Respiratory Issues in Flock

[Mimi13]

I thought this day would never come, but unfortunately it has. What I thought was a minor “sneeze” with one bird seems to be a flock-wide problem. Other than a few deaths resulting from reproductive cancer and old age euthanasia, I have been very blessed with a healthy flock. But my luck has run out. This morning I was making arrangements to treat one bird to now needing to know how to take care of my entire flock. I have seen/heard around 10-12 girls sneezing and coughing, and several of them rattle with each breath. There are no runny nares, nothing coughed or sneezed up, no discharge from eyes or swollen faces/heads. I have noticed some diarrhea though. I have a flock of 39 girls. Fourteen are between 6 and 7.5 years old, twenty seven are between 18 months and 5 years old and three are four month old pullets.

Just this past week my egg production dropped drastically among the girls not molting which made me wonder if something might be wrong. We have just had our first cold snap so I chalked it up to that. But I guess it was the beginning of this problem. I have been reading all morning on several older posts about treating a couple of birds with respiratory problems to now needing to know how to treat the entire flock. Needless to say I am devastated. I could give two or three the individual attention of treating with Tylosin 50 and even called the vet to get some, but I don’t know that I could do that with the majority of the birds. I need advice and help. I have not been on BYC in several years, but when I was an active member I received more help on here than any one person deserves. I am open to all advice and as always appreciate everyone who takes the time to help. Thanks in advance to all.

 

[Debbie292d]

Wow, so sorry!

My first thought would be yours: get them all on an antibiotic.

I'd find one that can be mixed in their water, rather than to have to give 39 pills per day.

Here are some sites to get antibiotics online. The Tylosin at Jedds has it for water, has the dosage, and lists pet chickens. The others may too, I just checked that one.

Jedds https://jedds.com/collections/poultry
Twin City Poultry https://www.twincitypoultrysupplies.com/
https://thecanaryfinchstore.com
Fish Mox: https://hardypaw.com/products/fix-mox-amoxicillin-capsules-fish-antibiotics?variant=44787640008865

Be sure to follow up with a probiotic for a week or two after treatment is done. I sure hope they get over this quickly!

 

[Mimi13]

Wow, so sorry!

My first thought would be yours: get them all on an antibiotic.

I'd find one that can be mixed in their water, rather than to have to give 39 pills per day.

Here are some sites to get antibiotics online. The Tylosin at Jedds has it for water, has the dosage, and lists pet chickens. The others may too, I just checked that one.

Jedds https://jedds.com/collections/poultry
Twin City Poultry https://www.twincitypoultrysupplies.com/
https://thecanaryfinchstore.com
Fish Mox: https://hardypaw.com/products/fix-mox-amoxicillin-capsules-fish-antibiotics?variant=44787640008865

Be sure to follow up with a probiotic for a week or two after treatment is done. I sure hope they get over this quickly!

@Debbie292d, thank you so very much. My birds will hate me for keeping them in their run all this time, but it’s better than dying. What I had ordered from the vet was injectable, but I’ll see if I can get some to mix in water as well. Thank you again.

 

[Mimi13]

Wow, so sorry!

My first thought would be yours: get them all on an antibiotic.

I'd find one that can be mixed in their water, rather than to have to give 39 pills per day.

Here are some sites to get antibiotics online. The Tylosin at Jedds has it for water, has the dosage, and lists pet chickens. The others may too, I just checked that one.

Jedds https://jedds.com/collections/poultry
Twin City Poultry https://www.twincitypoultrysupplies.com/
https://thecanaryfinchstore.com
Fish Mox: https://hardypaw.com/products/fix-mox-amoxicillin-capsules-fish-antibiotics?variant=44787640008865

Be sure to follow up with a probiotic for a week or two after treatment is done. I sure hope they get over this quickly!

I have ordered the Tylosin powder. My fingers are crossed that it gets here in before my girls get too bad. Estimated date of arrival is 11/12. I do appreciate your help.

