Respiratory disease that's being on going for 8 weeks

[kurka0]

Hello my beloved group!

I come to you with a really reeeeaaaaally long respiratory illness that refuse to be cured and I need all the info and tips I can get.

I have a flock of 5 hens and 1 rooster. Between 3 and 2 years, mixed breeds, one hen is blind for unknown reasons, she got here that way. Rooster is 9 years, American game fowl, is blind of one eye and has arthritis.

I decided to add new members and hell broke loose. (September 14)
I got 7 chicks. 1 of 4 days old, 5 of one week and 1 of 4 weeks old. Breeds: 2 pekin and the others are mixed breeds. Those guys live in a separate coop far away from the residents coop. But... I got and additional chick (Frizzle) of 6 weeks that I couldn't put with the little ones so I put her with the blind lady that lives separated from the residents. Stupid, I know. Ignoring the quarantine was a huge big mistake.

So... by the second day at home, the eye of the frizzle was weird. It had a small swelling in the lower inner part of my eye and that swelling started to get bigger so I rushed to the vet. Also, at the same time, the little ones were defecating blood. It was a super fun week (NOT). Vet said they ALL had coryza + coccidiosis. Treatment: tetracycline in the water in the morning and amprolium in the water in the afternoon. I wasn't convinced but I'm no vet so I followed instructions.

Few days later, everyone was sneezing. I continued the treatment for 7 days. The residents were all good except the blind lady. Frizzle was sneezing with bubbles in her eyes and the blind lady couldn't breathe but she had no visible mucus but it surely sound congested. I wen't back to the Vet (October 8) and he called the government to take samples for 8 different diseases but my country sucks so they only had reactives for three. We now know they don't have salmonella, nor mycoplasma, nor avian influenza. The frizzle started a 14 day treatment with enrofloxacin, at first 1 drop am, 1 drop pm (weight: 0.8lb), by the seventh day it was 5 drops am and 5 drops pm because nothing was happening. Blind lady died. Residents were all good. Little chicks were kind of ok, some ocasional sneezing but the younger one almost died (a pekin), her breathing sounded with a click and her feces were a very pale olive green, so again we went to the Vet with that little one. The little one received two shots, one with a liver protector and the second one the vet didn't told me what it was but it worked, little one started eating for two days and then she was worst.

It is now October 24. Little one was skinny, Frizzle was still sneezing and her eye was starting to swell again (we were almost good by the end of the 14 day treatment).
I changed the vet. New one treatment was nebulization with 5ml saline solution + 0.5ml Bronquivet (Guaiacol+Carbocysteine+Piroxicam) + 10 drops floxivet plus (Enrofloxacin 1.1 g+Bromhexine 0.1g + Tylosin 0.05g) two times a day for 5 days. Little one got better and still is but she still sneezes a few times a day. Frizzle on the other hand... her eye got bigger by the third day of treatment, then it went better, then she stop eating, then she started eating again but the sneezing was intense. We are now one week off treatment, appetite was pretty good for the last 2 days but... the eye swelling is not good. Today I saw some white stuff in the upper part of the eye and is now swelling up there, up until now the swelling was always in the lower part of the eye. Appetite today is not bad.

The thing is... I don't know what else to do. Two veterinary, tons of medicines and 8 weeks laters, I still hear sneezing in the little one and Frizzle I really don't know how is she still alive and eating.

More useful information:
I live in a tropical humid country. Frizzle sleep inside the house because is rainy season and her side of the coop can get wet if it gets windy. Temperature goes from 32C to 24C. The coop of the little ones is with pine shavings and the Frizzle has sand.

Oh, in the meantime, the other pekin chick had a impacted crop but it is now solved! Just as an FYI.

Attached you will find two pictures of Frizzle. Same eye on her worst and best day. I couldn't take a picture of the white substance, I could only see it for a few short moments because she is not opening that eye very often today.

Any advice will be hugely appreciated. I'm very mortified.
Culling everybody is not an option. I know if it is coryza they are all infected and I can't have new birds. It is what it is. I just want my current birds to be healthy or at least have normal eyes and no sneezing

 

[Debbie292d]

The white thing you see in her eye sometimes could be an infection. I'm not sure why all that you've been giving her hasn't taken care of it, but if it is an infection, you're probably going to have to get it out. I would rinse her eyes with a saline rinse, and put Terramycin or triple antibiotic ointment (without the painkiller) in her eyes a couple of times a day. That could still be Corzya, but I think @Eggcessive, @Wyorp Rock, or someone more familiar with it will be able to figure this out and tell you the next steps.

One thing I'd suggest is after the couple of antibiotics, they need probiotics for a couple of weeks. If you can get some type of poultry vitamins there, they'd help them fight this too and make them stronger.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Vet said they ALL had coryza + coccidiosis. Treatment: tetracycline in the water in the morning and amprolium in the water in the afternoon. I wasn't convinced but I'm no vet so I followed instructions.

Frizzle was sneezing with bubbles in her eyes and the blind lady couldn't breathe but she had no visible mucus but it surely sound congested.

We now know they don't have salmonella, nor mycoplasma, nor avian influenza. The frizzle started a 14 day treatment with enrofloxacin, at first 1 drop am, 1 drop pm (weight: 0.8lb), by the seventh day it was 5 drops am and 5 drops pm because nothing was happening.

