New flock, sick birds! I am a newbie!!

[haleycrew4]

By husband built be a beautiful coop over Memorial day weekend and I then started building my flock. I have 19 chickens now from 5 months old to 1 1/2 years old. We are wanting these girls for eggs to give to our family and friends =) I have gotten them from 4 different places and I realized to late that I should have been quarantining the new ones. Though, I don't really have a place to quarantine them. So last week, I noticed aabout 5 of them have a cough, sneeze and runny noses. I have been doing alot of reading lately and I am thinking it may be Coryza but there are SO many diseases out there I am not sure. I haven't called the vet yet. The snot from the noses is super stinky but we don't have any eye or facial swelling. I have been doing Oxytetrycline (not sure how to spell it), probiotics, and electrolytes in there water since Friday. The sneezes and coughs seem to have let up quite a bit and now we only have about 3 with runny noses. I have so much $$$$ invested in these girls and they are all so beautiful I hate the idea of culling the whole flock. HELP!!! Is this Cryza or possibly something else? We are down to only a couple of eggs a day. If we can get them feeling better will production go back up?

 

[haleycrew4]

Oh, and they are all still active and eating and drinking well!!

 

[haleycrew4]

Nobody?

 

[SavageDestiny]

I'm sorry you're having trouble! I don't have any real advice but I do sympathize... I'm a fairly new chicken owner myself and had a few speed bumps in the road! It will eventually even out, I promise.

Not sure what is wrong with your girls, you are right that there are so many things that can cause respiratory issues. Picking up some VetRx and treating them with it probably won't cure them, but it will surely make them more comfortable. It is kind of like VapoRub for chickens!

 

[haleycrew4]

Thank you for your response! I finally picked up the Vetrx last night super late so I wasn't able to get it on them but I do plan on it today. Do you know if it a once a day thing or twice a day? I haven't had a chance to look and the instructions yet either.

 

[fallbrookchicks]

Sorry you haven't gotten much response to your question. I am no expert on all these diseases, however, I have had luck with Denagard for respiratory issues. However, since you are already on an antibiotic, I would do the full course of that treatment and see if they recover or it comes back before switching to something else.

I would do some searches on the Forum for your specific symptoms since you are not getting responses from any of the Backyard experts.

 

[haleycrew4]

Thank you! I will look into denagard also.