mystery illness: poor balance, weight loss, death.

[seminolewind]

I really don't think that worms are causing your chickens to drop dead. Worming may be an added stress that they could do without right now.
If given properly, the vaccine will work 90% of the time. Older birds can get a latent Marek's
Anyway, I don't think a snotty nose or goo is a symptom of Marek's.
My first step would be to toss the feed, and bleach the waterers, or get a few bags of new feed to see if that works, and maybe a few bags of new shavings to see if that works.
The fungal sounds good, but I don't think it would cause multiple deaths so fast.

How many chickens /did/ you have and how many have died?

I don't know if Canada has a dept. of agriculture, but they must, and they would have a lab for animals that need a necropsy.

 

[Trampledbygeese]

Great! I won't worm them now.

As for mortality rate, I'm loosing about one a day on hot days, and about one a week during moderate weather.

Cleaned the houses, bleached the waterers, changed the feed. How long do I need to wait before they show signs of improvement?

Standing on one leg, with the other foot all curled up seems to be a common behaviour for the sick chickens... does that mean anything to anyone?

 

[seminolewind]

That's really awful. If you're losing one - two a day, how many chickens do you have?
If you changed the food and water, and the deaths don't slow down, then that's not it.

Have you thought of maybe some encephalitis? Avian or Eastern Equine? The symptoms sound alot like my chicken that had brain swelling.

 

[Trampledbygeese]

I had almost 99 at the beaning of the year, but now with the meat chickens gone and the recent illness, it's almost half that.

The balance problem seems to be less today, but they are still acting depressed and having trouble breathing. I read once that Kim Chi (Korean spicy cabbage) can help birds recover from viral infections. Since we aren't eating the eggs until they are healthy again, I think I'll give it a try on one flock. See if it makes a difference.

 

[PoultryPedia]

I have been using Oxine (There is info on using it at http://www.shagbarkbantams.com/page11.htm ) over the last week to treat 3 chickens who'd been having respiratory problems. The two hens had come from an outside flock & carried in the problems.

I know at least some of the problems were caused by Coryza and probably MG as well. All 3 chickens have had some gurgling in their breathing. One had really bad lingering breathing problems, plus one of her eyes ran constantly, and one of her nostrils got smelly fluid running from it for a few days.

I'd given Tylan 50 and Gallimycin injections (which, it turns out, are so similar you shouldn't bother to try both if one doesn't work), but they didn't seem to work on whatever strain of the illnesses that they've had.
Just as a potentially useful side note--
Side Effects for Tylan: It made their injection sites sore so they didn't want to move around much, and they seemed to feel sick (along the lines of nauseous) and did not want to eat very much. These side effects were at a somewhat reasonable level when I limited the dose to no more than 0.5 cc per day (Some calculations seem to indicate higher dosing, but almost everyone I've heard of doses between 0.3 & 0.5 cc).
[Later note: Tylan 200 should be dosed at approximately 0.4 cc per day, but Tylan 50 is 1/4 less concentrated and actually should be dosed at approximately 1.6 cc per day. This is TOO MUCH to inject in one spot in a chicken. I have recently been experimenting with 0.6 cc intramuscular or 0.7 cc subcutaneous, along with 0.6 or more down the throat. I wouldn't recommend Tylan 50 for chickens because it's hard to give that much medicine.
I think my earlier under-dosing of Tylan 50 may have decreased its potential for effectiveness.]

Oxytetracyline medicine in their water helped a lot, & I recently have also given this via 2 nebulization treatments using a fine-mist spray bottle in a small, enclosed area over several minutes. I also used a (needle-less) syringe to flush the sickest hen's nostril with oxytetracyline powder diluted in water a couple times, and used Terramycin ointment in her eye.

I've been feeding yogurt or another probiotic every day to help offset all the antibiotic going into their systems.
Important note: Dairy products should probably not be fed within 1-2 hours of oxytetracyline medicines. I made this hypothetical deduction this from a caution on the medicine label that the medicine should not be given to calves close to their feedings of milk replacer. During the middle of my chicken's treatment, I forgot about this warning for 3 days & fed yogurt while they had their medicated water in the coop at the same time. The chickens seemed to slow down in recovery & then I remembered the warning again & again started removing the water for an hour or two before & after feeding yogurt. Recovery speed went back up.

I've also been mixing bits of fresh garlic in with some yummy oatmeal almost every day. Garlic helps with clearing respiratory problems, is good for the immune system & reduces internal worms.
Re. worms: The garlic would have been gradually helping clear internal worms the whole time I've been feeding it. After my chickens started doing a bit better & were quite strong, I dewormed with piperazine (which you can buy as Wazine or even D-Worm brand dewormer for dogs & cats), also. It only kills roundworms, so does not cause as much of a jolt to their system as more broad-spectrum dewormers. Just today, I gave a stronger dewormer.

I've poured water in their coop's shavings on some hot days to try to provide some cooling. Since that would have increased the potential for any existing fungal problems to worsen, I ordered a gallon of Oxine & so far have given 2 or 3 nebulization treatments with non-activated Oxine. I think that gave a significant boost to their respiratory systems getting cleared of everything.

The respiratory conditions are SOOO much better.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote:
Wry neck is not an actual specific disease. It is a term that can be applied to many diseases and injuries, based upon symptoms.

Check for mites and lice. Are there other biting bugs present (mosquitoes, biting flies, chiggers, ticks, etc.)? Also watch poop for signs of abnormality or worms.

Things that seem most likely to me are parasites (internal and/or external), coccidiosis, encephalitis or ingested toxins.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote:
Depends on the hatchery and what you ask them to vaccinate for. Vaccination usually costs extra, and you have to ask for it.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Did you actually prchase new feed, as in a different brand from a different feed store? If the feed is the issue, you need to make sure you are not just getting more bags of the same bad lot. Moldy feed smells musty (at best), and tends to clump together. If they have outside access to rotten vegetation, that could also be a source of toxins. However, the goopy nostrils do not fit mold toxins. Not to say that there can't be multiple things going on--when the immune system is lowered, seems like everything jumps at the chance to infect.

I do not think mareks likely.

 

[shannonpdp]

i know this is a old thread but did you ever find a cause or treatment?

 

[EdnaAndEdith]

I know this is a really old post but I have a hen doing almost this exact same things. I really don’t want her to die. Is there anyone who figured out what this was? The symptoms are almost spot on what my hen is doing. And if the op is right about the stages ...any minute she could go into third stage. OP if you read this, please please tell us what you found out. Did you ever have necropsy?