sneezing, I got meds???

[eggsited chickens]

I probably wouldn't use corid, that is usually used for coccidia. Mine are sneezing and sound gurgly. I have upped their protein by giving them yogurt and sunflower seeds. I also purchased Tylan soluble and added that to the water. I'm hoping these do the job for it. ACV might help too. Hope things go better.

 

[WiscoChiko]

Oh great,, finally some one chimes in and tells me not to do what the only other person that has tried to help told me to do!!! I'm about ready to just be done with the flock and start over! I have this wormer and have read but still not 100% sure its right or how/how much to use.. today is their last day on the dura... I'm so frustrated!! W.C.

 

[eggsited chickens]

I'm sorry to have done that to you. Have you checked what corrid is for? is it for the symptoms your chickens have???

 

[dsqard]

WiscoChiko if you are dealing with a respirtory problem you might want to try aureomycin. When I bought some new chickens almost two weeks ago, I had one that had a little runny nose and was a little stuffy sounding when she breathed on occasion. The lady I bought them from told me to put them on the medicine for 10 days. I have not had a problem since. This does not sound like cocci so Corid would not be the right medicine. I don't know enough about the other medicines to answer those questions. I would PM SonoranSilkies. I have read a lot of helpful emergency posts from her and she sounds really knowledgable about treating sick chickens. I hope you get some help!

Please don't let this discourage you from keeping chickens. You will learn from this and know what to do better if something similar happens in the future. Good luck and I have

for you and your chickens!
ETA - If you have a mite/lice problem worming them Wazine might not work. I could be wrong about that (I only started with chickens this spring) but I have heard that dusting with Sevin dust will kill the mites/lice. You can find it in the garden pest section of places like Home Depot. Just don't get it in their eyes or in their noses. Make sure you clean out the coop really good and dust/debug in there too before putting new bedding in. Re-dust after 14 days to kill any bug eggs that are hatching after the first dusting.

 

[WiscoChiko]

eggsited chickens,, No I'm sorry It's just getting to me. Thanks for the help and no it doesnt sound like coccidia to me and I don't know what else it clears up, I got a P.m. from a member that said to use corrid and stop the dura?? I'm more afraid it could be coryza or whatever I think thats it anyway.. I just dont know it wasnt long ago when I wasnt even sure about holding a chicken no I am trying to diagnose one lol. I've already dusted them. Just running out of ideas...I will start electrolites tomorrow but I'm not even sure what I bought is what I was supposed to...

dsqard Thanks for the insight! Aureomycin is that much Diff. from duramycin? Which is what I have had them on for the last 5 days.
Sonoransilkies's P.M. box was full so could'nt get a message. I wish one of the real knowledgable members would read back and learn my story and give me some advice(which I will use). I know everyone is busy and we all have problems though, and we all get through them the best we can...I don't think this will keep me from doing the chicken thing although If I have one more die I will strongly think about culling the flock cleaning and starting over..

I bought the wazine and ivermectin but if my flock stabilises I want to add 4 more before having my closed flock, so think I will wait and see what happens over the coming week then either I'll be starting over or adding 4 more and worming then as I dont think its worms right now just figured it was a great idea to do. Thanks again

W.C.

 

[WiscoChiko]

Y am I being over looked? I'm not having a pitty party but I see some peoples threads that get many people helping and then theres some, like mine that seem to be over-looked... Thanks, W.C.

 

[eggsited chickens]

WC~ I always feel the same way that everyone overlooks my posts...you are not alone. My chickens are all sick too, I have gotten mine on Tylan currently and they are doing much better, although my little ones are still having a hard tme breathing. Anyway hope you get things figured out soon. I do hear a lot of people that Tylan is the best stuff ever... I basically wrote this to bump it up for you

 

[Jenski]

Sorry to hear about your birds, OP. It sounds like you have stumbled into a "worse case scenario" in starting out with chickens. Don't get discouraged, just take things one at a time. Many very experienced folks will tell you two things:

1. ALWAYS quarantine new birds apart from your flock for 30 days. No exceptions.
2. Always clarify exactly what condition you are trying to treat before beginning any medication.

And I would add 3. Never stop examining your husbandry practice and looking for ways to improve how you keep your flock.


Everyone here does things a little differently, and there is usually a lot of tolerance for different ways of approaching chicken keeping. Some folks have beloved pets, and some have livestock.

That said, here's my own way of looking at your situation.

- FOOD/WATER. I would examine your food and water supply. Are they fresh and clean? Are you feeding an age-appropriate diet? Watch your birds. Do they all have equal access to food and water, and are they eating well? Is there a possibility that anyone could get ahold of bad food, moldy yuck, compost, mud puddles, etc?
- HOUSING. Are the birds dry at night? Is your coop overly dusty, moldy, or overcrowded? Is there adequate VENTILATION? This is a very important aspect of the coop.

Once you are sure your food/housing are not contributing to any problems, just take your issues one by one. You should always consider that birds arriving on your property could be carrying any sort of illness.

