Roosters suffocating to death

Tahlia95

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This is an emergency. Have had a few sick hens. 2 die and one recover, and one sick rooster who died. They all showed signs of lethargy, clear excess saliva/mucous in mouth (none from nose) and runny white and green diarrhea. One hen was euthanised at the vet and sent for a necropsy, results are due back next week (they are super slow). The vet suspected infectious laryngotracheitis although I looked up symptoms and it says spluttering blood everywhere and there is no sign of blood anywhere at all on any chickens/feeders/waterers. However, our sick rooster died of suffocation I'm pretty sure from hard mucus plugs in the trachea. His comb slowly went dark purple (he is the only one who had this symptom) and had labored breathing until he just passed away in the night. This was 5 days ago. Yesterday I noticed my other rooster Diesel shaking his head repeatedly. He has been wormed and treated for lice/mites. He is isolated from the rest of the flock. Last night I had the horror of realising that his comb too is turning purple. He is still shaking his head but not as much. Today his comb is worse. I opened his beak and he has hard lumps of mucus down the back of his throat. Is there anything else this horrid thing could be apart from infectious laryngotracheitis? Again, no sign of blood anywhere/coughing/sneezing. Should I give him antibiotics just in case? Just praying it isn't that disease. I just couldn't cull my whole flock. I have heard story after story of people having to do this due to the presence of this horrible disease. Is there anything I can do to save Diesel's life? Seriously gutted. All help is greatly appreciated.
 
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Unfortunately, laryngotracheitis is caused by one of the Herpes viruses and there is no treatment. Antibiotics can treat secondary infections, but mortality is between 50-100%. Any survivors become carriers for the disease, where it can lie dormant until reactivated. You can immunize the rest of your flock and I suggest doing so ASAP. Keep all sick chickens away from the rest of the flock. Disinfect all of your feeders, waterers and coop. Good luck. Push fluids on your infected roo and keep him warm. Supportive care is all you can do for him.
 
Thankyou. Do you think I should give him antibiotics just in case there is a secondary infection? Is there anything else this could be that these symptoms match up with?
 
Wow it sounds like it could be a lot of things :/ Have you used the chicken symptom tool yet on the poultryDVM.com site? It might be a good idea...
 
Thankyou. Do you think I should give him antibiotics just in case there is a secondary infection? Is there anything else this could be that these symptoms match up with?

Quite frankly, I'd throw the whole kitchen sink at him - you have nothing to lose, IMO.

Here's a link that may help
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ps044
 
My Birds have Suspected ILT Virus also.....My Birds never sputtered Blood....I was told to Cull also....My Birds coughed/sneezed and had runny beaks.....This was a provincial vet that gave me the diagnoses....The Virus was running through my area....I manage my Birds...I used OXY-TETRA A antibiotics till the symptoms were gone....I could not see that Culling was an option....I spent over $300 on Chicks and was not about to Cull one of them...Zero symptoms have returned....This was Back in July....

Being your dead Bird is being tested...You will find out what really is going on with your Birds....I never lost one Bird....

Best of luck....
 
Thanks for everyone's help. The results came back and it's infectious bronchitis. We have decided to vaccinate to control the outbreak. Another hen is sick and also a 7 week old chick. With this disease since we are breeders should we seriously be looking at culling our whole flock or is it possible to vaccinate the remaining chickens and still be able to breed and sell future chicks? This sucks.
 
Made the hard and devastating decision to cull over 100 birds. Final results came back saying positive for infectious coryza as well. Keep your chickens safe everyone. Never want anyone else to have to go through this.
 

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