answer all your questions, but whenever you get a new bird they need to be quarantined for 30 days to avoid passing any illnesses to your flock.

Quarantine your sick birds right away. Some of your other chickens may not be sick at this point.

 

[amazondoc]

There is no way to answer your question without knowing which respiratory disease your birds have. Some of the diseases will go away quickly -- but some other diseases may be carried by some of your birds for the rest of their lives. Also, the disease may be viral -- in which case antibiotics won't kill it at all.

Sorry for your troubles! For everyone reading this, just to repeat the good advice: quarantine all new birds!