Treating what seems to be a recurring respiratory illness - possibly environmental?

[Anon112]

I have some chickens who have been cycling through some sort of problem for too long (GI, not respiratory). The vet said she thought it was likely that something in their roosting/living area was (I forget the term she used, one I'd never heard before!) basically a "carrier". This meant they were constantly being re-exposed to the bacteria. One of the things I did as part of treatment was completely replace their roosting bar and do a deep scrub of the other surfaces in their sleeping space.

You've gotten a lot of sound advice, so my only two cents is to reinforce that you might think about the "soft"/absorbent surfaces in their coop/shed and consider either replacing or a really good disinfecting. (Please look up protocols for this! You can't use chemicals unless you have time for them to evaporate before the chickens will be back in the space).

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I have Baytril (from Jedds) on hand for the chickens, and Tiagard I think it is. It doesn't seem to respond to it, or if it does, it takes ages.

Now that you've all listened to ME ramble, one more question. With the space being that large do I realistically need to worry that it might be rotted wood or something that's making them sick?

If whatever they have does not respond to Baytril or Tiagard, then it's unlikely you are dealing with a bacteria-like respiratory illness like Mycoplasma.

It may be a virus, but without testing, it's hard to know.

Possibly environmental still. See if ventilation makes any difference.
Ammonia from their droppings can be an irritant.
They sleep on the shelves, so you may be able to clean those off daily to help reduce ammonia.
On the concrete floor, you could sprinkle a little Sweet PDZ/Stall Fresh to help dry them up a bit. Or perhaps put something under the roost over that at the window to capture the droppings. A lot of folks use feed bags, just cut them open and spread it out like you would a newspaper. When "used" enough, roll it up and put it in the trash.

I'm sorry that you are dealing with all this. Having illness, along with parasites can be a challenge, but I think you have a good idea of what can be done to see if things will improve. Just work on one thing at time and see how it goes.

 

[tripletfeb]

I think your coop is just fine for your chickens, space wise. I agree with Wyorp that you need more ventilation. Put in some high windows, covered in hardware cloth and leave them open all year. It doesn't have to be pretty, just functional and safe for the chickens. Honestly, if you could do it, just saw some openings and staple hardware cloth over the hole and windows are done