New 10 month old Rooster ill after transport

[ten chicks]

I have been doing a lot of reading and have seen repeated warnings against giving meds until you know what you are dealing with as they can interfere with diagnosis, cause super germs, etc or just mask symptoms. So I have given vitamins, lots of good scraps etc, probiotics. But I am still trying to get a diagnosis.

This is correct,but i always keep a supply of Amprolium and Tetracycline in my first aid kit,in the event that any of my chickens were ill with a respiratory like issue and i could not reach my vet,they get Tetracycline.

 

[familypendragon]

This is correct,but i always keep a supply of Amprolium and Tetracycline in my first aid kit,in the event that any of my chickens were ill with a respiratory like issue and i could not reach my vet,they get Tetracycline.

Good to know. I am very new to all this and really need to work up a med kit for them. I got my first chickens in April and chicken math took over my life, LOL!

 

[familypendragon]

Holy cow!! I just got done with a 1 hour phone call with a pathologist from the Texas A&M poultry lab! What an incredibly nice guy with a wealth of info. So, he says could be a worm in the throat, personal preference is to start with Ivomec. Also introduce the Tylan, and that bacterial infection is 2nd most likely issue. He says to find the one that goes in the water and give it to everyone. He listened to everything and said he did not feel that it was any of the viral causes and that he did not believe I needed to worry about having to cull the flock. He actually gave me his personal cell number in case things turn bad over the weekend, and wants me to call him Monday to let him know how things look. Seriously - all this help totally free of charge. And he ran down the various tests I could do if he later thought it would be helpful/necessary. But he advised that most of the tests would really be useless because the culture would likely not be alive by the time it reached them. He said if a bird died, I could send that in and he could get me some answers most likely. I feel so relieved! I did move the sick hen in with the sick roo because this morning she was limping, head hanging, making a weird noise, head shaking, and had white poo all down her back side. The first thing the roo did is crow and then jump her bones. So at least he is feeling better. He seems to be totally over the drool, but still head shaking and clearing his throat. So now I just have to find the products he recommended to start with.

 

[ozexpat]

I am glad you got the info you needed from an expert.

What a relief.

 

[familypendragon]

I am glad you got the info you needed from an expert.

What a relief.

I still have to wait for everything to come in the mail from Amazon, but at least I feel like he'll hold my hand through all of this And I know it's just his best guess... but it gives me some place to start.

 

[familypendragon]

Just realized I never came back with a follow up to this thread. This ended up being MG and over the course of a year and a half it wiped out my entire flock of about 300 mostly rare breed birds either from illness killing them directly or me having to put them down because of symptoms. That whole thread is found here. When the flock got fowl pox and knocked their immune systems down the MG ran rampant https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/831100/5th-chick-dying-in-my-hands-right-now-help

I am starting over next year with MG clean chicks from Whitmore Farms and maybe R Fuzzy Butt Farms. They are the only 2 MG Clean tested flocks I could find.

 

[ChicKat]

So very sorry that you went through this. Thank you for posting the update.

 

[familypendragon]

Thanks so much, I am going to go back to the first post and make sure I included the video of the rooster in case that might help someone figure out what is wrong with their chicken.

ETA, Nope I didn't. So here is the video of the sick rooster

Here is a video of one of my hens that got infected. A small percentage of them got the one swollen eye. She was one of those. She ended up blind in that eye, but "recovered". She was later culled when the last of the survivors had to be culled

My Bluebell

 

[chicken pickin]

Just realized I never came back with a follow up to this thread. This ended up being MG and over the course of a year and a half it wiped out my entire flock of about 300 mostly rare breed birds either from illness killing them directly or me having to put them down because of symptoms. That whole thread is found here. When the flock got fowl pox and knocked their immune systems down the MG ran rampant https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/831100/5th-chick-dying-in-my-hands-right-now-help

I am starting over next year with MG clean chicks from Whitmore Farms and maybe R Fuzzy Butt Farms. They are the only 2 MG Clean tested flocks I could find.

Sounds like you went through some very rough times. I wish you luck in 2015 and hope all stays healthy and well.