Mysterious illness throughout flock

[Warrprincess688]

Hi,
Im in desperate need of help on this one. Ive had chickens with problems before but now im really concerned. The Symptoms vary with some birds and some show nothing at all and appear to be fine. It is only showing in my birds under a year old. All of my birds over a yr except for one show no symptoms. The symptoms include, raspy breathing, loss of color in the face, bubbles in the corner of there eyes, swelling of some of there eyes,NOT THERE WADDLES. The is a weird smell coming from the nostrils of some of the birds. The smell could be related to a dogs bully stick treat. Leaky noses, coughing, sneezing, death in some extreme cases. Ive lost about 5 birds in the past 2 weeks. They seem to be getting a little better. I have been treating with duramycin and tetroxy as well as tylan. Most of the birds seemed better after the tetroxy was added to the water. My worst cases right now are my Olandsk dwarfs that are about 14 weeks old. My female has one of her eyes closed and her pupil seemes to be protruding and she appears to be going blind in that eye. My male is showing swollen eyes with both eyes appearing to have a film over each one. I have had a couple cochins that have died suddenly after losing there balance and not being able to get back up. They didnt appear to have mareks. One i have right now is able to get around but always needs to be leaning against something. Some of my birds are vaccinated but most are not. Im open to any opinions.

Thank You

 

[leadwolf1]

I think you are dealing with Coryza. There is no cure. You can treat, you can find threads on here that will tell you the proper meds to use, but, there isn't a cure. The symptoms will go away but, the chickens will remain carriers for life and will infect any other birds that you bring in. You would have to keep a closed flock, no birds in, no birds out. In times of stress, the symptoms will reappear and will require stronger and stronger antibiotics to treat. It will become an expensive venture.

Most people would suggest that you euthanize any birds that are showing symptoms. This is the only way to prevent it from spreading. You will need to disinfect the coop, feeders and waterers with a bleach solution. So sorry that this is happening. Coryza is a terrible disease.

 

[BlacksheepCardigans]

Because of the genetic (and monetary) worth of your flock - I know you've worked to get some great rare breeds - I really think it would be worth it for you to get an actual diagnosis. You've got a respiratory disease, obviously. Whether it's coryza or Newcastle or mycoplasma or one of half a dozen other things, some of which mean dire things for your entire program and some of which don't, can't really be told for sure until you get some testing back.

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

Because of the genetic (and monetary) worth of your flock - I know you've worked to get some great rare breeds - I really think it would be worth it for you to get an actual diagnosis. You've got a respiratory disease, obviously. Whether it's coryza or Newcastle or mycoplasma or one of half a dozen other things, some of which mean dire things for your entire program and some of which don't, can't really be told for sure until you get some testing back.

I agree, it sounds like coryza, but get it tested and talk to the vet. Also, you can look here for other diseases: http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ps044.

 

[Warrprincess688]

Thanks everyone. I had my birds blood tested last week before I knew what was going on. If I DO have Coryza, if I introduce new birds that have been given the Coryza vaccine will they be ok? I will cull the worst ones, and treat with sulmet. I've had quite an investment in these guys this yr and would hate to lose them

 

[leadwolf1]

I wish I knew more about Coryza and the vaccine but, I don't. I would think that with Coryza in your flock you would never be able to sell birds, only eggs. I'm not sure what the success rate is for the vaccine or, if the birds would also be considered carriers. I do know that the information that I did read said that in order for a bird to be a carrier, it must have survived symptomatic Coryza. Sorry that I couldn't help more.

Unless the birds that are left show symptoms, I wouldn't treat. You want to be able to save the antibiotics for symptomatic birds.

 

[De Wet]

treat your birds with chlorphenamine maleate 4mg (it supress the swollen sinus, watery eyes and the liquid nose within 24 hrs) one tablet per chicken. Now this is not a anti biotica but will save your flock, treat it with hitet LA 120 or LA 200 or baytril and tylan

 

[De Wet]

treat your birds with chlorphenamine maleate 4mg (it supress the swollen sinus, watery eyes and the liquid nose within 24 hrs) one tablet per chicken. Now this is not a anti biotica but will save your flock, treat it with hitet LA 120 or LA 200 or baytril and tylan with the chlorphenamine

treat the chicken with the swollen eyes witch can not see with teramycin powder or any eye ointment it will help after a while got a peacock with one eye swollen with infection and it got healed with this treatment and save s his eye

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

Thanks everyone. I had my birds blood tested last week before I knew what was going on. If I DO have Coryza, if I introduce new birds that have been given the Coryza vaccine will they be ok? I will cull the worst ones, and treat with sulmet. I've had quite an investment in these guys this yr and would hate to lose them

It looks like once your farm premises is infected with coryza, you have to watch for it's presence on the property pretty much forever. Your surviving birds all have to be considered carriers. Merck vet manual (pretty much the gold standard) says not only vaccinate new birds but use preventative antibiotics in the water. Looks like you could sell hatching eggs but not birds. Also looks like you should find out what strain of coryza you're carrying and make sure any vaccine is carrying that strain, too--there are several strains. http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/index.jsp?cfile=htm/bc/206600.htm

Also, you need to sanitize your facilities. There's a product on the market called Tektrol that does a very nice job.

 

[De Wet]

It looks like once your farm premises is infected with coryza, you have to watch for it's presence on the property pretty much forever. Your surviving birds all have to be considered carriers. Merck vet manual (pretty much the gold standard) says not only vaccinate new birds but use preventative antibiotics in the water. Looks like you could sell hatching eggs but not birds. Also looks like you should find out what strain of coryza you're carrying and make sure any vaccine is carrying that strain, too--there are several strains. http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/index.jsp?cfile=htm/bc/206600.htm

Also, you need to sanitize your facilities. There's a product on the market called Tektrol that does a very nice job.

product we use here in south africa is called virkon s