In the past 7 days I’ve lost two chickens and now a third one is acting like he doesn’t feel well. I have been through the ringer of chicken illnesses and I’m starting to wonder if I’m just not meant to have chickens :-( I just love them and hate that I can’t keep them healthy all the sudden. :-(
I made the fatal error of thinking that since if gotten chickens from a breeder once and they were healthy, that the next chickens would be too. I was new and naive and am paying the price I guess. :-( Back in August I added two pullets, and one was very ill, although I just thought she was irritated by the heavy smoky air and hot weather. Well she gave my entire flock MG and Infectious Bronchitis Virus and ever since I have had some issue or another and it just makes me cry knowing I did this to them. Since the first really cold wet day in late October they have all been sneezy and sounded a bit congested. About two weeks after the first rain, one of my chickens appeared to have an impacted crop, so we went to the vet and got meds and after about a week it was gone but another one had an impacted crop too. And at the same time as the second impacted crop, another chicken popped up with a lump on her face that turned into a bunch of lumps on her neck and face. Then several of my other chickens got dry pox. So, I called the vet and she recommended I treat the crop issue the same way and put them all on a round of Enrofloxacin just in case of a recurrence of MG. So they all went on two weeks of antibiotics per vet recommendation and I kept an eye on the lumps and dry pox. Well the impacted crop never got better and I had to put Brad down, and then two days later I found the one with lumps barely alive in the chicken run, and she passed away a day later. Fast forward to today and another one of my chickens is acting puffed up and a bit lethargic. Again after a very big rain event. No one has bloody poop or alarmingly colored poop, but the puffed up chickens poop was a bit runny today. Most of the chickens with dry pox appear to be getting past it and everyone has an appetite. Fluff the puffed up one also has a bit of a pale comb…should I treat for coccidiosis? Despite the lack of bloody poop? Could the runny poop and lethargy be a sign? They’re all also getting thru molting so they’re a bit run down to begin with.
They have plenty of space, a protected run, a well ventilated coop, they stayed dry yesterday during the storm, they are on Bar Ale chick started still just to keep their feed and protein higher while molting, and I give them some probiotics after their antibiotics treatments. I feel like I’ve done all the things I’m supposed to do for them, but they’re still getting sick. I know getting IBV at 8 weeks old is probably part of the issue…and I can’t change that. Am I just going to have to expect all of the ones that were young to slowly die off due to compromised immune systems? :-(
I made the fatal error of thinking that since if gotten chickens from a breeder once and they were healthy, that the next chickens would be too. I was new and naive and am paying the price I guess. :-( Back in August I added two pullets, and one was very ill, although I just thought she was irritated by the heavy smoky air and hot weather. Well she gave my entire flock MG and Infectious Bronchitis Virus and ever since I have had some issue or another and it just makes me cry knowing I did this to them. Since the first really cold wet day in late October they have all been sneezy and sounded a bit congested. About two weeks after the first rain, one of my chickens appeared to have an impacted crop, so we went to the vet and got meds and after about a week it was gone but another one had an impacted crop too. And at the same time as the second impacted crop, another chicken popped up with a lump on her face that turned into a bunch of lumps on her neck and face. Then several of my other chickens got dry pox. So, I called the vet and she recommended I treat the crop issue the same way and put them all on a round of Enrofloxacin just in case of a recurrence of MG. So they all went on two weeks of antibiotics per vet recommendation and I kept an eye on the lumps and dry pox. Well the impacted crop never got better and I had to put Brad down, and then two days later I found the one with lumps barely alive in the chicken run, and she passed away a day later. Fast forward to today and another one of my chickens is acting puffed up and a bit lethargic. Again after a very big rain event. No one has bloody poop or alarmingly colored poop, but the puffed up chickens poop was a bit runny today. Most of the chickens with dry pox appear to be getting past it and everyone has an appetite. Fluff the puffed up one also has a bit of a pale comb…should I treat for coccidiosis? Despite the lack of bloody poop? Could the runny poop and lethargy be a sign? They’re all also getting thru molting so they’re a bit run down to begin with.
They have plenty of space, a protected run, a well ventilated coop, they stayed dry yesterday during the storm, they are on Bar Ale chick started still just to keep their feed and protein higher while molting, and I give them some probiotics after their antibiotics treatments. I feel like I’ve done all the things I’m supposed to do for them, but they’re still getting sick. I know getting IBV at 8 weeks old is probably part of the issue…and I can’t change that. Am I just going to have to expect all of the ones that were young to slowly die off due to compromised immune systems? :-(
