Yeah that would be great! I assume that out of 27 chickens if no one else gets sick then maybe this is some kind of fluke. Tomorrow ill know for sure. I mean seriously though at least a few other birds will have to get ill too, then ill know for sure. Especially if porkchop gets sick. Did they show any other symptoms? so far Frizz has the discharge from her nostrils and the odor. No swelling or discharge from the eyes. this week we will decide on what to do. I do not want to have to worry about keeping a closed flock, but i also love these girls and do not want to cull them either. A choice must be made. I know what that choice will be...these ARE my pets afterall. however there goes any breeding i was thinking about doing. Im so confused as to why only one bird is sick out of so many....well im off to shower and change my clothes AGAIN and then try to pry nanners out from under the deck, ugh. Then I have to apply ointment to elvis's butt. oh my life sometimes....markie says were just in a constant state of being "tested" lol
First batch, 6-8 weeks old: The most susceptible chicken got really lethargic, a little bit of sticky breathing, no swelling or odor, but a beak full of mucous. Within 2 days, I noticed gurgling breath from 2 of the 8 others in her group. Those plus 2 others had runny noses. 2 days after that, they seemed to get lots better. A day and a half after that, I walked in and noticed that 3 had facial swelling... one had an eye swollen shut. 4 of them never showed symptoms. We assumed it was coryza and culled them all. None of them had a foul odor.
Second batch, 4 weeks old: 3 days after culling the first batch, I listened to all 13 of them and noticed that 2 had wheezing breath. I immediately quarantined them and gave them Sulmet and Duramycin for two days, disinfecting everything. Two days later, I noticed no symptoms at all. Nobody got any sicker.
Third batch, 1 week old: About a week after the second batch improved, when we figured we were in the clear. One chick was so sick that every breath was a wheeze, and she constantly gasped. Her posture was like a rooster crowing, with the beak up in the air, as she tried to breathe. 4 of the 10 had runny noses and wheezing, and 3 more of them had clicking breath. 3 never showed symptoms. We put them on Sulmet and Duramycin for two days. During the second day of the treatment, the sickest chicks developed runny eyes, but their breathing seemed to improve. The sickest chick almost got culled twice, but I couldn't bring myself to cull my week-old brabanter. We did lots of praying and antibiotics, and she improved each time we decided to "watch and see." It took about a week and a half for everyone to stop showing symptoms. The day after the medicine, I mixed yogurt in everyone's food (they loved it!.) None of those chicks died from being sick, but not long after they got better, one of my silkie chicks flapped down from my hands, fell 18 inches, and died.
Fourth batch, 9-12 month old laying hens: Less than a week after I put medicine in the new chicks' water, I heard a meowing/crying sound from the coop. Barbeque had a nose so snotty that it dripped from her beak, bubbles in her eyes, and breath so loud that she sounded like a baby crying. We put Baytril down her throat, and put Sulmet and Duramycin in the water. We locked the coop for 2 days, so they could only get medicated water. We picked each hen up and listened, and 2 more of the 10 hens had "sticky" breath, but none of them got runny noses. Barbeque's crying turned into just a snotty-sounding breath by noon the next day, and was normal within another day. Egg production dropped from an average of 8 per day, down to 2 per day. The eggs that we recognized as coming from certain hens, like the welsummer, stopped completely... and most of those were from hens that didn't show symptoms. Date of hen medication: May 12th. It's been just over a month, and we're now almost to full production, though the welsummer isn't fully developing her eggs.
Mortality: none except for the ones we culled. Egg production: noticeable, and mostly repaired for the hens. I don't know about the babies, since my health book says the tiny ones are most susceptible to cloaca damage. Duration: one month from start to finish, but about a week to 10 days for each group of chickens. If they were in the same group as a sick chick, then that group was done with the ordeal in about a week. Treatability: easy, now that we know what it is. Stress level: I have less hair now.
Are you working in this area tomorrow? We're going to be out of the house for most of the day, but I can take the book to your work early in the morning. Or I can leave it on my front porch, and you can pick it up whenever you have a chance to swing by.
