I bought 4 two month old hens at the local chicken swap/sell yesterday and need your input...are the

[PlantJoySeeds]

Oh, but I do have another question that I could sure use some advice about....sulmet as a preventive for the rest of the flock. I was told to dose all of the unaffected-possibly-exposed chickens by putting 2 T to 1 Gallon (which is what their waterer holds). This is a flock of 1 rooster and 5 hens and they have just finished that gallon of water and I'm getting ready to fill it up again. Do I add the sulmet to their new water as well? The bottle of sulmet says to dose the chickens for 2 days, but someone else told me to give them water w/sulmet in it for a week. They drank the first sulmet/water in 2 days...so do I give them another batch of treated water, or start them back on med-free water? Oh, and someone mentioned I should also give them sugar free yogurt to help w/replacing healthy gut flora, so I'll give them that today, too.

~denise

 

[PlantJoySeeds]

Well, it's been 6 days today and I was thinking that the rest of our chickens (original flock) were going to not contract that darned coryza that came home w/us from the swap. This afternoon, I became concerned because one of the RIR hens was under a bush and making an unusual, repeating sound, almost like a moan or something, but when I examined her, I didn't see any thing wrong physically or any outward signs of a problem/illness. Then tonight when I was walking by their coop, I could hear some rattley breathing, so I dropped the door and shined the light into their faces and could hear that 4 of them had the sound when breathing, one of them had 'dried mucus' on her beak/nostrils and another had clear discharge from her nostrils. This is with them having sulmet in their water for 2 days. Is there *anything* I can DO? My whole family is particularly attached to Daisy the little easter egger (who thinks she's a puppy and likes to be stroked and held and seems to know her name). She's not showing signs..but is it only a matter of time? I just can't believe this is happening. I feel so guilty for exposing them. This really sucks!

 

[CMV]

You need to make some hard decisions. You could try treating the flock, but this is going to be an ongoing problem for the rest of their lives.

I am sorry.

 

[PlantJoySeeds]

What I decided to do yesterday is to TRY treating them and if they can somehow come out of this, we'd just not add to our flock until they all move on...we'd just keep these knowing that they'd be carriers and take the precautions necessary. We are all just too attached to do othewise, I think.

Sooo, I set out to treat them with what I had...the sulmet but in a much smaller amount of water to ensure that they'd drink it in a day...so I put 1/4 gallon and 3/4 t of sulmet...and they drank it all by the evening.

This morning, they actually have improved! They're still a bit rattley but the eyes that were shut and half way back open and they just seem better all the way around. I've put the same amount of treated water out there again today and we'll see how they look tomorrow.

Here's the thing that dawned on me and I hope you can help me understand it. With the coryza infected swap chickens (that my flock were mostly definitely exposed to via drinking water/food), the very first symptom that they exhibited and where we KNEW it was coryza, was THAT smell, then the clear nasal discharge. But with my flock, that are showing all kinds of other respiratory symptoms, that smell is not there! Is it possible that they somehow have something ELSE?

I know since it's clearly respiratory, it really won't matter much...they'll still be carriers, but I'm just trying to understand and learn from all of this, and now I'm thinking, "IS THIS coryza?" and is that strange that the swap chickens clearly had that, but my birds come down with something ELSE??

I'm confused!

 

[CountryKitty]

The swap birds almost certainly had it longer than yours that are just showing symptoms. Therefore they had higher levels of bacteria, and had been coughing that nasty mucous onto themselves and each other for a while, which might explain the nasty smell they had. Your poor birds are likely to develope that smell if their condition goes unchecked.

I'm sorry. I really hate that you and your daughter are going through this.

 

[PlantJoySeeds]

I thought the smell came FROM the discharge? That's how I understood it from my reading anyway. And the swap birds smelled like that even after we'd washed them (yeah, we'd not realized that it was actually an illness and thought they were just 'dirty birds'). It was clearly coming from the discharge itself. Plus, the swap birds didn't show the symptoms of the rattley breathing or matted eyes either....it was dx'd only from the smell (which from the person who ID'd the illness said once you smell it, you'll KNOW it if you ever smell it again).

I don't know what to make of it all!

The rooster (from my flock who had started showing signs of *something* the evening before - rattley breath, matted stuff around his nostril and one eye shut) started acting noticably weird in the afternoon yesterday. He would stand completely still...and just stand there. Then early in the afternoon, he took himself into the coop and got up on the roost and just sat there. This morning I noticed green poop underneath his spot and when I let them out of the run today, he walked over to the woods, sat down and put his head down and hasn't moved since. He is clearly dying...but still I don't smell the identifying smell of coryza from him.

I led all of the girls back into the run with a bowl of scrambled eggs and yogurt because they were all hovering about him..clearly worried or concerned? IDK, but I wanted to distract them.

Romeo isn't dead (because I can see his chest moving slowly, every once in awhile), but he's making no sound and doesn't move or lift his head when I'm right next to him, talking to him. But he is clearly on his way I think I'm just going to let him pass naturally since he doesn't seem to be suffering).

<sigh>

 

[PlantJoySeeds]

..and I thank you all for you advice and your sympathy. I'm so glad that you're all here to listen and to guide me through this ordeal.

 

[arkansaschicks]

Don't give up! I brought home 6 chickens from our state fair 3 years ago and 1 of them brought in some respiratory stuff. I just fought it as hard as a could and I have just kept a closed flock from that time forward. If my birds are carriers of something I don't know. I have had 3 sets of chicks from my hens and no one has gotten sick and died. Sure respiratory issues have come up over the last 3 years but I have treated them and they got better If your rooster dies take him to the vet and have an autopsy done that way you will know what you are dealing with for sure and can help your other girls get well. Sometimes guessing at the illness is the worst thing we can do! So what if the are carriers of something if they can recover and you don't plan to ever expose your chickens to any other chickens then I would say try and get them healed. Good luck!!

 

[PlantJoySeeds]

{{[thanks so much for your encouragement}}}

 

[speckledhen]

Is there no way to nurse them back to health?

NO. They will remain carriers forever if they have Coryza. Unless you are willing to have them tested to find out what they actually have, cull them now, including any birds you have that are showing symptoms. Do not add them to your flock or you will set up a cycle of disease that you will be fighting for the foreseeable future.

Almost every respiratory illness a chicken can have makes them a Typhoid Mary in your flock as many are herpes viruses. That is why you quarantine, so you can keep disease OUT of your healthy flock.

I realize it's hard. I don't say this lightly at all. We have pets, not livestock, but we would euthanize any bird who showed those symptoms, through our tears.