Unknown ongoing infectious disease worsening?!!

[tacothechicken]

Ugggh my new flocm this year has proved to be our most challenging yet health wise, so a few months ago I posted about a possible case of RI or RD in our flock of six as 2 birds showed watery bubbly eyes and sneezing and slight weezing, I isolated them and treated them for such and they seemed to get better so I rejoined them whith the flock...now half my birds are sick whith either the same thing or something possibly alot worse, our leghorn is the worse as she suddenly got extremely sick ~2 weeks ago whith one eye swollen shut, lethargic, weezy, extreme nasal discharge and loss of wieght/appetite, plus bad smell feom either mouth or nose(cant tell). We also have two cochins who though not nearly as bad have at least partially swollen faces and or sneezing. The leghorn also seemingly had a crop issue just before this that was cleared up. Weve had a ton of smoke from canada, alot of dust from the lack of rain, and now weve picked up rats from having so many apple trees. I have no clue what to do anymore, let me know what you think may be the cause. Thanks for the advice. Ps. We dont have any poultry/avian vets where I live, if I need them tested who should I talk too?

 

[Kiki]

What did you use to treat them with the first time?

 

[tacothechicken]

Theyve been treated whith Vetrx, terramycin(ointment) which made the original sick chickens better in around 2-3 weeks, dewormed, electrolytes, vitamins and supplements, and a couple other things, but for some reason I cant find Duramycin? As someone suggested once, and my feed store didnt carry tylan (i ordered it and it should arrive in the next few days) theyve also been given kefir water as that supposedly has some good live cultures that can aid but I just held back on anything drastic treatment wise as I dont have any clue what exactly they have!

 

[Eggcessive]

It sounds like you are dealing with mycoplasma (MG) or infectious coryza, both chronic contagious resp diseases. Coryza is usually more severe, can have a rotten odor, and makes them more sick. Both can cause facial swelling, eye drainage, nasal drainage, coughing, wheezing, etc. If you lose a bird quickly refrigerate it in plastic, then contact waddl.vetmed.wsu.edu or call 253-445-4537 on Monday to speak about getting a necropsy on a sick bird. Go to that site, and you can read how to prepare to get a necropsy. You can try calling around to several feed stores for Tylan 50 injectable, plus 20 gauge needles and 3 ml syringes. Give 0.2 ml per pound orally or by injection twice a day for 5 days.

 

[tacothechicken]

Ok I thought that may be the the case (I saw a photo of coryza that looked almost exactly like my Leghorn) and thank you for quick reply whith the necropsy contact and treatment advice. Hopefully once I get some Tylan in them theyll get better! The cochins are doing ok so far but my LG is probably not even more than 1 lb right now which is highly worrying

 

[Glenda Heywoodo]

your chickens need some healthy additives
My WET MASH PROBIOTIC RECIPE will do
Here it is
Well I have a WET MASH PROBIOTIC RECIPE for all the chickens.
It will help the sick chicken
WET MASH PROBIOTIC RECIPE
each chicken( multiply this recipe by the amount of chickens you are feeding it to.)
3 tbsp. of dry mash
1/4 tsp of flax seed meal (Human kind)
1/4 cup yoguart plain kind
6 tbsp. of milk any kind
3 tsp of APPLE CIDER VINEGAR (unprocessed ACV)
add 1 vitamn E 400 mg (cut end of capsule and add to wet mash)
add 1 Selenium tablet (take and cruash tablet in tbsp. and add drop of water to dissolve)
add 1 Vit B Complex tablet ( crush tablet in tbsp. and add drop of waterm add to wet mash)
mix good and feed with vitamins for seven days
then skip two days with out vitamins and return vitamins for 5 days
then feed the wet mash probiotic recipe twice week for life
adding vitamins once a month
they should be okay by 2nd week end,
if not feed with out vitamins for 2 days and thyen put vitamins in wet mash for 5 more days.
then take out vitamins and feed twice a week for life.
Use vitamins when sick

 

[Eggcessive]

Ok I thought that may be the the case (I saw a photo of coryza that looked almost exactly like my Leghorn) and thank you for quick reply whith the necropsy contact and treatment advice. Hopefully once I get some Tylan in them theyll get better! The cochins are doing ok so far but my LG is probably not even more than 1 lb right now which is highly worrying

I would try to get testing done at some point, just to know what it is for sure. A necropsy is a good way to get it, but you could also do it on a live bird through your local extension agent. There are Washington state threads on BYC, and if you post on there, others can advise you. MG is very common in backyard flocks, but coryza is not something I would want in my flock. Both cause carriers for life of all birds exposed, whether they show symptoms or not. So I would close the flock to any new birds, or giving away/selling birds so as not to spread the disease. I hope that you can get some answers.