losing a chicken a week to something??

[Orpington Crazy]

Hello
I have lost four hens over the last six weeks. They all seem to be dying of the same issue.
Hen #1
Symptoms
Monday runny nose and rough breathing
Tuesday lethargic with runny nose and rough breathing slight cough
Wednesday dead
Age 10 months
Medication none
Other info
She had no weight loss

Hen #2 a week and a half later
Friday weak lethargic can't stand slight cough and very rough breathing
Saturday dead
Age 10 months
Medication none
Other info no weight loss comb and waddles red

Hen #3 over a week later
Monday runny nose
Tuesday no change
Wed fluffed up week runny nose slight gurgle when breathing
Thursday dead
Age 10months
Medication ivermectin on monday and fenbendizole (sp) started monday for seven days, no weight loss, batril and claviseptin (sp) to see if it would help

Hen #4 13 days later
Friday she was off
Tuesday morning extreamly weak couldn't stand
Tuesday night dead
Age 2yrs
Other info She had been wormed two weeks ago
Medication none

Any ideas as to what might be wrong?

 

[chicknmania]

If you have the carcasses of any of these birds and it is cool and less than 24-48 hours old, have a necropsy done asap. It sounds very much like ILT (infectious larygeotracheitis). If that is what it is, antibiotics will not help. It is a very infectious and highly fatal virus. It is only positively diagnosed by necropsy, and in some States in the US it's a mandatory cull. I don't know about Canada. It's carried by wild birds, and can be transmitted by new chickens if you have gotten any and have not quarantined them. There is a vaccine to prevent it which you can administer to your remaining birds, and it's a dead vaccine, so it will not make them carriers. It can even help sick birds recover. www.firststatevetsupply.com carries it. It's easy to administer, just an eyedrop. You also need to get some Oxine (not the kind with crystals), mix with water, and disinfect the heck out of your bird's living quarters, everything you can. Mist the birds with a spray bottle too and put a few drops of Oxine in their drinking water. Start right now with the Oxine, if you can get it, regardless of whether you know what's wrong with your flock. First State carries Oxine too but you can get that lots of places. It is ten times more powerful than bleach and a valuable disinfectant, really! I don't know for sure that what you have is ILT, but I know from past experience that that's the way it works. Many of the other respiratory viruses that chickens get are chronic, but not fatal, so you have more time to figure it out. Regardless, you need a necropsy to help you. Good luck.

Also, you can ask Peter Brown the Chicken Doctor, who runs the First State website, for help, he's not a vet, but an expert, he's very knowledgeable, and he may be able to give you more insight.

 

[Orpington Crazy]

The next one to die will be shipped for a necropsy finally got ahold of the provincial vet.

 

[chicknmania]

Good. I hope it's something much simpler than what I described. Sterilize as much as possible in the meantime, preferably with Oxine but at the very least with bleach and hot water, and if you can rotate enclosures, switch them to another and treat the used enclosure with lime, by burying it under the soil. I've never done lime ,I 've been told it's a great disinfectant, but you have to bury it to assure that the chickens won't dig it up again, as it wouldn't be good for them at all. You can spray the Oxine everywhere just mixed with water, or even fog with it if you want to go to that effort. If they were mine, while you're waiting and trying to figure this out, I would start them on some premium poultry specific vitamins, and/ or maybe antibiotic to mix in the water of the whole flock, just to help them combat secondary infections. Something like Duramycin at a higher dose *(2 tsp per gallon) or Oxytet would be even better, probably. Or, Denagard is another one that might help with prevention, and using that, you can still eat the eggs. Whatever you use, It won't hurt them to use it for a week or so, and if you need to change, then you can. But I would save the Baytril, it's more expensive, and might as well save it for other things where you know it will make a difference. I only suggest the antibiotic because several years ago our flock had ILT, and that's what the State vet suggested we do, for the reason I mentioned. We used the vaccine too, and Oxine, and were very happy with the end results.

 

[chicknmania]

Hopefully using some of these things I mentioned will help you, as they helped us. Please let us know the end result, as it's how we all learn. Good luck!

 

[CajunPeeps]

I myself have been losing a chicken every few weeks since November. This week, I lost 3. One, I just got that was quarantined. She was weak from the time I got her. The other 2 had no symptoms. The ones I have that did show symptoms were lethargic, had green runny poop, and died within hours. Two, I culled because I feared they would infect the others. One was eating and drinking but had tremors an would not move from the food/water. The other could barely walk and keep its balance. Most showed no signs until dead. Now most of my flock started sneezing and have crusted noses. A few have watery eyes. I also have some that just do not appear to be growing like they should. All have been between 16weeks to 8 mos. I started giving Tylan 200 injectable orally 3 days ago but I am honestly at a loss. Don't want to keep losing them. I am going to look into having a necropsy done if another dies. I noticed green solid poo from another today. Just breaks my heart. I have had all since they were babies. The sneezing has seemed to slow down though.