I think my chicken is sick... Help! New to chickens!

[dawg53]

DE wont do anything. I strongly urge you to follow Chickenzoo's recommendation. You are either dealing witth coryza or MG. Either will easily spread through your other birds. With coryza, there's a foul odor around the head area, otherwise I'd suspect MG. Here's a link, scroll down to Coryza and Mycoplasma Gallisepticum (MG) and read about them if you wish.
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ps044

 

[dawg53]

Yeah I'm pretty upset about the whole situation. My husband has already washed his hands of it and is starting to get irritated about me having to go through so much hassle and money to try and fix these birds.
Can I get DE at the tractor supply store?
Also, heaven forbid if she ends up dying...how to I handle that? I'm so lost!

See post #11.

 

[CarolJ]

I agree - DE won't do anything for the symptoms you've described - neither will the ACV. When I wrote that I would use DE & ACV and that I would replace all the bedding, etc., I was thinking along the lines of getting everything cleaned and fresh so that the environment wouldn't help or contribute to whatever is going on with your chickens. I didn't explain what I meant very well. I would definitely follow the advice of chickenzoo and dawg53 who know more about those particular symptoms.

Again, I'm sorry you're having so much trouble. Good luck - and let us know how it goes for you.

 

[Mouzekin]

I agree - DE won't do anything for the symptoms you've described - neither will the ACV. When I wrote that I would use DE & ACV and that I would replace all the bedding, etc., I was thinking along the lines of getting everything cleaned and fresh so that the environment wouldn't help or contribute to whatever is going on with your chickens. I didn't explain what I meant very well. I would definitely follow the advice of chickenzoo and dawg53 who know more about those particular symptoms.

Again, I'm sorry you're having so much trouble. Good luck - and let us know how it goes for you.

So I've been reading more about the diseases and many people say that they cull their chickens. Is this something I might have to do? I also saw that some got their chickens tested for MG at the state agricultural department. Has anyone done this? How do you go about inquiring about this? I'm going to call them in the am for starters. This is really turning into a nightmare. I won't even let my kids in the run with the chickens. All I wanted was a couple of pet chickens for my families enjoyment and for the benefit of getting our own eggs. :'(

 

[Mouzekin]

DE wont do anything. I strongly urge you to follow Chickenzoo's recommendation. You are either dealing witth coryza or MG. Either will easily spread through your other birds. With coryza, there's a foul odor around the head area, otherwise I'd suspect MG. Here's a link, scroll down to Coryza and Mycoplasma Gallisepticum (MG) and read about them if you wish.
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ps044

Read that and a few other threads..and things are just seeming worse and worse!

 

[chickenzoo]

If you are not raising your chickens to sell or their eggs and they are just pets, then you can treat them. if you do plan on selling then you want to strive for clean birds, so you don't do what the seller did to you. You may never have another problem.. Or it may pop up again. You will just have to keep them seperate from any new birds and always handle them last if you get others. If you treat and afterward it pops up again, then it may be best to cull. I am sorry your first experience was a bad one, it is a first lesson that many of use have unfourtunly learned.
The illnesses are more a problem to other birds, not towards people.

 

[Mouzekin]

They are to be raised as pets, but we are military, and had planned on selling or giving them to a good home when we moved in about 1.5 years. Now I wouldn't feel right giving someone infected birds..even if they were well at the time. I guess this leaves us in limbo for now. I'm going to do more research and ask more questions.

I would definately welcome more advice and opinions too. Anything helps.

 

[dawg53]

Mr "degree in poultry" got one over you. Not funny nor fun with what you're dealing with. I'm retired military. Chickenzoo is a military retiree dependent. You're going to have to make a tough decision when the time comes. For now, you want to try and treat your chicken(s.)
You can buy tylan 50 injectable and give it to them orally. It's cheap and very effective, so is a syringe. You could probably buy a syringe at a pharmacy or they'll most likely give you one for free. If they ask you what it's for, tell them the truth. You can even show them the tylan bottle. Maybe your feed store has them too.
It's real easy to orally dose them. Pull the wattles down and their mouth will open, squirt the meds in their mouth and immediately let go of the wattles so they can swallow it on their own. Dosage is 1/2cc for standard size birds and 1/4cc for smaller birds once a day for 5 days.IF you inject it, it's once a day for 3 days.(I would prefer giving meds orally myself.) You should see improvement around the 3rd or 4th day, but continue to the 5th day when giving it orally. Good luck.

 

[Mouzekin]

Mr "degree in poultry" got one over you. Not funny nor fun with what you're dealing with. I'm retired military. Chickenzoo is a military retiree dependent. You're going to have to make a tough decision when the time comes. For now, you want to try and treat your chicken(s.)
You can buy tylan 50 injectable and give it to them orally. It's cheap and very effective, so is a syringe. You could probably buy a syringe at a pharmacy or they'll most likely give you one for free. If they ask you what it's for, tell them the truth. You can even show them the tylan bottle. Maybe your feed store has them too.
It's real easy to orally dose them. Pull the wattles down and their mouth will open, squirt the meds in their mouth and immediately let go of the wattles so they can swallow it on their own. Dosage is 1/2cc for standard size birds and 1/4cc for smaller birds once a day for 5 days.IF you inject it, it's once a day for 3 days.(I would prefer giving meds orally myself.) You should see improvement around the 3rd or 4th day, but continue to the 5th day when giving it orally. Good luck.

Thank you! I'm going tomorrow to get the tylan hopefully I'll find it. I'm also going to call my local agricultural department and ask what they recommend as far as well everything. Testing if it isn't to expensive and options when the time comes to take care of them. I'll Try to keep all of you posted on what happens.

 

[dawg53]

Sounds good. The tylan is usually in the cattle section at a feed store. I dont recommend getting the tylan soluable, or any other type soluable powder. Sick birds dont usually drink water, and if they do, it's not enough to be effective.