Sneezing hens, bubbly eye on one of them---help please!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Miss Lydia]

Cornell just said to medicate and did tell you what to medicate for or what kind of meds to get? also look at the pic of shed intestinal lining and see if it matches what you saw.. http://www.chat.allotment.org.uk/index.php?topic=17568.0

 

[awesomefowl]

They just said to put triple-strength antibiotic in their water. (Duramycin)
I'd like to have them blood tested so I can make sure it isn't (or is) a contagious, serious disease. Where could I get that done in NY?
Miss Lydia, nope it wasn't shed intestinal lining. There was blood smeared on one of the hen's back feathers and drops on the ground near where they were hanging out, but only a few and it wasn't in or near poop. The blood was fresh and red, but none of them had a wound which makes me think (hope not) that they might have been coughing it?
I hate to flip out like this but it is worrying me! The are coughing quite frequently but all seem healthy otherwise, except for isolated Ophelia who seems under the weather and smells bad. She also keeping shaking her head wanting to rid herself of the mucous. Poor girl!

I looked up respiratory diseases in poultry but it seems like all the symptoms are similar. I wish I knew someone who had a clue about this! Who could tell me whether to cull or not. I hate the thought of culling my entire flock but if I HAVE to I would. (sniffle sniffle)

 

[Miss Lydia]

I am so sorry your having to deal with this, I wouldn't cull till you have at least tried the antibiotic, I read on here quite a bit about just closing your flock no birds in or out. That way you won't be spreading it if it is CRD... I would want to give them a chance.. And I would try to get a hold of Oxine too..If I didn't give you the link let me know and I will. Let me know how things are going.

 

[awesomefowl]

Ophelia is still gasping, a bit better however; the girls outside are okay. I don't think I will put Ophelia back in the main flock for a very long time if ever. I don't really want to close my flock as it is still growing and i was planning on getting enough pullets this year to be able to sell my eggs at the local health food store. But I won't put ANY new birds out there till they get rid of this!!!!

Just the very occasional cough. I put Oxine in their water; I only have a tiny bottle of it. Where can I get more Oxine? Starting tomorrow I'm going to put Duramycin in the outside girls (and boys!) water and won't eat their eggs for two weeks. So I don't waste the eggs I will boil and feed them back to the flock for extra protein! Is that okay?

 

[Miss Lydia]

The reason I asked about the Oxine is you can mix up 61/2 oz. of the oxine into 1gallon of warm water and spray her directly in the face with it.. up to 4 times a day for 10 days. I spray my chickens and ducks weekly with this solution and also spray out the coops and bedding with it. you don't want to buy the activator you don't need it when treating animals. I ordered mine from AtoZvet supply. If you go on line you might be able to find it at a better price than I got but I will never be without it again.. www.shagbarkbantams.com/oxine.htm
forgot to say I do add it to their water also. about egg withdrawl it's 21 days for the duramycin -10 so if you feed the eggs back to your chickens your going to extend the time you can eat the egg. It's your choice.

 

[awesomefowl]

I got out the 'Chicken Health Handbook' (by Gail Damerow) from the library, and have concluded that they do indeed have CRD. The symptoms match exactly!
I think I'm going to close up the flock, not bring any more birds or breed them. I don't want to butcher them all, and after they get off the medication we can still eat their eggs. I keep my Seramas separate so they can't catch it.
Thanks everyone for your help, esp. Miss Lydia and speckledhen!!!

 

[speckledhen]

You're welcome. You mentioned your Seramas being separate, however, since you will be going from one coop to the other, you'll have to be super careful not to cross contaminate when doing the chores. Best of luck to you and sorry you're having to deal with this.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I too am sorry this has happened to your flock, sounds like you have a good plan and I wish you all the best in your decision.

 

[Wayne&Kim1963]

I got some chickens at chicken auction one time. I like to never got rid of this. I put 3cc of tylan 200 in one gallon of water and got package of chicken vitamins and electrolytes from atwoods and added this to water also. I would give chicken in breast 1 cc of penicillin and 1/2 cc of tylan in mouth if they were too bad and would take bread with some milk on it for moisture if a hens crop was empty and feed them. I opened there mouth and put bread in their mouth to get them some nutrition. It seems to take their initiative to eat away. I lost very few and cured some. I ended up with one that i figured out was carrier and had to get rid of that hen but the carrier got a limp in her leg. I even gave them an amoxicillin pill that I had 250mg by mouth which seemed to help. Took quite a bit of time and work to get rid of it. After chickens were well I cleaned out chicken house well. I took spray bottle add few tablespoons of bleach and misted the roost and where they sat but made sure not to get it in feed and water to help disinfect. Anyways just thought I would tell you what I did in case it would help you. Good luck

 

[radiodog]

I'm sorry you are going through this... I had a bird that did not show signs but was a carrier. He gave it to a couple of new birds I had acquired and it did take time to to get the infected birds over the infection. I knew I could never bring another bird into the flock and had to be extremely careful when visiting friends with poultry. Unfortunately, all my birds were killed by a predator...so end of the disease.

I waited a while before getting new birds. All is good and so far no signs of illnesses...its been at least 6 mths; more like 8 mths. I picked up 3 birds (bantams..a roo & two hens) this past Sat. They are in the garage far away from my chickens. A couple of days ago I heard some raspy breathing and sneezing/coughing among these new birds. I added some vitamins & minerals to their water. In checking the roo today, his eye is running. I know what he has...been there, done that. The hens do not seem to be as infected as the roo. I'm not sure what I want to do....I can treat him and the hens. I can cull him & take my chances with the girls. I can cull them all. I haven't been in the area where they are (I can add food & water from outside the cage) and haven't touched them...hopefully I have not carried anything to my hens. This really annoys me...you cannot have birds and NOT know there is something wrong. This has had to be going on for a couple of weeks and the lady selling the birds knew it. I checked the birds over when I bought them and didn't see a thing but this stuff starts slowly before it kicks into high gear. So glad I put the birds into qt.

Tylan 50 does work. I dosed daily for two weeks; added rooster booster (I think that is the name) to the water. Antibiotic eye oinment can be applied to the eyes. You can flush the sinuses with sterile or distilled water...add a few drops of the Tylan to the water. After the Tylan treatment I purchased an avian water soluble antibiotic that I added to the water for 2 weeks. Its a lot of trouble. Good luck.