Infectious Bronchitis?

[Winchikn]

The pills I have are 300 mg, so twice a day for one to 2 weeks?

Any risk of overdose? Her poops had a lot of urates last night.

 

[Eggcessive]

Is that the doxycycline? The dosage for chickens is about 20 mg per KG (or every 2.2 pounds) daily. How much does she weigh? You can divide a tablet into half, and then fourths, and each 1/4 tablet would equal 75 mg.

 

[Winchikn]

Sorry - I'm not communicating very clearly at all.

That was the calcium. Is the doxy worth a shot? I need to dig it up but helpful to have the dosage.

 

[Winchikn]

Following up on this...

My poor hen is still alive but doing very poorly. She has hardly eaten in about a week, drinks only tiny amounts of water and lays down all day. She has pronounced tracheal rales/gurgling when she breathes. She is still bright-eyed when awake but I don't think she is long for the world.

I am concerned for the rest of my flock. Another of my younger hens (a buff chantecler) stopped laying eggs about 2 weeks ago, presumably also a result of the IB or whatever virus they have. At least she isn't laying soft shells but she is still getting in the nesting box every day or two like she wants to lay. Otherwise she is in fine fettle.

While I thought my older hens were okay, I'm pretty sure my serene lead hen who has always been healthy and an excellent layer (a caramel queen from True North) laid a thin-shelled egg today. And now I'm scared out of my wits that she is going to go down the road of the other two who died/are dying.

I will watch her tomorrow and administer calcium if I can conclude the thin-shelled was hers, but I am really wondering what the recovery odds are from IB. If the virus affects the reproductive tract, is recovery possible?

I'm so afraid I'm going to slowly lose my whole flock.

 

[Eggcessive]

IB does tend to affect the reproductive tract in some later on. But it’s respiratory symptoms last about a month. If birds are still having respiratory symptoms after a month or so, there is probably a secondary bacterial infection, such as air sacculitis or MG. Testing would be the best way to find out what is going around. That can be done when you lose a bird, have your state vet lab perform a necropsy to do testing.

 

[Winchikn]

IB does tend to affect the reproductive tract in some later on. But it’s respiratory symptoms last about a month. If birds are still having respiratory symptoms after a month or so, there is probably a secondary bacterial infection, such as air sacculitis or MG. Testing would be the best way to find out what is going around. That can be done when you lose a bird, have your state vet lab perform a necropsy to do testing.

Thank you. I will try to get my very sick hen tested when she goes. The only symptom any of my chickens have exhibited is some sneezing, and that has been going on for about a month and is mostly resolved. I hadn't understood that the reproductive issues might appear later.

In your experience, what are the odds of resolution of the reproductive issues? I don't want to get my hopes up or drag my hens through weeks of interventions if they are extremely slim.

 

[Winchikn]

Closing note on this that my sick hen died last Saturday, about 5-6 weeks after onset of IB symptoms. I did not have the capacity to get her tested but am fairly certain IB is what has been going through my flock, though symptoms have lasted for a long time (watery albumen may have even turned up last fall). We administered calcium to the hen that died until she refused to swallow the pill no matter our efforts, which is about when she also mostly stopped eating.

I think the respiratory symptoms are resolved in the remaining flock now. One of my younger hens has stopped laying eggs completely (thankfully no soft-shells or shell-less, which seemed to be the demise of the two that died) - hopefully she might recover and begin to lay again.

The whole flock was vaccinated against IB, which may demonstrate the variability/evolution of new strains.

Fingers crossed the flock stays healthy and safe for the foreseeable future.

 

[Eggcessive]

Sorry for your loss. Thank you for the update, and good luck with your hens.