Sneezing, coughing silkie

[Maziemay]

I a new silkie, bantam owner.

My two 6 month old silkies, & one bantam Americana started to sneeze about 2 weeks ago. I was concerned, and the vet I use for my dogs and cats doesn’t treat chickens. I asked them where I could take my chickens for their sneezing, or if there is avian they would recommend. My vet, who I have been going to for over 30 years, told me she would treat them for me, but normally doesn’t. She gave me polyotic soluble powder to put in thier water. 1 teaspoon a gallon. It has been 2 weeks and they are still sneezing. I had the 3 quarantined in my home in a dog kennel. Looks like the rest of my flock is now sneezing? Is this normal? Here is video of the 3 bantams that started sneezing first. Shouldn’t the polyotic have helped by now? I know I shouldn’t give antibiotics for more than 14 days. I do have 500mg of aqua-mox. Should I give them that instead and how much per gallon? Other than the sneezing, coughing and a runny nose, they are eating and drinking and acting normal.

This is a video of the black silkie, she is the only one that sneezes with a runny nose. She does shake her head, but she ha s always shook her head ever since I have had her, so this could b normal. The others sneeze, but they don’t have a runny nose, or no signs or issues yet. Should I be worried or is this normal?

https://share.icloud.com/photos/041IrlRC2UBK0PfF_-5Xv95Lg

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Shouldn’t the polyotic have helped by now? I know I shouldn’t give antibiotics for more than 14 days. I do have 500mg of aqua-mox. Should I give them that instead and how much per gallon? Other than the sneezing, coughing and a runny nose, they are eating and drinking and acting normal.

Welcome To BYC

There are numerous respiratory illnesses. Since they are still symptomatic after giving a course of antibiotics, then you may be dealing with a virus like Infectious Bronchitis, but without testing, there's no way to really know. IB usually runs it's course over several weeks to a month, but birds remain carriers. Antibiotics can help with secondary infection.
Eating/drinking and acting normal is a good thing. Check to make sure that there's good ventilation in your coop. If symptoms worsen, then consider using another antibiotic like Tylosin/Tylan. Amoxicillin is not always the best choice for respiratory illness.

https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/ps044

 

[Maziemay]

Welcome To BYC

There are numerous respiratory illnesses. Since they are still symptomatic after giving a course of antibiotics, then you may be dealing with a virus like Infectious Bronchitis, but without testing, there's no way to really know. IB usually runs it's course over several weeks to a month, but birds remain carriers. Antibiotics can help with secondary infection.
Eating/drinking and acting normal is a good thing. Check to make sure that there's good ventilation in your coop. If symptoms worsen, then consider using another antibiotic like Tylosin/Tylan. Amoxicillin is not always the best choice for respiratory illness.

https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/ps044

Thank you for responding. I have been so worried about my little ladies.
I do have tylan 50. I was leary to use it because i have to inject it, & 2 of my adult barred rock hens won’t let you pick them up. So I thought the powder in their water would be best if it works. How much of it would I give them and do they have a powder form I can put in their water? I tried vetrx & nutridrench, and it didn’t help there were no changes. Also coop is clean, and I will check the ventilation. I have had to lock them up in the coop cause of weather.

Thank you for your help, and the link you provided is awesome thank you.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Thank you for responding. I have been so worried about my little ladies.
I do have tylan 50. I was leary to use it because i have to inject it, & 2 of my adult barred rock hens won’t let you pick them up. So I thought the powder in their water would be best if it works. How much of it would I give them and do they have a powder form I can put in their water? I tried vetrx & nutridrench, and it didn’t help there were no changes. Also coop is clean, and I will check the ventilation. I have had to lock them up in the coop cause of weather.

Thank you for your help, and the link you provided is awesome thank you.

Injectable Tylan50 can be given orally. It's known to cause injection site necrosis and it is administered 3 times a day, so that would be a LOT of needle sticks for a chicken.
Dosing for Injectable Tylan 50 is 0.25ml per pound of weight given orally 3 times a day for 5 days in a row.

This article may help you with giving oral medications https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...dications-to-all-poultry-and-waterfowl.73335/

There is a water soluble version of Tylan, you can purchase it online. It would be convenient, but if you have birds that don't drink very well, they may not get an adequate dose of the medication.
https://jedds.com/products/tylosin-powder?_pos=1&_sid=cbe97a9d2&_ss=r

Just to clarify on why Amoxicillin is not the best choice for respiratory illness. It's a very good antibiotic to have on hand, so do keep it, it can be used to treat other infection.
3 of the more common respiratory illnesses are IB (Infectious Bronchitis), MG (Mycoplasma) and IC (Infectious Coryza). IB is caused by a virus, MG is a bacteria-like disease and IC is bacterial.
Amoxicillin targets the cell wall, so since MG has no cell wall, it's not an effective treatment. IC responds better to Sulfa antibiotics and IC being a virus won't respond at all (except when secondary infection is present).
Hope that makes sense.

 

[Maziemay]

Injectable Tylan50 can be given orally. It's known to cause injection site necrosis and it is administered 3 times a day, so that would be a LOT of needle sticks for a chicken.
Dosing for Injectable Tylan 50 is 0.25ml per pound of weight given orally 3 times a day for 5 days in a row.

This article may help you with giving oral medications https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...dications-to-all-poultry-and-waterfowl.73335/

There is a water soluble version of Tylan, you can purchase it online. It would be convenient, but if you have birds that don't drink very well, they may not get an adequate dose of the medication.
https://jedds.com/products/tylosin-powder?_pos=1&_sid=cbe97a9d2&_ss=r

Just to clarify on why Amoxicillin is not the best choice for respiratory illness. It's a very good antibiotic to have on hand, so do keep it, it can be used to treat other infection.
3 of the more common respiratory illnesses are IB (Infectious Bronchitis), MG (Mycoplasma) and IC (Infectious Coryza). IB is caused by a virus, MG is a bacteria-like disease and IC is bacterial.
Amoxicillin targets the cell wall, so since MG has no cell wall, it's not an effective treatment. IC responds better to Sulfa antibiotics and IC being a virus won't respond at all (except when secondary infection is present).
Hope that makes sense.

Yes that makes perfect sense! Thank you so much. The links great as well. I will keep an eye on them, if they get worse I will use it orally. They are showing no symptoms just sneezing and the runny nose. I’m glad they are eating and drinking. I couldn’t do injecting unless I really had to. You are right that would be a lot of needle sticks, and I’m sure they wouldn’t like it. Thank you again.