Some type of upper respiratory is killing off my chickens slowly?

helbech

In the Brooder
5 Years
Mar 12, 2014
5
0
30
Wooster, Ohio
I have a mixed flock of birds 16 weeks to a year and a half in age. They started sneezing when the cold weather came around but only once in awhile and different birds each time I would hear it. I would have to stand out there for awhile to hear one. No mucus or snot anywhere, No swollen or watery eyes. Then my young 16 week old rooster sneezed and a few hours later went lethargic and died in a time period of 6 hours. I took him down to be autopsied in Reynoldsburg at the Ohio Department of Ag and the only thing they could tell me was he had pneumonia and he didn't have a disease, virus and when the cultures came back they said he didn't have MG. So my vet had me give the flock tetracycline in their water for 7 days. They still sneezed, lots of pale combs but all eating and moving like normal. Then after antibiotic I started them on probiotics to get those good bacteria back in their systems and a day later lost one of my Easter Eggers (Emily). I just found her dead on the coop floor when I went to let them out in the morning. I also had one of my SLW go lethargic so I brought her in and took her to the vet while she was still alive. He felt since she had diarrhea we needed to give her bactrim twice a day to save her. So I kept her in the house gave her bactrim orally twice a day and she got better. So after another Easter Egger died on my coop floor two days later the vet prescribed bactrim for flock..which I gave to 18 birds every day twice a day orally. (Not fun) So now i still have sneezing some pale combs and one of my Delawares is laying down a lot and having a really hard time breathing. I dump waterers out every night they get fresh water in mornings with vitamins or ACV. I bring in their feeders every night. Their area is clean and they are wormed. My vet checked a lot of poop and verified no worms. I am at a loss as to what to do next.
 
You really are having a tough time, especially since your only necropsy didn't show anything specific that you could treat. It sounds like MG or infectious bronchitis, but since those were negative, I would probably keep treating them to get their immunity built up. If another one dies, I would be tempted to get another necropsy. I live in Ohio, too, but I'm not familiar with the necropsies that are performed in our state. You could get a sick bird tested, also.. I would wonder about whatever your chicken had gave a false negative with the cultures. I would make sure that they are getting fresh air by ventilating your coop as well as possible overhead, avoid too much warmth in the coop which can cause panting and increase chances of respiratory disease. There are some diseases such as lymphoid leukosis and Mareks disease which cause a low white blood cell count, which in turn causes decreased immunity to common diseases.
 
I'm not even sure where to go to next if I loose Mary my Delaware. My vet sent me down to Reynoldsburg after he called OSU and found they do not look at back yard poultry. He does not do them as he is not a poultry specialists. I have read people giving their birds a stronger antibiotic Tylan but I am not sure throwing any more antibiotics at them won't just do them in. We have been battling this for weeks now.
 
I'm not even sure where to go to next if I loose Mary my Delaware. My vet sent me down to Reynoldsburg after he called OSU and found they do not look at back yard poultry. He does not do them as he is not a poultry specialists. I have read people giving their birds a stronger antibiotic Tylan but I am not sure throwing any more antibiotics at them won't just do them in. We have been battling this for weeks now.

Try contacting one of these labs or find out where you could have a viral panel done from a throat swab: http://www.poultryimprovement.org/documents/AuthorizedLaboratories3-19-2015.pdf
 

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