My chickens have colds:(

[edithbunker]

So I purchased 2 hens from a local farm and brought them home to find out they both are sick!

They are sneezing and have that gurgling sound when they breath, and on top of that they have bloody poo sometimes. Anyone have any suggestions on how to get rid of this cold?

 

[sonew123]

Quote:
Im sorry.... chickens do not get colds they get respiratory infections..search in the emergency illness sections...They will list diseases--read up on the symptoms that match your birds and treat as recommended..Hope they feel better soon!

 

[Nicole01]

Wow, I'm so sorry.

. Bloody poo sounds like coccidias. Sneezing sounds like brooder pnemounia. I have delt with pneumonia. Go out and buy polyvisol infant vitamins without iron. Sold at several stores in the vitamin section. I put a couple drops down the sneezing chicks twice a day. I treated the remaining flock with 1ml per quart of water. I used pure amoxicillan and sprinkled a 1/4 of the capsule I wet mash. I also gave probiotics(probios) when giving the antibiotics. I also treated with apple cider vinegar to help the nasal swelling. I thought I was going to lose my chicks, they were VERY sick, but they lived. They were 4 weeks old at the time. I used fish mox, which is pure amoxicillan sold over the counter.

I honestly don't know what you should treat first. I don't know if your flock has cocci with it. That's treated with corid. The vitamins work very well, I'd defintaly start with those. Hopefully someone else can help too. Good luck!

Edit to add... I see you have hens. I don't know if hens can actually get coccidais or if they are already immune.

 

[tiki244]

O I am sorry. I say if you are planning on getting any more chickens in the future I think it would be wise to kill these two new chickens. Especially if they are new and you are not attached to them. Their diseases, even if the symptoms subside, can be latently in their body and infect other chickens in the future and will only bring more heartache to you in the future. And dont buy anything from that farm! Sounds like they have sick chickens!

You could treat for cocci and respiratory infection and more expenses and they still may not get better.

 

[Mr Peeps Mama]

Quote:
This bloody poo that you're mentioning - Does it look like a thin string of bloody phlem? Has anyone talked to you about Gapeworm? The symptoms you are talking about COULD be gapeworm. I'm struggling with that right now in my flock. I thought they had a respiratory infection, gave them antibiotics for 10 days...come to find out it's not a respiratory infection at all, but gapeworm.

 

[edithbunker]

Thanks everyone for your help!

I brought the hens back to where I bought them and said they were sick when I bought them and they took them back, now Ive cleaned everything very well and just brought home 3 new Americanas. The three stoogettes I call them, Laurie, Carol and Moria.. haha! No more sick birds and No more buying anything from that farm again!

 

[tiki244]

Awe YAY!

 

[5parrots&zoo]

Quote:
Good for you, for taking them back. I learned a lesson the hard way: I answered an ad in the paper, the guy had chickens for sale. I had 2 Rhode Island Reds and one rooster, and wanted to increase my flock. I brought home 4 hens, 1 Barred Plymouth Rock, 1 Silver Laced Wyandotte, and 2 Ameracaunas. I noticed the BPR was panting and wheezing. One week later she was dead. I called the guy several times before she died, and he kept giving excuses as to why I could not replace her. After she died, I let him know, and he said I should come by and get a refund. But not then, to call in a couple of days. This went on, and he finally said he was in the car and asked me to email my address and he would send a check. After I emailed my address to him, he sent me a very accusatory and nasty email, stating all his chickens were healthy, and none of them died of diseases. He then said I should come and pick out 3 chickens. When I got to his house, he was not even there, his brother was, and they sent me back home with 4 chickens, for my trouble. I came home with 2 BPR, 1 Ameracauna, and 1 (I think) Marans. It was not too long after that 1 of the BPR got sick, she got these warty growths all over her comb, and swollen face. I treated her, and she seemed like she was doing wonderfully, I put her back with the girls, and one morning when I went out to open the coop, she was dead on the floor of the coop, dropped under the roost. Shortly after that, one of the original Ameracaunas I got from him started getting sick. She got weaker and weaker, and I finally, tearfully, had to put her down. That was the single most difficult thing I had to do, to take the life of one of my dear chickens, but I felt I was not doing her any favors by prolonging the inevitable. As if that were not enough, the 2nd original Ameracauna I got from him started getting sick, bubble in the corner of her eye, lots of water coming out of her eye, stiffened up her neck feathers from all the slinging, trying to clear her eye, I think. Anyway, along with this, the area around her eye swelled up. I started her on antibiotic regimen. Seemed to help at first, but then not so much. I then put her on sulfa based liquid I added to her water. She is still with me, seems very happy, spunky, and loves to run around outside her isolated existence. I do not dare put her in with the other girls for fear of them maybe catching something from her. I have read all the chicken books I can get me hands on, and still could not decide on a specific diagnosis, so many of the symptoms are alike, it seems. I love her enough to put up with the extra hassle of keeping her separated, but as I stated, it was a very difficult lesson to me, never ever to buy chickens from an individual again...
PS Love your stoogettes names!!

 

[speckledhen]

Unfortunately, this is the reason I never take in/buy started birds, including chicks, from anyone, not even trusted friends. All birds are either hatched here from only certain trusted breeders who have a "cull for illness" policy or my own birds. The problem with most respiratory illness in chickens is that they are "carrier" illnesses that stay with the bird even when the symptoms have gone, some of them herpes type viruses, and we all know what that means.

 

[Mr Peeps Mama]

Wow. I learned my lesson the hard way, too. I had 4 really healthy hens....I added 11 and got the 11 all from one place and the place was a gutted out old mobile home that was wall to wall chickens and the filth was terrible. My thinking was "Wow, these girls arent going to know what to do in the nice clean environment I have". Stupid me, I shouldve quarantined the new ones...they came down with a respiratory infection (or so I thought)..I put them on antibiotics Dylan 10 for 10 days...kinda sorta helped but not really...I felt like there was still something wrong there...I read and read and read and come to find out they have GAPEWORM and that's what I'm treating now. I am SO MAD at that lady I got them from...not only has it cost me alot of money ~ I paid $8 a bird for them, they went through 10 days of antibiotics so that was $$ there and to top it all off I sell their eggs to pay their way and of course I had to toss the eggs for 21 days so lost alot of money there, too. Now we're going through treatment for gapeworm...I spent $49 at the feed store yesterday and will have to throw out the eggs again for approx. 30 days. I am SO MAD I'd like to, well, never mind what I'd LIKE to do...she sells Mary Kay here in Boise, I hope she's more honest with her Mary Kay clients than she was with all of us suckers who bought her birds. Not to mention the animals suffered through a round of antibiotics and now worm treatment.