sick chickens, do I put the flock down?

[jerseygirl1]

I would contact your local 4- or your state or county agriculture department and ask them for the state vet's phone number, then call and ask how to get a nexorpsy done and how much it cots. Definitely need ot find out what happned

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Worms can cause respiratory symptoms as well as diarrhea and sudden death. Some vets will do a fecal test for worms for a small fee. I agree with the other posters in their thoughts as well. It is difficult to say what is the problem.

The bad smell wouldn't match a worms diagnosis, however, unless they have some sour crop along with it????? (I have no experience with sour crop).

Coryza is the classic bad smell respiratory ailment.

Frankly, a necropsy is really the way to go here.

 

[rbaker0345]

I would have to guess coryza due to smell, but there is usually a discharge. I would treat with sul-met or tylan. You might have to get the tylan from a vet, not sure.

 

[Beekissed]

When and if you resume caring for a new flock or the remnants of your existing, you might consider obtaining breeds that are cold hardy(the RIRs are), NOT heating your coop~it merely sets your flock up to extreme temp fluctuations and creates humidity in your coop while undermining your flock's immune systems, and using a bedding not known for trapping, instead of wicking up, moisture~namely, straw.

I would make adjustments now to decrease~gradually~ the warm temps you have created in your exisiting coop until you have removed it altogether, replace your straw bedding with some deep pine bedding and I'd cull all sick birds immediately. Adding ACV to the water is a good move as well. Watch your flock closely and isolate any further symptoms, cull if they do not clear up within 3 days.

 

[mycitychickens]

Quote:
I agree, you can get sulmet and tylan at your local feed store.

 

[scruga]

If I medicate the existing flock, then I need to destroy the eggs as well correct? Sulfa drugs are not approved for laying hens or meat producing chickens due to the fact that the drugs are passed through to the meat and eggs. How long do the eggs have to be held after the antibiotics run their course? I have been doing a lot of researching on the subject for the past few days. Maybe it would be best to just put the flock down and burn out out the pen, but what about the house itself? Burn that to or spray with something? I agree that a necropsy needs to be done however I'm still trying to find more info on that. So far I have spent all day just looking stuff up on the internet. Can I worm the flock and treat with antibiotis at the same time? I don't want carriers in my flock so I need to figure out what this is. The reason I believe it could be cholera is because we have a large amount of wild birds here. Any ideas on how to get rid of those?

 

[jerseygirl1]

Honestly, treating for something that they may or may not have caused this could get expensive and frustrating. One thing, straw as bedding tends to cause impacted crops - it has for me. I use wood shavings. I also would not medicate and worm at the same time - too exhausting on little bodies. I think that finding out what you are dealing with is most important, having a necropsy would tell you so that you would not have to go thru with this again. Also, mold could be an issue with wet bedding, straw is known for being wet and moldy underneath all that dry stuff on top.
I spent more time surfing the net and getting so many mixed views on what and how, that it ended up being so simple that a local poultry person told me what it was.

 

[Ole rooster]

What would be the closest vet school to you? I would bypass the vets and go to the instructors. For me I will call the UGA vet school or Auburn University.

 

[scruga]

closest vet school is 2 1/2 hours away in bozeman. I did think of that. Went to TSC this morning to get suplies and got a ph# for a mobile vet in a town about 30 minutes away from here. I looked at tylan and sulmet both but the instructions indicate that they are for cows and swine only. So if I do use one of them I need proper dosage and administering details. I am aware they are injectable so what size/type of syringe and where at on the body? the good news is this: this morning all of my 12 hens and my 1 remaining rooster all looked happy and healthy. I do have elctrolytes in their water and gave them some cracked corn this morning along with their regular feed. However I did notice notice a small reduction in eggs. I usually get anywhere between 5-7 eggs and today only 4. Although I have lost 2 hens so I shouldn't be surprised about that. Wormers are also not approved for laying hens. I don't see any actual worms in the poop, and I look around the pen and coop every morning. Are some worms not visible to the naked eye? Also, poop looks normal now. I only had one hen my RIR that had dark green diarrhea but it cleared up and then she died a few days later. My husband was under the suspicion that she did indeed have a sour crop but that wouldn't explain the rest of her symptoms. I have noticed dry pox on my black cochin rooster (black scabs on his comb) but from everything I have read pox is not fatal and chickens survive and build up an immunity against it. Could it be pox that is killing them? I know that there is a wet strain that affects the respiratory system and chickens can get both at the same time. Talk about fustrating! I'll call this vet and see what she can tell me. Thanks everybody for your help. As far as the bedding goes, the straw I took out of the coop yesterday was dry. I did look it over really good for moisture content. Today the temps are above freezing so I have the door to the coop wide open and ventilating it out also turned off the heat lamp. I replaced the bedding in the boxes with pine shavings and just put down a thin layer of straw on the ground, our coop does not have a wooden floor. We hope to build a better coop this spring.

 

[kari_dawn]

I would not really put too much weight in green runny poo. Green usually means they aren't eating enough (as does runny poo), so that in it's self may not be a symptom perse...