Runny nose

[cheekychicka]

! Yuk! The new chickens are a bit smellier than my others but all discharge is colourless and clear.

 

[Eggcessive]

Feed stores usually sell electrolytes for animals. Baby electrolytes (such as Pedialyte) or rehydrating drinks such as Gatorade will work, but here is an easy recipe for homemade electrolytes (and a human BComplex vitamin tablet can always be added and dissolved):

HOMEMADE ELECTROLYTE SOLUTION
1/2 teaspoon salt substitute* which is potassium chloride
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon table salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1 gallon water

 

[casportpony]

If it was E.Coli or pseudomonas you could smell it more than likely, and the drainage wouldn't be clear.  It would be a purulent (stinky) yellow/green, or pus color.  I work in healthcare.. it's nasty stuff.  

Might be true with people, but not with poultry. Friend of mine just went thru this... infected birds had clear, odorless discharge. Cultures came back with pseudomonas. Same thing with someone else, though their culture came back with pseudomonas *and* E. coli. I'll find the culture/sensitivity reports so that people can see how how hard this stuff can be to treat.

-Kathy

 

[KF0002]

Might be true with people, but not with poultry. Friend of mine just went thru this... infected birds had clear, odorless discharge. Cultures came back with pseudomonas. Same thing with someone else, though their culture came back with pseudomonas *and* E. coli. I'll find the culture/sensitivity reports so that people can see how how hard this stuff can be to treat.

-Kathy

Glad your friend was able to determine and treat her chickens' source of infection. Psuedomonas is nasty stuff.. in the people Ive seen it in anyway. Ive never encountered it in poultry. Could be because we would go broke if we were to shell out vet bills for culture and sensitivity testing on our chickens everytime one fell ill. But to each their own. We treat the best we can and usually our chickens bounce back. Chickens are pretty resiliant.

 

[cheekychicka]

I'm glad you said that about them being resilient kfelton0002! Mine should be laying golden eggs for the amount of money I have spent on acquiring and housing them, not to mention the organic food and then med etc. I'd hate for something to then happen to them!

 

[KF0002]

I hope they start feeling better too. Your chickens have the human equivalent of cold symptoms. It isn't going to kill them as long as they are eating and drinking. As I said before, all chickens carry CRD (chronic respiratory disease) and are all susceptible. Some can live their whole lives without so much as a sniffle, while others have flare up after flare up even after treatment because they lack the genetic strength or proper immune response to stave of the infection. Some have symptoms and live the rest of their lives without another "outbreak". Every chicken keeper is going to see it at some point. Inbreeding, poor diet, intestinal parasites, stress from bullying, overcrowding, etc. can all bring out symptoms. I hope that isn't the case with your girls and they start to improve. Hopefully their immune systems start to kick in soon and you won't have anymore snotty chickens. Good luck!

 

[casportpony]

Pretty sure not all chickens carry CRD.

-Kathy

 

[KF0002]

Pretty sure not all chickens carry CRD.

-Kathy

From what I remember reading they do, I have several older books that talk about CRD. However, upon a little further research of less outdated info it has been determined that CRD is contagious and has a fairly lengthy incubation period (10-30 days), at which time a single bird can be infectious and spread the mycoplasma. It was thought that all chickens carry it because it can show up in a disease free flock without exposure from an infected bird. We can go 3 years without one incidence of CRD, and then have a chicken start showing symptoms. We treat with Tylan and the bird gets better, then we might go another year or two before another incidence. I am by no means a Veterinarian or an expert in avian or poultry illness and disease, and I do not claim to be. I have raised chickens for most of my life and we see CRD more commonly than any other illness in our chickens. For the most part we maintain a disease free flock. This is mainly because healthy chickens that are well cared for have less incidence of disease and illness than a poorly maintained flock. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. When new chickens are brought in, quarantining the fowl for a full 30-60 days is imperative to rule out disease before integrating new chickens into your flock.

 

[cheekychicka]

Update after a trip to the vets - carrying on with the doxycycline for a few more days and giving them pentavite vitamins to help boost them a bit. Shall see how that goes!

 

[casportpony]

Various culture/sensitivity reports for fowl with respiratory infections:

Number 1



Number 2



Number 3



-Kathy