How to Keep My Flock Alive!

Nicole_Hutchison

Songster
Feb 8, 2019
232
259
166
Fayetteville, AR
My poor mottled bantam Cochins are not doing well. I have a total of 6, all over a year old. I noticed a few days ago one of the girls looked lethargic and was not leaving the coop. And they LOVE to get out and roam. Now whatever she has is spreading to the rest of the flock like wildfire. They are sneezing, some of their eyes look like they are glued shut with crusty stuff around the eyes and losing weight. They also seem to be developing respiratory issues - you can hear it is difficult to breathe and raspy. I just started adding Corrid to their water yesterday and placed water and food in the coop for those chickens that cannot make it out of the coop. I also have Tylan 200 to inject but unsure at this point what will be more effective. Feathers are fluffed out and it looks like feathers are being lost - I see feathers all over the coop. Please help!
 

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They have Mycoplasma gallisepticum (MG) and probably infectious Coryza additionally they run together. It is an infectious bacteria caused by unhygenic conditions. Hopefully someone can recommend the usa medicines. I live outside the United States and the antibiotic availiblity is more free where I live, but i do successfully treat this and clear it up in a few days. That does not include the weight loss.

I give Enrofloxacin, Oxitetraciclina, Tilosin, and lidocaine eyedrops. It is reliable but unfortunately in the usa unavailable. I wish i could send you the medicine! Tilosin is one of the medocines, but unfortunately it does not work very well by itself.

The good news for you is if you can clean her eyes every morning, and give her the tilosin injecctions, they will eventually get better. MG and coryza is not fatal, it will go away, so their lives are not in immediate danger.

For the weight loss - Do you ever deworm? It may be very likely that worms have weakened their immune systems and they are fighting those as well. Worms will possibly be fatal if untreated. Stop the corrid because it will suck all the thiamine and possibly cause even further potentially fatal problems without treating for worms.

I pulled this guy in the photo and dewormed him first, then gave the antibiotics, and he recovered in a day and a half. The sticky eye discharge is MG, and you will have to help her clean her eye in the morning with a warm cotton washcloth and water. She should eat when her eyes are clean, and then sit quiet all day in a corner.

Please ask any questions. Sorry I cant help with the medicines but tylosin is definitely part of the treatment and it will clear up with that on its own.

The fluffy feathers could be mild vitamin deficiency setting in, again caused by worms and corrid will drain even more the vitamins. Worms or not, i always deworm a bird that is sick and they almost always have worm problems!

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Thanks so much for the detailed reply. What do you recommend to de-worm?

I like my liquid dewormer albendazole way better. The instructions are to give 4 drops on an empty crop so it is only a single treatment.

The fenbendazole powder has to be given for 5 days. For me i use the overnight ones.

Fenbendazole is what everyone else recommends because they are in the usa and that is what is based there, its a very safe medicone with no egg withdrawal. But those are different instructions than albendazole or ivermectin, which is what i use.

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They have Mycoplasma gallisepticum (MG) and probably infectious Coryza additionally they run together. It is an infectious bacteria caused by unhygenic conditions. Hopefully someone can recommend the usa medicines. I live outside the United States and the antibiotic availiblity is more free where I live, but i do successfully treat this and clear it up in a few days. That does not include the weight loss.

I give Enrofloxacin, Oxitetraciclina, Tilosin, and lidocaine eyedrops. It is reliable but unfortunately in the usa unavailable. I wish i could send you the medicine! Tilosin is one of the medocines, but unfortunately it does not work very well by itself.

The good news for you is if you can clean her eyes every morning, and give her the tilosin injecctions, they will eventually get better. MG and coryza is not fatal, it will go away, so their lives are not in immediate danger.

For the weight loss - Do you ever deworm? It may be very likely that worms have weakened their immune systems and they are fighting those as well. Worms will possibly be fatal if untreated. Stop the corrid because it will suck all the thiamine and possibly cause even further potentially fatal problems without treating for worms.

I pulled this guy in the photo and dewormed him first, then gave the antibiotics, and he recovered in a day and a half. The sticky eye discharge is MG, and you will have to help her clean her eye in the morning with a warm cotton washcloth and water. She should eat when her eyes are clean, and then sit quiet all day in a corner.

Please ask any questions. Sorry I cant help with the medicines but tylosin is definitely part of the treatment and it will clear up with that on its own.

The fluffy feathers could be mild vitamin deficiency setting in, again caused by worms and corrid will drain even more the vitamins. Worms or not, i always deworm a bird that is sick and they almost always have worm problems!