- RESPIRATORY issues. Are your birds' faces swollen? Are they pale? Is there runny discharge from nose, eyes, mouth? If so, what color is it? Does it have a foul odor? If YES, you may have coryza. Treatment or culling is another long post entirely. My own preference for respiratory problems is Tylan 50 (Tylosin), a powerful antibiotic that has an injectible and an oral form. This is serious stuff, though, so if you decide to do this as a new owner please PM me and I can help you with the process. Treating this incorrectly, or purchasing the wrong strength of Tylan, can kill your birds. If they were my birds, I would wait a day or two and see if whatever they had has not already run its course through the flock.
- MITES OR LICE. Sounds like you might have some poultry LICE, by your description. This is a pain, but not un-solveable. My preference is to dust my birds with ProZap Poultry Dust (permethrin) or a mixture of Sevin (carbaryl) and diatomaceous earth. I would first try the ProZap; you may find this at your local Tractor Supply, co-op, or other farm supply store. If you do not have one in the area, I can send you some links to online stores like Fleming. To dust, simply take the birds from their coop at bed time, and (using rubber gloves), gently rub a partial handful of the powder deep into the feathers on their bottoms, and then a pinch underneath each wing. Re-dust in 5-7 days to kill newly hatching buggies. This will keep your LICE problem down.

Now drugs like Corid/Amprol are for coccidiosis, which it does not sound like your flock has. I would hang on to this drug and wait until you need it.

Hope that helps. If you can post close-up pictures of your remaining birds, it might help us determine their general health. Please feel free to send me a msg if you need further assistance.

And as always, if anyone on the forum has additions/corrections to my info, please chime in.

Good luck, and keep us posted -

 

[dsqard]

WiscoChiko just looked up Duramycin and it looks like a broad spectrum antibiotic. The vet page that I read the information on states that if symptoms are not clearing up after 3 days you need to rethink diagnosis. It also states that the solution (I am assuming that you are adding it to the drinking water) is only stable for 24 hours so you have to make a fresh batch every day. For chickens it is used for Control of chronic respiratory disease (CRD air sac disease) caused by Mycoplasma gallisepticum and Escherichia coli, infectious synovitis caused by Mycoplasma synoviae susceptible to tetracycline hydrochloride (copied directly off the page so I am not sure what all of that means, like I said I am new to this too). Aureomycin is another antibiotic and treats the following in chickens: Control of infectious synovitis caused by Mycoplasma synoviae susceptible to chlortetracycline, Control of Chronic Respiratory Disease (CRD) and air-sac infections caused by Mycoplasma gallisepticum and Escherichia coli susceptible to chlortetracycline and Control of mortality due to fowl cholera caused by Pasteurella multocida susceptible to chlortetracycline. Again, this is copied directly from the web page so I am not sure what all of that means. The page does state if you are not seeing an improvement in 24 to 48 hours you need to question diagnosis or change the dosage. You also have to mix this fresh every 12 hours if using galvinized metal waterers or every 24 hours if using plastic or another type metal waterer. Hope some of this information helps and I see that someone else has posted about coryza which I was going to ask if you had other symptoms. Good luck!

 

[chickenpiedpiper]

Quote:
I don't think you are being overlooked, but it is hard to diagnose a chicken over any distance. Also, I think every member here who is honest has been faced with a gurgling chicken and tried everything, and had no success. The problem (at least with my experience) is that each organism that may cause sneezing and gurgling, could be one of a dozen different organisms. and each strain is susceptible to a different form of antibiotic. Duramycin is as different from terramycin as it is from auromycin and Penicillin! Antibiotics come in many types now because organisms have developed resistance to many of them. In fact, if you have been using the correct antibiotic, but in too weak a dose, you may have inadvertently compounded the problem, and made it all worse. (sorry for that bit of news, did it myself once)

The only way to be sure what you are dealing with, is to have a test done by a vet, or state lab to find out what you got, and what you need to get rid of it. Unfortunately, that is often expensive. I know. I had a 350.00 roo who then got eaten by a fox. I feel your frustration. I was new to chickens, and wont do that again, but he was our baby, and at the time it seemed like the right thing to do.

There are a whole bundle of things you can do to fight a gurgling chicken, however, without the right diagnosis you could be wasting all kinds of money and energy and ultimately making things worse. I would at this point, take a deep breath, decide if you are in this for the long haul, and get a notebook. Start by calling your state vets office. They will be reluctant to be of any help at first, as they deal with these calls every day, but be friendly and cajoling, and get as much info as you can. Find out EXACTLY what to do with the next bird that may pass away from this illness. (do they want it fresh, or frozen, where do you bring it?) Most states will do a necropsy for FREE and give you the exact answers you need! (Remember, they can not take a bird that has been euthanized with ether to find out what is wrong in the lungs. Common mistake) Take notes on everything you are told, keep them all in one place. Keep notes on what you tried, at what doses, and for how long. You are lucky in that you have a small flock! I was giving too weak of a dose to my flock of 100+ and got so frustrated when after 5 weeks there was no marked improvement. If you don't see improvement in 1 week, then it is the wrong stuff, or the wrong dose!!

Electrolytes are not a bad thing, but they are just Gatorade, no real medical benefit, unless your birds are stressed or dehydrated.

Lice and Mites are easy to get rid of. I used to use the seven dust and the diatomaceous earth, but still had the problem, then some fellow chicken friends turned me on to the pour on ivermectin for cattle. At night I went into the coop and put one CC on the back of the neck of every single bird, and 1/2 on small birds like my Old English. Done. Haven't seen a louse in 6 weeks. I also cleaned the coops out really well the next day, and dusted the shelves to be sure. Mites can hide in the wood. I also still plan to set off the 'flea bomb' that I use every fall, cause it also kills things hidden in the wood, and any mice or rats in the walls. the pour on liquid was 15.00 and there is enough there to last me a decade, and is cheaper than the seven.

Getting a new flock may not solve the problem, some organisms can lie dormant and wait for the next flock. Solve this one, and you will be glad you did, and very proud of your detective skills, plus be a better chicken person when the next challenge comes around!!

I wish you luck, and please feel free to contact me if I can help any further... (if I have been any help this time!)

A~