Sick baby chicks

[Wyorp Rock]

We are in MA. I know the weather hasn't been too warm. But we had put our big hens out at 6 weeks years ago. We have the entire coop for the babies secluded and air flow but blocked from all wind and in the sun.

The poop has been normal poop until recently its now runny and smells soo bad. Like the runs. My friend is a bird vet and she said it looked like conjuctiva but told me just do probiotics. They are very energetic, eating and drinking non stop. We do have tylan I had bought that as precaution but never used it. I keep hearing about VetRX..can they have that? Ill have to order the other stuff. All the saline drops I find are medicated.

You can make your own sterile saline by boiling water with salt, just google for some recipes.

Photos would be good.

It's great that you have a friend that's a bird vet - can she test some swabs for you to find out what you are dealing with?

VetRx is a herbal/oil remedy, I have not used it except for oiling legs on birds, so can't say whether it's effective with respiratory symptoms. It's sort of smell like Vapor Rub.

If they are all energetic, then it make be something like Infectious Bronchitis - but again, testing is the only way to know.

 

[agemme12]

My friend whose the vet said it would cost hundreds of dollars to almost 1k for the tests to be done. She told me to do the saline to flush out the eyes, and keep giving probiotics until symptoms stop. I don't think she wants to test them right now because she said shed have to charge full price. She said by looking at their eyes and their symptoms its conjuctiva. All i want to know is now if i give antibiotics, should i be treating the rest of the baby chicks?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

My friend whose the vet said it would cost hundreds of dollars to almost 1k for the tests to be done. She told me to do the saline to flush out the eyes, and keep giving probiotics until symptoms stop. I don't think she wants to test them right now because she said shed have to charge full price. She said by looking at their eyes and their symptoms its conjuctiva. All i want to know is now if i give antibiotics, should i be treating the rest of the baby chicks?

Oh, yes sometimes testing through a vet is very expensive.

State labs or independent testing is sometimes much more reasonable - you may want to check out the links below.

Conjunctivitis is often a symptom of respiratory disease. You want to know whether to treat all of the bird? Personally, I would only treat those that exhibit symptoms of respiratory disease.

http://www.metzerfarms.com/PoultryLabs.cfm
http://www.zoologix.com/
http://www.vetdna.com/test-type/avian-bird

 

[agemme12]

I finally took a picture of the poop. One of the chicks who isnt sneezing or coughing anymore has normal poop but swollen eyes. The other with swollem eyes who is stills neezing and coughgin has poop like this everywhere

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Are all the poops like that?
If they are and it were mine, I would treat for Coccidiosis. Do you have any Corid?

 

[agemme12]

The first chick I separated in my bathroom never had poop like that. always been normal but has the swollen eyes. The one i brought in from the baby flock has had normal poop up until a few days ago. still eating, active, jumping around but thats what all her poop tends to look like. We just had corrid delivered. Anyway so now i feel like i need to treat all of them. Its just weird none of them are acting lethargic.

 

[hayley3]

Its just weird none of them are acting lethargic.

Sometimes you won't know anything is wrong until you find them dead. With Coccidosis, once you see blood in their stool, you don't have much time to treat..so I've read.

 

[agemme12]

So I wanted to post an update. Ive been treating the two in my house since monday with corid. They are still super active, still eating and drinking and just as lovable. The eyes don't seem to be changing or getting any better. They look the same as two weeks ago. However when i went down to let them out this morning this poop was in there. Now I have to say it is not all like this. Most of the poop is normal looking but im concerned about this one. I sent the picture to my friend whose a vet but honestly concerned about this one. Any ideas..?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

So I wanted to post an update. Ive been treating the two in my house since monday with corid. They are still super active, still eating and drinking and just as lovable. The eyes don't seem to be changing or getting any better. They look the same as two weeks ago. However when i went down to let them out this morning this poop was in there. Now I have to say it is not all like this. Most of the poop is normal looking but im concerned about this one. I sent the picture to my friend whose a vet but honestly concerned about this one. Any ideas..?

Hopefully your avian vet friend can give her input.

What dose of Corid are you giving? Are they drinking well?
What are you feeding including treats?

You mentioned you had Tylan - have you treated the sick birds? What dosage?

Where are you located in the world?
Can you post some photos of the poop too?

The sunken eyes could be an indication of Mycoplasma, but without testing it's hard to know.
An antibiotic like Tylosin (Tylan) can help treat symptoms of Mycoplasma. You will need to order it online.
Since the birds are young and have just now been going out within the last few weeks, it may be a good idea to treat them for Coccidiosis as well - hard to know for sure. A lot depends on behavior and poop. A fecal float can help with that, otherwise treating them might not be a bad idea.

For the eyes, general care is to flush with saline and apply an eye ointment or plain neosporin.

Do keep in mind there are other respiratory diseases that chickens can have besides Mycoplasma. Infectious Bronchitis and ILT (viruses) and Infectious Coryza are a few others.
Viral diseases usually have to run their course, but antibiotics can treat secondary infections.
Infectious Coryza which causes severe facial swelling and is accompanied by a foul odor can be treated with Sulfa drugs.
Also know that respiratory diseases are contagious and make birds (those that have been sick/recovered and those exposed) carriers of the disease, most for life with the exception of IB which is around a year.

Do what you can to keep her drinking and eating, keep the eye flushed out several times a day and mucous cleared up too.
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ps044

https://www.jedds.com/shop/tylan-soluble-100-g/
https://www.jedds.com/shop/corid/

 

[BFen]

What about oregano oil? I heard its a natural antibiotic. I'm not sure the dosage, and have never used it on my chickens, but it might be worth looking into. You can also find it locally or online.