Respiratory Infection

[kaylad1993]

Hello, I have recently gotten a 16 week old Americana chicken from a breeder and the second day I noticed she sounded congested. Other then that she’s, eating, drinking and poop looks normal. I have contacted the Breeder and she’s willing to exchange but I want to try to treat her. She’s an absolute stunning bird. My question is what should I treat her with? She doesn’t show signs of of severe illness. Just the congested breathing and occasional sneezing.

 

[DobieLover]

Hello, I have recently gotten a 16 week old Americana chicken from a breeder and the second day I noticed she sounded congested. Other then that she’s, eating, drinking and poop looks normal. I have contacted the Breeder and she’s willing to exchange but I want to try to treat her. She’s an absolute stunning bird. My question is what should I treat her with? She doesn’t show signs of of severe illness. Just the congested breathing and occasional sneezing.

I would try Tylan50.
The dose is 0.2 ml/pound of body weight given orally every 6 to 8 hours for 5 to 7 days.
The easiest way to treat her would be to crate her and put the dose in bread and feed that to her.
Is she still in quarantine? Many respiratory infections leave birds carriers for life.

 

[kaylad1993]

I would try Tylan50.
The dose is 0.2 ml/pound of body weight given orally every 6 to 8 hours for 5 to 7 days.
The easiest way to treat her would be to crate her and put the dose in bread and feed that to her.
Is she still in quarantine? Many respiratory infections leave birds carriers for life.

Yes she’s in quarantine. Where can I get tylan? I can’t find it in any feed store where I’m from and when I go online it requires a prescription from a vet.

 

[DobieLover]

Yes she’s in quarantine. Where can I get tylan? I can’t find it in any feed store where I’m from and when I go online it requires a prescription from a vet.

Click on the link I provided.

 

[Eggcessive]

You may want to think about adding this bird to your flock, even if the symptoms go away. She could infect your healthy birds, since most respiratory diseases are spread by carriers. I would treat her with Tylan if she were already in my flock, but I would not add her or any other bird from the seller’s flock.

Congestion could be a respiratory disease. But sometimes congestion can be in the throat from crop contents coming back up into the throat. Does she ever have any foam or bubbles in an eye, gasping with an open beak, or sneezing?

 

[kaylad1993]

You may want to think about adding this bird to your flock, even if the symptoms go away. She could infect your healthy birds, since most respiratory diseases are spread by carriers. I would treat her with Tylan if she were already in my flock, but I would not add her or any other bird from the seller’s flock.

Congestion could be a respiratory disease. But sometimes congestion can be in the throat from crop contents coming back up into the throat. Does she ever have any foam or bubbles in an eye, gasping with an open beak, or sneezing?

She sneezes and noticed a small amount of discharge. No no gasping and no foam anywhere.

 

[Myrshine]

This very well could most likely be Mycoplasma Gallisepticum (MG), a respiratory disease of poultry (also known as Chronic Respiratory Disease (CRD)), MG is one of the most common cause of respiratory diseases of poultry worldwide, with almost a 60% of backyard flocks carrying it or have been exposed to it sometime in their lives. MG is caused by a bacteria (Mycoplasmosis/Mycobacterium) and is easily treatable with antibiotics, however, it can not be cured, making birds carriers of this bacteria. Most birds affected, may or may not ever show symptoms of the disease until they are stressed, making them asymptomatic carriers. Unfortunately, all infected birds will carry the disease regardless if they show active symptoms or not, making this disease hard to control or avoid. Birds infected with MG can spread/shed the bacteria through feces, feathers, dander, respiratory secretions and other bodily fluids (blood, saliva, etc). MG can be easily passed from bird to bird and can be passed through eggs from the infected parents, making any chicks that hatch, already infected with the bacteria and carriers of it. Fortunately, there are many antibiotics that can be used for treating the symptoms of MG, however, some may not be available without a veterinarian's approval. It is recommended to keep a closed flock and do not breed to sell hatching eggs or chicks or even older birds from your flock— meaning no birds in or out from your flock as they can carry and spread the disease.

In the end, I will always suggest getting testing done to confirm if this is or not MG as there are many other respiratory diseases that mimic MG and can to fatal with no treatments or cures available. If you're in the US, I recommend contacting your State of Agriculture veterinarian or University to get testing done. There are also online laboratories available that you can send in PCR or blood samples for, I'll list them below for you. If you choose to do testing, I suggest getting your birds tested for these respiratory diseases below:

• Mycoplasma Gallisepticum (MG) / Chronic Respiratory Disease (CRD)
• Infectious Coryza
• Infectious Laryngotracheitis Virus (ILT)
• Infectious Bronchitis Virus (IBV)

Here are the online laboratories that I mentioned above— in order to get testing done, you'll need to fill out one of their forms:

• Research Associates Laboratory (RAL) / Vet DNA - https://www.vetdna.com/test-type/avian-bird
• Zoologix - https://www.zoologix.com/avian/index.htm

I hope this helps you out!