Upper Respiratory Infection?? My Whole flock is sick!!

Okay. MY fiance and I bought 7 hens over the corse of this August, 2011. We started with 3, a Buff Orpington and 2 Rhode Island Reds. then we bought 2 Americanas and then later we bought 2 more mix breed hens. No roosters. Right now 3 are laying and the rest are very close to laying.

The problems began back when we got them in August, the 2 Americanas I bought sick and didnt know it. this is my first flock, EVER. So these 2 have always had runny noses and because they were new and smaller they were picked on pretty hard in the begining, which I thing stressed them out even more. at one point it go so bad I was picking solid chicken boogers out of ther nose so they didnt have to breathe through their mouths. so we called the couple we bought them from and did the apple cider vinigar in the water for ever and they started to look better and then in Oct. we got this freak snow storm and all my chickens started getting runny noses and coughing.

and today one of my americanas has droopy feathers and I dont think i have ever seen her with the tail feathers up but now its her wings, they arnt dragging on the ground but shes not as perky and alert as her sister. she never stands up straight. All of the other chickens have runny noses and are coughing. it keeps getting colder and there coughs are getting worse. Also they dont cluck any more. they only cough and occasionally they will screech, but its raspy. I went to the tractor supply and they gave me antibiotics to give them but I really dont understand how much i am supposed to give them and I have been reading here and people say not to use them.

also they are starting to get watery poop. super watery poop. The other day I watched one f my RIReds poop straight water. I saw it come out, I heard it and then there was nothing on the ground. it was bad. and there are just puddles of poop everywhere. light brown puddles that smell sooo bad. this liquid poop has been going on for about 2 weeks now. We switched food, started using scratch to give them some variation in their diet and we alternate using powdered vitamins and vinigar in their water, but nothing is working
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so! I want my girls healthy! what do I do? I grew up in a city and I really have no idea what im doing. I mean im learning as I go and i really care about them! I just want to hear there chicken voices again! no more sneezes and coughing!

Thanks!
 
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I'm really sorry your going through this with your flock.
I understand from first hand experience that it is very heart breaking.
And i'm really sorry to be the one to tell you this but if it is CRD then there is no cure.
They will be carriers for life and infect any other chicken they come in contact with..

If it is Chronic Respiratory Disease, then you have two options:
1. They can be put on denagaurd for the rest of their lives, which will manage the symptoms and supposedly the disease won't build up an immunity to the meds.
2. You put them down, dis-infect and start over (this is just what i did yesterday...i put down my entire flock
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First off, before you panic, are you sure its an Upper respiratory infection?
Have they been tested, treated, or gone to a vet?
Its possible that what they have is something else, so i would try to rule other diseases out first.

I'm very sorry you are going through all this.
I'm not a vet so i can't really diagnose your flock, only guess.
If you want clear answers i would call your state vet and they can come out and test/check your chickens.

I wish you the best of luck!
 
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Honestly, I would cull the birds, completely disinfect the coop, run, EVERYTHING the birds had contact with and start with day old chicks. Some of the adult birds you bought probably already had a disease but weren't showing symptoms yet, they passed it on to the rest of your flock.
 
It sounds like it might be IB. If that is the case, I would cull these birds, disinfect, start new and when you get new birds get the vaccine for them. Even if it's not IB, the vaccine will protect them from picking up IB which will make it easier for their immune systems to deal with whatever is in your soil now. I am not normally an advocate of mass preventative vaccinations, but I understand no one wants to lose birds again and again. If you are planning on sticking with a mixed flock, perhaps chicks from the feed store, you can probably ask the folks at the feed store if they would help you giving the vaccine if you brought the birds to the parking lot when they are old enough - I think it is an injection at 6+ weeks but I can't remember, look up infectious bronchitis vaccines.
 
if they have all been together and its MG-crd then they all have been exposed. You would have to take blood tests to find out.
 
One thing I want to say: Exposed doesn't necessarily mean infected. That is why you can go into a doctor's office and not get every single ailment of the folks you sit beside. Always remove symptomatic birds ASAP then observe the rest. Clean up all waterers and feeders of the ones you leave in the coop. Could be some will never come down with symptoms.
 

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