To range or not to range…plus advice on flock illnesses

[MotherHen007]

I free range my chickens: 10 hens, 1 rooster, 5 15ish week old pullets and 2 15ish week old roos. They have access to 5 wooded acres all day since we moved here 5 months ago. Before moving here they had a large run (and I only had 1 rooster and 6 hens). I am so happy with them foraging and the cost of feed decreased drastically and not to mention they have all but eliminated ticks from the property, however I am perplexed. Prior to moving and letting them free range, we never had any illness. In the last 5 months I’ve had 2 die to predators (not surprising we handled it by fencing property perimeter and getting a couple cats and big dog), 1 die from illness (of course she was my favorite) and the rest of them have sneeze/cough, snot, and gagging. I am super upset. I bought antibiotic soluable in water but it’s hard to do since I don’t confine the chickens and therefore they drink from multiple water sources on property. I bought diomatious earth hoping to help if they have any parasites. I’m just at a loss. If anyone here knows how to help I appreciate tips. My husband thinks we should built another run and keep them confined because they seemed healthier that way. I’m starting to agree…

 

[Eggcessive]

Have you obtained some of your newer chickens from other people or breeders? That is how most people introduce a chronic respiratory disease into their flocks. The chickens may appear perfectly healthy, but may be carriers, and they can get sick or make others sick. Infectious bronchitis virus, mycoplasma gallisepticum (MG,) coryza, and ILT are some common diseases that may affect chickens. Sometimes a wild bird can introduce something into the flock. But if your chickens began to get sick within a week or two of introducing new chicks or pullets, they may have brought it with them. Penning them up is only going to make things worse with decreased ventilation and overcrowding, along with drinking and eating from the same sources.


Some people will cull any sick birds. Others may treat only sick birds with an antibiotic such as Tylan or tylosin, while keeping those sick birds away. Most diseases make carriers for life of the survivors and eventually the whole flock, but each disease is a little different. My flock had infectious bronchitis once for about a month. They remained carriers for a year, so I did not add new birds or hatch any new ones until that time was up. But with the other diseases, they will carry for the life of the birds.

It is good to find out what they have. Testing through a neceopsy if you lose one, or having your state vet lab test a couple of live sick birds is the best way. What symptoms have you seen so far? I am a fan of free ranging, and they are usually happier birds. You can lose one now and then to a predator, but they are much healthier when not crowded in a run. Here is a handy link with symptoms of most common diseases including the ones above:
https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/ps044

 

[MotherHen007]

Have you obtained some of your newer chickens from other people or breeders? That is how most people introduce a chronic respiratory disease into their flocks. The chickens may appear perfectly healthy, but may be carriers, and they can get sick or make others sick. Infectious bronchitis virus, mycoplasma gallisepticum (MG,) coryza, and ILT are some common diseases that may affect chickens. Sometimes a wild bird can introduce something into the flock. But if your chickens began to get sick within a week or two of introducing new chicks or pullets, they may have brought it with them. Penning them up is only going to make things worse with decreased ventilation and overcrowding, along with drinking and eating from the same sources.


Some people will cull any sick birds. Others may treat only sick birds with an antibiotic such as Tylan or tylosin, while keeping those sick birds away. Most diseases make carriers for life of the survivors and eventually the whole flock, but each disease is a little different. My flock had infectious bronchitis once for about a month. They remained carriers for a year, so I did not add new birds or hatch any new ones until that time was up. But with the other diseases, they will carry for the life of the birds.

It is good to find out what they have. Testing through a neceopsy if you lose one, or having your state vet lab test a couple of live sick birds is the best way. What symptoms have you seen so far? I am a fan of free ranging, and they are usually happier birds. You can lose one now and then to a predator, but they are much healthier when not crowded in a run. Here is a handy link with symptoms of most common diseases including the ones above:
https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/ps044

Thanks for including that website. Very informative!

The symptoms started with one hen making a sneezing type sound every now and again and then they all began sneezing. Some of them shake their heads when they sneeze and others don’t. A couple of them have snot. One of the stretches it’s neck upwards and makes a kind of gagging gesture. None of the 15 week old chickens (which I raised from day old chicks) exhibit any signs of anything but all of the adult hens and rooster have symptoms of some sort: sneezing, snot, shaking head, neck stretching, gagging, panting to breathe. Keep in mind it is also 105 degrees this summer here so it is hot and I feel like the panting is due to that, not sickness but I’m not sure. Some of them keep their wings slightly raised up which again I feel is due to heat. They all eat and drink and drink and forage. None seem lethargic. Some squint their eyes but I don’t feel like that’s necessarily new. There was a sharp drop off on egg production a couple of weeks back but it’s black to normal now. Not sure what to do. I have water soluable chlortetracycline hydrochloride 100mg/g I would rather give it to them directly but not sure of dosage. I can’t really put into their drinking water as they drink from many water sources across the property but I could administer one on one each day when they go into the coop for the night. I sprayed them with vetx in the evenings when they were in coop but sickness persists.