Tylan (Coryza?) question

[cloverfarmgirl]

Scubaforlife, when I first saw them sick with respiratory problems, I started using Duramycin (Tetracycline) in their water, and it had no effect. Used this for 3 days, but the disease continued to spread like crazy. I wish I had started the Gallimycin immediately, but I had to order it.... which took several days. I did get it from Jeffers (a pack cost around $25). This is the antibiotic I would use, if it's coryza. I also used Sulfamet (after I stopped the Duramycin and before I got the Gallimycin) for a couple days. This maybe helped some, too. We used the Tylan injections on the ones who were TERRIBLY sick (standing around with their eyes closed and not eating or drinking). The Gallimycin seems to have stopped the spread, and the ones who had the symptoms seem to be improving. Good luck! It's very difficult and frustrating -- lots of trial and error! I don't think I slept for a week!

 

[scubaforlife]

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Eyes swollen shut, stench, they look tired.

I have had it before and it killed one of my birds because I didn't know how to treat it.

I hope they don't get too sick this time around as my Mother-In-Law doesn't want to have to kill any.

 

[scubaforlife]

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So my big question is, how do I stop it from reoccurring?

It seems that vaccine will stop it in birds that don't have it, what about the ones that have had it?

 

[cloverfarmgirl]

I'm curious about that, as well. I hope someone can answer this for us.

 

[MandyH]

THe state vet told me that there is no cure for Coryza, and they are carriers for life and will infect every chicken that comes in contact with them or anything they have had contact with. The best thing to do is to cull the entire flock, burn them, disinfect and start over. Preferably with birds that are from a clean source. I did it to about 150 birds. It wasnt pretty, but my life was a WHOLE lot easier afterwards.

 

[scubaforlife]

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but if I vaccinate all the birds I bring into the flock, I shouldn't have to go killing my children's pets..... right?

 

[threehorses]

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You don't, really. The only way you can do it is to keep stress down, keep their environment perfect, make sure they always have the best food and immune-boosting nutrition, lots of fresh air, lots of sunshine, and then just hope.

Medicating with the appropriate antibiotic at the very first sign of any symptoms (along with all the supportive VetRx, nutrition, etc) will help it not get too far.

 

[threehorses]

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but if I vaccinate all the birds I bring into the flock, I shouldn't have to go killing my children's pets..... right?

Coryza isn't a required cull illness, no. Or many MANY flocks would be culled. Just you have to be responsible for what you save. That means disinfecting your shoes before you go to the feedstore especially if they sell birds there, not selling your birds, not taking exposed birds to shows, etc. These rules have to be in place for the whole family.

 

[Andora]

I had coryza in my flock once. I ended up getting rid of all my pets and waiting 4 months after disinfecting before getting new, clean birds. It was a very, very hard and sad choice but I felt that in the future I would want to sell birds, breed birds, and bring in new birds. You can't easily do that with a disease like coryza. I also felt it would be a horrible thing to accidentally infect someone else's flock with the disease. It's tricky because the surviving birds look healthy, but they can still infect new birds. I'm not sure how readily available or effective the vaccine is. I've never heard of it?

That being said, I talked to the PhD at our local university who is the head of the avian research department and he told me that Sulmet effectively treats Coryza. I tried it on some chicks who had come down with it, and they were seemingly 100% normal in a matter of 3 or 4 days. I ended up giving them to someone who wanted to have a closed flock.

 

[threehorses]

The nice thing about the underrated Sulmet is that it also treats pastuerella (which also has a bit of a smell, but not quite as fetid... more just like bacterial ick). Because unless we do a C&S (culture and sensitivity) we really don't know for sure what's causing illness, it's sometimes nice to have a good med like that to cover similar illnesses. I always keep a bottle around here as I did have some pastuerella here once.

In this case, the nasty odor specifically from the nasal-ocular sinuses is often used as an in-clinic diagnostic clincher if the smell is right.

Funny this comes up. I took a microbiology course in college. I did badly on the tests because I was stupidly distracted by a bad relationship, but I loved the course and remember much from it. One of the tools we used to identify a bacteria was smell. You'd be amazed how distinct different bacteria smells.

I've used that tool - my nose - often since. When I get a creature with an infection that involves any exudate, I carefully note it's smell. And I remember them (because most are unforgettable). It sounds strange, but hey - it was college approved so it really is a useful tool. Particularly if you don't have the benefit of plates and incubators for growing and identifying bacteria!