my chickens are dying.... :(

[sfcitygirl]

Hi I'm new to this and I'm hoping you could help or teach me about chicken respitory problems. I bought 4 chicks in April, raised them, moved them to their coop/run in July and first egg from a black sex link came on labor day. I had 2 black sex links and still have 2 well summers. The 1st black sex link died in October and the 2nd one died on friday. About three months apart. Both were healthy, we're eating their food, along with bugs, little pebbles, sunflower seeds, squash seeds, cracked corn etc. They were social and ran around the backyard whenever I was home. But they would sneeze occasionally. I would hear it once while we were all gardening in the afternoon. I didn't know about vitamins I was supposed to give them. Their eggs were normal, sometimes one of them would lay a double yoked egg, the shells were definitely thicker than store bought eggs. It was usual to me when in October the first chicken to die just sat down and started to pant. Almost as if she could not get enough air. I didn't know what to do, I thought she was over heating or chocking. But there was nothing inside her beak and I really couldn't see that far. She died within 2 hours. Three months later the same thing happened with the second chick. Here is my questions: how do I get vitamins in the other two? Are the other two also destined to die? Does sneezing always end in death? I would say there is plenty off air circulation in the coop. It's raised 3 feet above the ground, w an opening in the bottom for cleaning. It has windows with mesh wire. And I'm not an expert carpenter, there is slight gaps between wood panels. The coop has plenty of direct sun, no mold grows around it. I bought the vitamins and tried covering them in yogurts dropped some in the water but they are fickle I don't know if they are getting enough. Thanks for reading this is cathartic too.

 

[BantamLover21]

I'm sorry for the losses of your hens.

If they're eating a good-quality chicken feed, then vitamins shouldn't be the problem. It is more likely that you have a respiratory disease in your flock, which is appearing randomly in certain birds. The treatment for that would be an antibiotic, like Tylan50 injectable, or oxytetracycline (sold under names like Tetroxy HCA-280, Terramycin, etc.). There are other antibiotics, too; I'm not sure which ones you can find in your area.

The only other thing I can think of is that your hens are being poisoned by something. That would explain the suddenness of the difficulty breathing and quick death. Next time (if there is one--hopefully not!) one of your hens starts showing the symptoms that the others did, give her a molasses or epsom salts flush to clean any toxins out of her system. Below are the recipes:

Molasses Flush:

4 tablespoons molasses per quart of water given for 6-8 hours. Birds may drink this on their own, or you can give it to them with an eyedropper.

Epsom Salts Flush:

1 teaspoon Epsom Salts in 1/2 cup of water, poured or squirted down the birds throat for 3 days or until bird recovers. Most chickens don't like the taste of epsom salts, so they won't drink this on their own.

Good luck! Hope I've helped!

 

[sfcitygirl]

Thank you for the information. I heard one of the two sneeze today I want start the antibiotics but how long should I throw away the eggs? I bought some antibiotics in powder that I can add daily to their water. Is that as good as a shot? I was told use up the package it should last a week or so but the antibiotics in water only last 24 hours.

 

[BantamLover21]

Thank you for the information. I heard one of the two sneeze today I want start the antibiotics but how long should I throw away the eggs? I bought some antibiotics in powder that I can add daily to their water. Is that as good as a shot? I was told use up the package it should last a week or so but the antibiotics in water only last 24 hours.

What are the antibiotics called? The egg withdrawal period varies depending on the antibiotic, but it usually is from between 3 days to 14 days. As long as your birds are drinking on their own, powdered antibiotics are fine; it is only when they aren't drinking enough on their own that an injection is better to make sure they're getting the correct dose.

 

[sfcitygirl]

Terri - vet 10 tetracycline hydrochloride soluble power. There are two different does for card air sac disease 400 -800 mg per gallon. For synovial 200 -400 mg/ gallon.

 

[sfcitygirl]

Sorry spell check correction not Terri rather terra -vet. The chickens look healthy aside from the sneezing occasionally and now missing their other buddy. Based on the directions I can give this to them for 14 days. Packaging is not very helpful either it indicates "do not use in chickens producing eggs for human consumption." Which i could gather as dont consume the eggs indefinitely. Also the person at the store said to use this, not sure if this is the right antibiotic.

 

[pwand]

Treat them for worms with Safeguard and for Mites.

Is there any nasal discharge? Chicken can sneeze at times by dust, water up there nose. When a chicken is close to dying, they will breath like that, eyes closed, than they pass away not long after they start breathing like that.

http://www.dpi.vic.gov.au/agricultu...s/poultry/common-diseases-of-backyard-poultry

http://www.thepoultrysite.com/disea...ction-mg-chronic-respiratory-disease-chickens

 

[pwand]

Here is a few other things to consider, egg bound, crop issues like sour or impacted crop. Make sure the crop is flat before eating and drinking in the morning. Defiantly treat for worms and mites and lice.

 

[sfcitygirl]

Thank you pwand, I haven't noticed any eggs or worms on their poop. And I'm picking up the poop inside the coop twice a week and the poop in the backyard, when they get out to forage, within an hour but immediately. The weather in California is warm so the Flys are still around. I also have fly traps that attract flies and kills the flies inside a bag. Those are hanging from trees. Traps are in a place chickens can't reach. As for ticks or mites not sure. But the store owner where I've been buying everything said that the feathers of the last one that died were nice shiny and healthy looking. Not sure if the feathers look different when the chickens have mites or outside bugs. I was also able to reach a state vet who will send grenade, last chicken to die, to a lab for an autopsy. They are looking out for avian flu, they do free tests of dead birds. Anyways, I might have preliminary results in week and more definite info in a few weeks. I'm worried it might be too late in a few weeks and feel like I should do something sooner. Should I treat for both: internal/external parasites and respitory issues? Can the living chickens Nya and Angelina handle these meds?

 

[sfcitygirl]

Oh and as for egg bound all them are laying eggs daily. Or at least both chickens that died did and even laid an egg the day they died. Their shells are pretty thick too. Hemlock and Grenade ' s crops looked normal. The vet said he couldn't feel anything unusual in Grenades crop.