Sick chickens

[doolie42]

I have a flock of seven English Orpington. They range in age, but they were all bought from the same breeder and were brought up free ranging together as far as I can tell they are in perfect health. I’ve had them for nearly a year. I had two roosters, and five hens. once the rooster started mating about a month ago, I started having a problem. One of them is being pushed aside and hanging around by himself because the other rooster is dominant so I found what I thought was a very reputable breeder. She runs a closed flock, and is NPIP so I thought that her birds would not have anything wrong with them and made the rookie mistake of getting an eight month old and an 18 month old English Orpington to put in with my girls thinking that my other rooster might be able to hang out with them.
On day two one of them started making gurgling sounds when they breathe so I took them both out immediately and put them in a crate in my garage. By the next day they both were making that sound wheezing, coughing sneezing I took them to the vet they gave me Tylosin but they would not drink the water so we came up with a formula because there is not one anywhere online or in her manuals for just single birds. We started administering it with a little water and a syringe in their mouth daily. we are on day five and they still have a rattle when they breathe.
At this point, I’m thinking I need to cullthem even though I paid a lot of money for them. Amazingly my other birds have not gotten sick. From now on I will only buy chicks and raise them myself.
My question is what could they possibly have because they don’t have any of the horrible symptoms of some of the worst diseases like Merricks it just sounds like an upper respiratory infection but the Tylosin is not working so where do I go from here as far as making my run and coop ready for new chicks in the spring And figuring out what is wrong with these birds where is my coop and run fine since none of my other birds are ill a week later now?

 

[Eggcessive]

It could be that the stress of the move has brought about symptoms. Infectious bronchitis or MG might be the problem, but NPIP doesn’t necessarily mean that the breeder’s birds had not been exposed to a carrier, even wild birds. NPIP is testing for pullorum, not routine respiratory diseases unless the person has requested and paid for that.

It is hard to know what to do about this. Were the new birds ever together close by with your primary flock or or extra rooster? If they were, you may be best to treat the symptoms until they recover, and then go from there. Some birds may have an outbreak of something, and then never get sick again. It is hard to know. Infectious bronchitis virus is a milder disease, and it leaves chickens carriers for about 5 months. If you don’t add new birds it is self contained, and won’t pass on to new birds if you wait a year. That said, I can’t tell you what do. You can return the bird to the breeder to worry about. Or keep them separate. Your state vet is usually the best person to find out what disease may be present, with either testing or a necropsy. Labs,,such as Zoologix in California or RAL lab in TX will do testing on samples that you collect at home.

 

[doolie42]

It could be that the stress of the move has brought about symptoms. Infectious bronchitis or MG might be the problem, but NPIP doesn’t necessarily mean that the breeder’s birds had not been exposed to a carrier, even wild birds. NPIP is testing for pullorum, not routine respiratory diseases unless the person has requested and paid for that.

It is hard to know what to do about this. Were the new birds ever together close by with your primary flock or or extra rooster? If they were, you may be best to treat the symptoms until they recover, and then go from there. Some birds may have an outbreak of something, and then never get sick again. It is hard to know. Infectious bronchitis virus is a milder disease, and it leaves chickens carriers for about 5 months. If you don’t add new birds it is self contained, and won’t pass on to new birds if you wait a year. That said, I can’t tell you what do. You can return the bird to the breeder to worry about. Or keep them separate. Your state vet is usually the best person to find out what disease may be present, with either testing or a necropsy. Labs,,such as Zoologix in California or RAL lab in TX will do testing on samples that you collect at home.

Yes, I did put them with my flock but pulled them as soon as I heard them sneezing that was a week ago and so far so good. I contacted my vet today to get them tested and if she cannot do that, I will definitely look into those labs. I appreciate the info.
I thought I could just get rid of it as well and put them back in there but we’re going on day five with not much change. They do look better and act better, but I can still hear the breathing.