Respiratory illness in my flock. Please help.

[Bridget B]

One of my 18 month old chickens has died from some sort of respiratory ailment . All my other birds are now showing signs of discharge from the nose. They haven't started head shaking yet but that is what I saw with the one that died. They have never been out of the run or coop. Please point me in the right direction. Antibiotics that might work etc. Thank you.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

One of my 18 month old chickens has died from some sort of respiratory ailment . All my other birds are now showing signs of discharge from the nose. They haven't started head shaking yet but that is what I saw with the one that died. They have never been out of the run or coop. Please point me in the right direction. Antibiotics that might work etc. Thank you.

Have you introduced new birds in the last 30 days?

Photos of the birds may be helpful.
Do you notice any bubbles in the eyes, facial swelling, coughing/sneezing?
Lesions inside of the beaks?
Crops are emptying?
Any lice/mites on the body or head or infection in the ears?

What's your weather been like? Have they been cooped up inside a closed up coop with minimal ventilation? What's it like inside the coop, is there a strong ammonia odor from poop? Have you added any new bedding, anything gotten damp or molded?

There's several respiratory diseases that affect chickens, some are viral while others are bacterial. Fungal infections can also cause symptoms.
It's a good idea to figure out what is causing the symptoms so you can treat with the correct medication. Sometimes that is not always possible. If you still have the body of the one that died, then sending it for analysis will give you the best information so you know how to treat. You can find your state lab here:
https://www.metzerfarms.com/poultry-labs.html

If you feel you must treat with antibiotic, then Tylan/Tylosin would be the most common medication used. It will treat Mycoplasma and some bacterial infections.
You can often find Tylan50 at stores like TSC. Dose is 0.25ml per pound of weight given orally 3 times a day for 5 days in a row.
Alternatively, you can order Tylosin soluble which goes in the flock's water, but it's dependent on each individual bird drinking the medicated water. If you have ones that are weak or not drinking well, then you will need to make sure they are getting the medicated water by tubing or syringing it into them several times a day.

Here's some reading about diseases https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/ps044

 

[Bridget B]

Have you introduced new birds in the last 30 days?

Photos of the birds may be helpful.
Do you notice any bubbles in the eyes, facial swelling, coughing/sneezing?
Lesions inside of the beaks?
Crops are emptying?
Any lice/mites on the body or head or infection in the ears?

What's your weather been like? Have they been cooped up inside a closed up coop with minimal ventilation? What's it like inside the coop, is there a strong ammonia odor from poop? Have you added any new bedding, anything gotten damp or molded?

There's several respiratory diseases that affect chickens, some are viral while others are bacterial. Fungal infections can also cause symptoms.
It's a good idea to figure out what is causing the symptoms so you can treat with the correct medication. Sometimes that is not always possible. If you still have the body of the one that died, then sending it for analysis will give you the best information so you know how to treat. You can find your state lab here:
https://www.metzerfarms.com/poultry-labs.html

If you feel you must treat with antibiotic, then Tylan/Tylosin would be the most common medication used. It will treat Mycoplasma and some bacterial infections.
You can often find Tylan50 at stores like TSC. Dose is 0.25ml per pound of weight given orally 3 times a day for 5 days in a row.
Alternatively, you can order Tylosin soluble which goes in the flock's water, but it's dependent on each individual bird drinking the medicated water. If you have ones that are weak or not drinking well, then you will need to make sure they are getting the medicated water by tubing or syringing it into them several times a day.

Here's some reading about diseases https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/ps044

 

[Bridget B]

Thanks so much to those who answered my post! The discovery of a dead hen in my coop was such a shock. She had been molting hard but seemed otherwise healthy. I found her in the nest box, approximately 3 PM, I had just seen her a few hours earlier. I only had nine hens so each one pretty much gets a once over three or four times a day.
This particular hen was head shaking, that was the one particular I remember from earlier in the day. When she passed, I went over her pretty good. The two things that stood out to me were, the yellow mucous from her nose, and the small amount of bright green exude from her anus. She had been eating some grass the day before.

After much thought I realized that this hen had been dust bathing in the coop a few days earlier and had kicked up so much sand that when I checked for eggs in the afternoon the air was filled with sand. It made me choke and cough a few times myself! The coop has three inches of sand in the bottom. That hen was obsessed with dust bathing. I had not seen any bird doing it in the coop, only her. I did discover two days prior that someone had passed a shell less egg. I had to clean one messy nest box and a Barred rock had yolk on the top of its beak.
So those are pretty much the details. I did check her body for bugs and canker in the crop, she had none. Her crop was empty. She was a very large blue Australorp, one of two I had purchased that made up my ten birds. The other blue hen literally dropped dead at about 7months. She had laid so many huge double yolk eggs that I thought there was something wrong with her reproductive track.

Once again I want to say thank you to the folks that were kind enough to reply to me. I would have gotten back sooner but a good friend had a stroke the same day that my hen died. I've been running back and forth to hospital etc. I did get online and got VetRX for the girls. I have been treating their water for three days. None are showing anything but I'm still worried about the head shaking. I saw one of the RIR's head shake today. The beaks are still a little white at the nostrils, but no mucous is showing.

I truly appreciate the support that I got here. If there is anything else I should be doing let me know. I did finally get the number of a vet that may help me get antibiotic, but I don't know if it is what I should be getting them.