the 10,000th sick chicken thread

[naightengale]

ok so i know there are alot of "my chickens are sick plz help" threads out there.. and i have been reading them all...
what i would like here is a personal blunt answer
i have lost 7 of my chickens so far another 17 at least are sick...
we are at out wits end with trying to figure out whats going on... its some sort of respitory illness and from what all ive read it will either kill them or forever more make all my flock sick from time to time....
would it be best to just cull all sick/exposed chickens and sanitize and start new??

thank you in advance for your help

 

[Eggcessive]

You have something pretty strong going on with that many deaths. Do they have a very bad odor around their heads? You could be dealing with coryza, but I would bet you have more than one disease since many respiratory diseases will come in twos. Coccidiosis also will make them susceptable to respiratory diseases. Do they have diarrhea or blood in stools? You can get a necropsy done by your state vet to find out what you are dealing with, and the best way to treat it. Many people though would be tempted to cull, wait several months after cleaning, then start over. If you want to start them on a drug right now, I would use sulfadimethoxine (brand names Albon, Sulfamed-G, and Di-methox) since it would work on both coryza and cocci.

 

[naightengale]

i think they have respitory coctail. as some are showing signs of several diff things but not all are showing the same signs.

 

[Eggcessive]

I forgot to leave this link to diseases: http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ps044