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Help me please! You seem very knowledgeable about respiratory infections I have 3 silky satins that I got about 6 weeks ago and started showing signs of Coxi, so I treated them with cord, and ivermectioin for possible parasites. They started to get better, and now a week, and a half has gone by, and they are now showing signs of a respiratory illness?? Their initial symptoms were spitting up mucus, shaking of the head, watery diarrhea. Listlessness. Putting their heads in tails down and gaping. They also acted very depressed and non social. They were 10 weeks old when I got them so they are about 16 weeks old now. So now my flock of 6 outside is showing different signs, like a respiratory infection, but I also treated them when I treated the flock of 3 for Coxi and parasites. My rooster from my outside flock started sneezing and had a rattle when he breathes about a week ago. My outside flock consists of 5 hens and one rooster. The rooster is the only one showing any symptoms of respiratory so far. But the hens not acting right. And their eggs are off. I am treating the rooster with that VetRx For the breathing. None of my chickens have nose drainage or eye leaking or anything like that. Ok. So the new chicks are slightly spitting up mucus, shaking their heads a lot, pruning a lot, losing a lot of feathers, some mucus in poop, some hard poops, not eating very much, hunchbacked, and ruffled feathers. And today I have seen poop with red intestine lining in it. So my questions are... Could I have treated them for the wrong thing? But if I did how did they get better for a week and a half? Also if it's a respiratory illness, which one would it be viral or bacterial? I'm thinking it's MG or IBV. Or is it maybe the treatment of Corid and ivermection make them sick after their 2nd treatment? Would that cause the strands of blood I'm seeing in the poop? And if it's a respiratory infection, will the symptoms clear themselves up, or will it kill the birds? Thanks so much!! I am anxiously awaiting your input.
 
Help me please! You seem very knowledgeable about respiratory infections I have 3 silky satins that I got about 6 weeks ago and started showing signs of Coxi, so I treated them with cord, and ivermectioin for possible parasites. They started to get better, and now a week, and a half has gone by, and they are now showing signs of a respiratory illness?? Their initial symptoms were spitting up mucus, shaking of the head, watery diarrhea. Listlessness. Putting their heads in tails down and gaping. They also acted very depressed and non social. They were 10 weeks old when I got them so they are about 16 weeks old now. So now my flock of 6 outside is showing different signs, like a respiratory infection, but I also treated them when I treated the flock of 3 for Coxi and parasites. My rooster from my outside flock started sneezing and had a rattle when he breathes about a week ago. My outside flock consists of 5 hens and one rooster. The rooster is the only one showing any symptoms of respiratory so far. But the hens not acting right. And their eggs are off. I am treating the rooster with that VetRx For the breathing. None of my chickens have nose drainage or eye leaking or anything like that. Ok. So the new chicks are slightly spitting up mucus, shaking their heads a lot, pruning a lot, losing a lot of feathers, some mucus in poop, some hard poops, not eating very much, hunchbacked, and ruffled feathers. And today I have seen poop with red intestine lining in it. So my questions are... Could I have treated them for the wrong thing? But if I did how did they get better for a week and a half? Also if it's a respiratory illness, which one would it be viral or bacterial? I'm thinking it's MG or IBV. Or is it maybe the treatment of Corid and ivermection make them sick after their 2nd treatment? Would that cause the strands of blood I'm seeing in the poop? And if it's a respiratory infection, will the symptoms clear themselves up, or will it kill the birds? Thanks so much!! I am anxiously awaiting your input.

Sorry you have so many things going on with your chickens. Where are you located? How old are your "new chicks" that are sick, have they been treated for anything? Silkies are very delicate, I would advise asking a new thread for more expert opinions.

As for the cocci treatment, it would have been best to treat your entire flock at the same time (or maybe you did). Did you isolate them during the corid treatment and give only corid water? How many days did the corid treatment last? How long ago was the treatment, they all may need a thiamine boost.

The ivermectin should have worked. Check for signs of mites like bald spots on their head/face where they are scratching, or red infestations in theit ears to make sure there arent mites.

It could very well be something more serious going on, something viral perhaps. All you can do is

-ensure you keep hygenic conditions
-keep dust and allegen free run and coop
-give Tylosin antibiotic for respiratory symptoms

You could send blood samples to a lab if you wanted to test for a viral disease (mareks test) MG symptoms are bubbly eyes and sticky clear eye discharge. Coryza symptom is swollen face and foul smell.

Hopefully you are dealing with maybe allergies, weather related respiratory infection, or something stress related and the illnesses will go away on their own. But so much going on with so many chickens I am a little confused. You should start a thread and let others respond with their routines that will help diagnose better.

Of all the problems, a viral infection like mareks or IB would be possibly fatal. But respiratory stuff can be treated with tylosin. Hope this helps a little bit.
 

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