One closed eye, listless, not eating or drinking

[chesapeakechick]

I bought 3 Rhode Island reds (about 18 weeks old) last Thursday from a local farm. They are my first chickens, so I'm new to this. One seemed listless last evening, and this morning she has one eye shut and is staying off to herself, not eating or drinking. Doesn't seem to have any discharge from nose. I'm going to isolate her in a cage we have, and I read about putting apple cider vinegar into her water and giving yogurt. Also will try a cooked egg yolk. What else should I do? Should I get an antibiotic? Advice would REALLY be appreciated.

 

[sjarvis00]

Ypu should put her on an antibiotic. But it would be nice to know what is wrong with her. Check her for fowl smell , is she having trouble breathing, is her back feathers by her wings nasty looking( you said that you didnt see any discharge but sometimes they wipe their nose on those feathers)

 

[chesapeakechick]

Now that I have her in the cage, I can see that her eye is weepy and her wing feathers on that side look a little wet. I also heard her sneeze.
I think I heard one of the other 2 chickens sneeze, too. I have a Southern States and a Tractor Supply near here - would they have an antibiotic? Any recommendations about which antibiotic to get? I guess I should treat all 3 birds?

 

[sjarvis00]

Try smelling her nose up close. If it smells fowl, then it might be coryza, then you are in for a long process...... If not then it could be nothing too major. Try sulmet, but be careful with it, it can be toxic in the wrong dose or to long of use..... Do a search for poultry diseases on the net, try locating the symptoms that best fit your bird and it will tell you which antibiotics to use.

 

[chickenzoo]

Tractor supply has Tylan 50. It is an injectable for cattle. I would inject with a small needle in to the breast muscle, 1/2 cc of Tylan. Twice a day for three days. Sounds like they have a respiratory infection. If you can't inject, then try the Sulmet. Sulmet will treat Corzoa, a type of Resp. Infec. , and also coccidia. You can put it in their water. Corzoa, like said above has a dead rotten smell to the nostrils.

 

[chesapeakechick]

Thanks so much for all of the advice and all of the info available on this site. I don't know what I would have done without it! I went to the local Tractor Supply and they had Duramycin-10 in the 6.4 oz package. I searched this site for dosage info, and ended up putting 3 tsp/gallon of water. They also had a durvet vitamin and electrolyte packets for mixing in water. I found conflicting info about it, so I ended up putting 1/4 tsp in a gallon of water. I guess it's ok to have both mixed in the same water??
I mixed up some saline solution and washed her (Bertha) eye with warm saline and cotton balls. Then I applied some Terramycin ointment. Her eye seems a lot better this morning, but she's clearing a lot of clear discharge from her nostrils and shaking her head and flinging stuff.
Now the other 2 have clear discharge and sneezing, so I'm glad I started them on the Duramycin yesterday. I just hope it's an effective antibiotic for whatever ails them.
We've had these chickens a week today, and it's been way too much excitement already. I got them from a commercial farm and aren't quite old enough to be laying, yet. I wonder if the other chickens at that farm are sick??
I will keep them on the antibiotic for 14 days, and I hope they get better. It makes me feel so bad that they're sick!
Again, thanks for the replies and for all of the info available here. What a great site.