My "Big Girl" is sick and I don't know what to do

[chicknmania]

I don't want to sound panicky once you start having anything like this it's an extreme emergency if you want to save your flock. So don't wait, start doing as much as possible now.

 

[cafarmgirl]

It could be a lot of things, there are many respiratory diseases and the symptoms often mimick each other. Some are bacterial some are viral. Antibiotic's won't cure viral diseases but will help prevent it from morphing into pneumonia and secondary bacterial infections. That is very common with anything respiratory and is what most often kills the bird rather then the disease itself. As mentioned the best thing you can do is get a necropsy done so you know exactly what you are dealing with. In the meantime I'd probably treat any other birds who start showing symptoms with Tylan 50. It works best as an injectable but if needles are not your thing it can also be given orally.

Edited to add: Dosing birds individually with antibiotic is always preferable to dosing via the water. You never know how much they will drink when they are feeling crummy so they may not get a sufficient dose. If you dose each bird you know they all got exactly what they need every day for the full course of treatment.

Good luck with your birds, this stuff is never fun to deal with.

 

[Eggcessive]

It does sound like ILT, which is a reportable disease in most places. It can cause bloody mucus from the nose and mouth which may be slung around the coop. Of course you can never know for sure what you are dealing with without a necropsy or lab test done on a live bird by your vet, but if I suspected ILT, I would kill the sick birds. The virus won't respond to antibiotics. Here's a link about it and how to get a bird tested:
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/diseaseinfo/83/infectious-laryngotracheitis-ilt
http://www.agriculture.ny.gov/AI/vet.html

 

[chicknmania]

Antibiotics won't kill the virus but they will help to combat any secondary infection. Our flock had ILT many years ago. It was reportable but not a mandatory cull here in Ohio. The State vets did suggest using antibiotics to help combat secondary infection, however, Duramycin would not be my drug of choice for something like that. You need at least something as strong as Tylan. Ciproflaxin would be better, not sure you can get it anymore for chickens though. When our flock had it we never did see any bloody discharge, neither did we have any that smelled odd. But necropsy results were positive.

OP, this sounds grim to you probably, but don't give up, you just have to be diligent. You can beat whatever this is. Best of luck to you and please keep us advised. Sorry for your loss but you got new babies coming eventually and they will help heal your heart.

Also make sure you keep yourself sterilized as much as possible. Keep a pan of disinfectant near your flock's living quarters and rinse your shoe bottoms in it as you come and go when you are taking care of them.

When your chicks come, keep them away from the flock's living quarters as long as you can, even if they are vaccinated against everything.