Respiratory infection??

[Ataylor8284]

Last Saturday we brought home some new chickens from an auction. There were a few poorly looking ones, just thin, but most looked healthy. None of them sounded sick but in the last few days we've noticed a few of the new ones kind of gasping for air, with open beaks. No discharge, healthy appetite. One of our original chickens, a light brahma, has a small scrape under her eye and feels thin. She's not as active as usual. Another light brahma almost acts like she's choking or something is blocking her airway. She is doing open-beak gasping.
I put Vetrx in the water to treat the whole flock and the raspy/open beak breathers got vetrx on their nostrils.
I also think or suspect the feed may not be the best. It's awful powdery. I want to switch to pellets or the scratch grains.
What else can I do?

 

[Eggcessive]

Auctions and swap meets are risky since a healthy bird can get exposed to sick birds there, and within days, start showing symptoms of a contagious respiratory disease. Infectious bronchitis, mycoplasma gallisepticum (MG,) coryza, ILT and others are common. New birds should always be quarantined from an existing flock for about 30 to watch for symptoms and make sure they are healthy.

Do you see any nasal drainage, watery or foamy eye, swelling around an eyelid, or hear noisy breathing. Head shaking and gaping can be common as well. Mucus can get into the throat. Some diseases are viruses, while mycoplasma and bacterial diseases make respond to antibiotics, such as Tylosin in the water. Tylan 50 injectable may be found occasionally at a few feed stores, but the Tylosin powder for the water is online here:
https://www.jedds.com/shop/tylan-soluble-100-g/

If you should lose any birds, you can get a diagnosis if you save the body, keep it cold, not frozen, and take it to your state vet for a necropsy. Contact yours here:
https://www.metzerfarms.com/bumblefoot.html

 

[Ataylor8284]

This morning a buff Brahma has swelling under her eyes and bubbles in her eyes. The sick ones are still sick, slightly worse. I'm still rubbing vetrx on their nostrils and putting it in the water. One sick chicken has nasal discharge, like snot. They are still eating and drinking, but not as active.

 

[Mamatomany123]

This morning a buff Brahma has swelling under her eyes and bubbles in her eyes. The sick ones are still sick, slightly worse. I'm still rubbing vetrx on their nostrils and putting it in the water. One sick chicken has nasal discharge, like snot. They are still eating and drinking, but not as active.

I would bet it's either coryza or MG, both of which are very contagious and make the birds carriers for life. You can treat with tylan but it wil only treat the symptoms, not get rid of the disease. Only way to get this disease out of your flock is by calling or waiting for them to die then starting fresh after a while.

 

[Ataylor8284]

If I had the extra money right now I'd take one to the vet but right now we just don't have it. 2 of the sicker ones from this morning are a lot better. One of the poorly auction birds died. Some are eating then gasping for air.

 

[Mamatomany123]

If I had the extra money right now I'd take one to the vet but right now we just don't have it. 2 of the sicker ones from this morning are a lot better. One of the poorly auction birds died. Some are eating then gasping for air.

You can get tylan from the feed store. Our local tractor supply carries tylan200. Depending which one you get will depend on the dosage amount. When my girls were sick I had to pick one up by her legs and shake her because the mucous was stuck. I just happened to be out there when she started choking. Thankfully I was there because if not she would have died.

 

[Myrshine]

I highly recommend that you don’t ever add these birds to your flock as your flock will get it too. It sounds like Mycoplasma Gallisepticum (MG). With most respiratory diseases if poultry, birds will remain as lifetime long carriers of the disease and spread it to any non-infected birds.