Respiratory Issues in Flock

[Eggcessive]

If you should ever put down or lose another chicken, it would be good to keep the body cold, and have your state vet do a necropsy. They look for MG and IB among other things. If chicks that were brought in came from a breeder, then there could have been a disease passed onto your flock. Hopefully, they will get over the illness and back to good health. You will find the 3 labs in Alabama here for necropsies in order to get more info:
https://www.metzerfarms.com/poultry...l4rPyP4Uc700UGDlSgRg8wzM0oJJdR-XLFn3O3TPZ2j8Z

 

[Mimi13]

If you should ever put down or lose another chicken, it would be good to keep the body cold, and have your state vet do a necropsy. They look for MG and IB among other things. If chicks that were brought in came from a breeder, then there could have been a disease passed onto your flock. Hopefully, they will get over the illness and back to good health. You will find the 3 labs in Alabama here for necropsies in order to get more info:
https://www.metzerfarms.com/poultry...l4rPyP4Uc700UGDlSgRg8wzM0oJJdR-XLFn3O3TPZ2j8Z

Now that I’ve had this issue with my birds and if I unfortunately lose any, I will definitely send one of them off to the state. I will look at this info you’ve sent so I’ll know exactly what to do when the time comes, versus waiting to look at it after it happens. I have been known to put some things off.
The birds I have purchased the last two years have been from TSC. I hope they would be clear of illness, but you never know.
Thank you.

 

[Eggcessive]

Well, most chicks from feed stores come from hatcheries, so it is less likely that they brought in an illness. They can sometimes get illnesses brought in by visiting birds who use the feeders or waterers. Hopefully, they will recover in a month or so. If some are not symptomatic now, they may eventually get it, or some may have milder symptoms.

 

[Abigrayl]

Hey everyone, this sounds similar to the issue I am having. I am in South Africa though. I noticed the rattles yesterday in about 7 chickens and now I would say at least 15 are being isolated. One died last night which worries me. Do I cull the sickest? Or leave them to recover? Can you eat them if they are sick? Last week I got expensive day olds I don’t want to lose.

 

[Mimi13]

Well, most chicks from feed stores come from hatcheries, so it is less likely that they brought in an illness. They can sometimes get illnesses brought in by visiting birds who use the feeders or waterers. Hopefully, they will recover in a month or so. If some are not symptomatic now, they may eventually get it, or some may have milder symptoms.

Sorry I didn’t reply sooner. There is no telling where this came from. We do have song birds galore all over our property.
I will have to say I can already tell a difference in the way my girls sound just using the Nutri-Drench. My Tylan 50 is supposed to arrive tomorrow. I was overly excited when I saw it would be here much earlier than I thought. I am guessing that I will need a 14 day withdrawal period on the eggs. Is that correct?
Also, this may be purely coincidental, but have you ever known for birds that are suffering from MG or IB to suddenly develop impacted crops? Impacted crops are not new to me, but it has been several years since I’ve dealt with one. I just finished the third day of tending to the worst one and will begin working with one more tomorrow. Strange thing, this is my second Speckled Sussex to have a sour/impacted crop. But I did wonder if there’s a correlation. Thank you again.

 

[Mimi13]

Hey everyone, this sounds similar to the issue I am having. I am in South Africa though. I noticed the rattles yesterday in about 7 chickens and now I would say at least 15 are being isolated. One died last night which worries me. Do I cull the sickest? Or leave them to recover? Can you eat them if they are sick? Last week I got expensive day olds I don’t want to lose.

I’m sorry you are having this problem with your babies. Definitely keep your new little ones away from the others. In my situation there was no need for me to separate any of mine since they all seemed to be sickly side, but mine were not to the point of culling. None of them seem that sick.
As far as eating a sick bird, I personally do not. I’m sure some do however. If I was starving I probably would. Same thing with eating some of my older girls…can’t do it. They were my friends for so long, but here again, if I were starving I’m sure I would.
Read through the treatments that have been suggested for me in this post. They all have been wonderful. So far all I have given the birds is Nutri-Drench in their water. The Tylan 50 is supposed to be here tomorrow, knock on wood.
I certainly hope your birds overcome this sickness. Having chickens has been one of the highlights in my life, but when one is sick it certainly is one of the lowest.