Questions Regarding Treatment of Upper Respiratory Illness and Meat?

[machoman]

Hi Everyone,

I'm new to chickens and am looking for some advice. My neighbor gave us three fabulous leghorn hens and a roo, all were very healthy. We later purchased a barred rock hen and roo from an open air market ( we'll not do that again ). We kept them separate for 3 weeks and literally the third day they were together our barred rocks started sneezing. We believe they came to use healthy, but caught something from the questionable farmer selling ghetto chickens nearby. This all happened about 8 weeks ago. Fast forward : everyone is eating/drinking/laying/behaving normally, they just sneeze occasionally. It never really got beyond that, no snot, coughing etc. The barred rocks did have a rattle-y sound initially, but this has gotten a lot better. I really do not want to cull them. What would you recommend for treatment? I do domestic animal rescue and do know how to give a vaccination, so giving them injectable antibiotics is an option. I'm looking for something I can purchase without a prescription. We will be using the barred rocks for meat birds, this is why I want to treat them. I'm concerned an illness, no matter how small could affect chicks.

Here's my next question. Someone gave me roosters for meat about 10 days ago, 14 roosters to be exact. Processing is scheduled for tomorrow, but a couple have started today with a little sneeze. I'm interested in opinions on eating them. Just to reiterate, none of them at any point ( even our hens ) appeared to be behaving like sick/ill animals, just the sneeze. Eyes bright and clear, eating, acting normally. But, I do think it's probably something, even if it seems mild.

Thank you for all your feedback!

 

[top of the hill]

Hi! It sounds like we almost have the same situation, sneezing chickens, but otherwise healthy. It was suggested that it may be an environmental issue, to dusty in the coop, pollen, mold. Once that was ruled out, it was then suggested to give them a dose of Denagard which may help with respitory issues. Unlike regular antibiotics, it will not contaminate eggs or meat. I just ordered a bottle online and plan to give my girls a dose tommorow.

Here is a link with some info but you can do a search on BYC and pull up some really great posts regarding peoples experiences.

http://denagard.com/pig-poultry-public/en/index.shtml