 

[Debbie292d]

I have ordered the Tylosin powder. My fingers are crossed that it gets here in before my girls get too bad. Estimated date of arrival is 11/12. I do appreciate your help.

You are so welcome! I sure hope this works!

In the meantime, do you have some poultry vitamins for their water? If not, Poultry Cell and Nutri-Drench are both the ones most of us use, but any brand of poultry vitamin would work. This will help them as they fight whatever it is they have.

 

[Mimi13]

You are so welcome! I sure hope this works!

In the meantime, do you have some poultry vitamins for their water? If not, Poultry Cell and Nutri-Drench are both the ones most of us use, but any brand of poultry vitamin would work. This will help them as they fight whatever it is they have.

Yes, I have Nutri-Drench. I will start that in the morning. Thanks again.

 

[Debbie292d]

Yes, I have Nutri-Drench. I will start that in the morning. Thanks again.

To get them to eat better, have you tried mash? That's just soaking their feed with water in a dish. Ours go nuts over it.

 

[Mimi13]

To get them to eat better, have you tried mash? That's just soaking their feed with water in a dish. Ours go nuts over it.

Yes, I actually do that quite often and had started feeding them some mash yesterday. Thanks for that reminder though.
I have made it a habit of giving them mash during the times of weather extreme using either ice cold water or hot water when mixing. I will definitely continue that through this sickness.

 

[Eggcessive]

Have you added any new birds in the recent weeks or months? If they have a virus such as infectious bronchitis, it may take several weeks for the chickens to recover. Tylosin treats MG, but viruses will have to run their course over 3 weeks or so. Have you seen any abnormal eggs or wrinkled egg shells? Keep them warm enough, but maintain good ventilation in your coop and run. My flock once had IB virus, and it eventually effects all of the flock. Wrinkled egg shells and a temporary decrease in laying was normal. Once they recover, they don’t get it again, but may remain carriers for 5 months to a year. So don’t add new birds or hatch any until a year or more from recovery of the last bird.

 

[Mimi13]

Have you added any new birds in the recent weeks or months? If they have a virus such as infectious bronchitis, it may take several weeks for the chickens to recover. Tylosin treats MG, but viruses will have to run their course over 3 weeks or so. Have you seen any abnormal eggs or wrinkled egg shells? Keep them warm enough, but maintain good ventilation in your coop and run. My flock once had IB virus, and it eventually effects all of the flock. Wrinkled egg shells and a temporary decrease in laying was normal. Once they recover, they don’t get it again, but may remain carriers for 5 months to a year. So don’t add new birds or hatch any until a year or more from recovery of the last bird.

Thank you, @Eggcessive, this is precisely what I’ve wanted to know. The only new birds I’ve added were a few new chicks this past summer. Looking back, I have questioned myself probably since March/April of this year wondering if I had some type of respiratory problem in my flock, but I never saw anything one way or the other to make me believe one actually existed. I had four of my oldest girls (7+) begin shaking their heads more than I had ever noticed. Even though nothing was going on with the overwhelming majority of my birds (until this week), I went ahead and euthanized those four.
I don’t know which I’d rather them have, MG or IB. My biggest concern will be the lack of eggs. Over the past 4 years I’ve built up a decent little egg business. Hopefully my customers will understand though, but I don’t know if I’ll be able to stomach eating store-bought eggs.
Over my 9 years of having chickens I probably have had no more than 20 eggs with wrinkled shells and, really, that’s a high number. I have dealt more with soft shells coming from some of my sex-links as they neared the end of their good production months.
As a notorious worrier, I have been concerned that I possibly was looking at a terrible disease and agonized over the thought of having to put my flock down. My chickens have been my entire life since my first little ones came home with me in March of 2016. Nary a night has passed that I have not accounted for every one on the roost. They have been my everything since I retired. I will not know how to act without my birds. Thank you for your thoughts. Over these past three years that I haven’t been a part of the BYC community, I have wanted to talk to some of y’all at times about different things. I have missed it. Maybe all this has brought me back to BYC.