Today I saw some white stuff in the upper part of the eye and is now swelling up there, up until now the swelling was always in the lower part of the eye.

I couldn't take a picture of the white substance, I could only see it for a few short moments because she is not opening that eye very often today.

I'm sorry to hear about the loss of your older hen and all of your troubles.

The Vet has diagnosed Infectious Coryza. Have they mentioned to flush the eye daily with saline and put an ointment in the eye (in addition to the medications) to see if that helps?

Is there a bad odor?

You've given a lot of medication, so hopefully this will resolve soon. If not, the only other thing I can think of to try would be a Sulfa Antibiotic. At least it seems like here in the US administering sulfa drugs is the more common practice since Tylosin and Tetracyclines seem to be less effective when dealing with Infectious Coryza.

You are in Panama, so is Eye Worm common where you are? See if you can work on cleaning out her eye and watch to see if the white "material" moves (worms). I do know they can be common in some of the tropics, but I'm not sure about where you live. Your Vet should know or if you know a Gamefowl Keeper with a lot of experience raising birds (roosters), they may be able to share some knowledge (sometimes not).

 

[kurka0]

The white thing you see in her eye sometimes could be an infection. I'm not sure why all that you've been giving her hasn't taken care of it, but if it is an infection, you're probably going to have to get it out. I would rinse her eyes with a saline rinse, and put Terramycin or triple antibiotic ointment (without the painkiller) in her eyes a couple of times a day. That could still be Corzya, but I think @Eggcessive, @Wyorp Rock, or someone more familiar with it will be able to figure this out and tell you the next steps.

One thing I'd suggest is after the couple of antibiotics, they need probiotics for a couple of weeks. If you can get some type of poultry vitamins there, they'd help them fight this too and make them stronger.

Thank you for your answer! <3
I try to rinse her eye with saline water once a day. Some days if she is too congested I abort mission because she starts breathing with gurgling noises and her beak open =(

Sadly, I have no access to terramycin, somebody forgot to update the permissions and the whole country is without terramycin since covid.
Vet suggested to use an eye drop that contains Chloramphenicol and Naphazoline hydrochloride but her eyelid turned red and the eye became opaque so I suspended it. That was like a month ago. Option two was tobramycin but I know that for humans that eye drop requires a sensitive or careful handling so I'm not convinced to use that.

I will add probiotics to her daily water. I was giving her nutridrench poultry and I think that is the reason why she is eating.

 

[Debbie292d]

I wasn't familiar with tobramycin, but found a thread where someone else used it. https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/tobramycin-chicks.1453746/post-24245812 If you scroll up from the reply I linked, you'd see a picture of the RX that member had.

 

[kurka0]

I'm sorry to hear about the loss of your older hen and all of your troubles.

The Vet has diagnosed Infectious Coryza. Have they mentioned to flush the eye daily with saline and put an ointment in the eye (in addition to the medications) to see if that helps?

Is there a bad odor?

You've given a lot of medication, so hopefully this will resolve soon. If not, the only other thing I can think of to try would be a Sulfa Antibiotic. At least it seems like here in the US administering sulfa drugs is the more common practice since Tylosin and Tetracyclines seem to be less effective when dealing with Infectious Coryza.

You are in Panama, so is Eye Worm common where you are? See if you can work on cleaning out her eye and watch to see if the white "material" moves (worms). I do know they can be common in some of the tropics, but I'm not sure about where you live. Your Vet should know or if you know a Gamefowl Keeper with a lot of experience raising birds (roosters), they may be able to share some knowledge (sometimes not).

We tried with eye drops that contains Chloramphenicol and Naphazoline hydrochloride but her eye lids became red and her eye opaque so I suspended it. In Panama we have no access to terramycin since covid. Option B is tobramycin.

She smells like phlegm. It is not a strong smell but mucus fly everywhere and constantly in every sneeze so everything smells like mucus.

I will look for sulfa antibiotics. Wish me luck!
And I'll try to check tomorrow when I rinse her eye in the morning if the white thing moves.

Here people are pretty barbaric with chickens. I already asked and some say to put lemon juice in her eyes and beak. That sounds painful as hell! And when the blind lady got home, people suggested to put sugar in here eyes and scrub it. Nope! Nope!

 

[kurka0]

I wasn't familiar with tobramycin, but found a thread where someone else used it. https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/tobramycin-chicks.1453746/post-24245812 If you scroll up from the reply I linked, you'd see a picture of the RX that member had.

Oh my! Why didn't I think about searching for trobamycin info in the forums! Thank youuuuuuuu! I think trobamycin is the way to go. I'll continue reading about it!

 

[Eggcessive]

Many of the respiratory diseases are chronic, and all of the flock would be carriers. It is possible to have more than one disease at a time, such as infectious bronchitis and MG or coryza. ORT is another one that is possible. Infectious bronchitis is short lived and can clear up in several weeks, but the bacterial ones may last longer and can come back later on. I would agree that sulfa antibiotics such as bactrim, trimethsulfa, sulfamethazine, or sulfadimethoxine, might help, but some plain probiotic yogurt with cultures might help the gut bacteria get back to normal after having antibiotics. Close your flock because any birds coming in will get it, and any you give away or sell will continue to spread the disease.