Very frustrated

[Gregschickens]

My sick silkie died a few days ago after I treated it with Sulmet, and then I noticed that my white japanese bantam was breathing heavily but otherwise acting normal. So I decided to treat all of my chickens with the Sulmet. That was a few days ago and the treatment was over. Today I found my white japanese dead. Her symptoms never escalated anymore than the heavy breathing and I didn't even see her doing that after the treatment. It's been raining a lot lately and so my chickens all look a little bit different and so I can't tell if they're sick looking or not. I'm very frustrated because I know a lot of people that keep chickens and none of them put the effort into their chickens that I put into mine. And they haven't had nearly as many problems as I've had. I've lost 4 chickens out of 14. And my andalusian is acting weird too. She doesn't look sick but I've noticed from every animal species that I've kept that acting differently than normal is generally not a good thing. Any thoughts on what I should do? Thanks.

 

[calicokat]

First, I'm sorry you've lost birds. That always breaks your heart

Have there been any changes latelely, additions to the flock?? Anything that might have introduced sickness to your birds?

 

[Gregschickens]

Thank you, the worst part is that it's almost always my favorite bird that dies.

Yes there have been new additions. At the same time though they're all fairly new birds. I've only been keeping chickens for about 2 months. 9 of my birds came from an individual, and most of them were missing some feathers. Two were missing a great deal of feathers and one of those died pretty soon after I got it. I attributed it to the fact that it had so few feathers. The other one that was missing a bunch of feathers has most of them back by now. Then I bought 2 more chickens. A black silkie and a gold one that I didn't know the breed. The gold one started acting pretty weird as soon as I put it with the others and it died a week or so later. Not knowing how contagious some of these chicken diseases are (because none of my original chickens looked sick after the gold one died) I bought a few more chickens a couple weeks later. An australorp and 2 rhode island reds. And I've had those for a couple weeks now. Then my silkie died on Sunday and the white japanese died today.

 

[Blue_Myst]

The missing feathers bring lice or mites to mind. I know you've probably considered this possibility, but I just wanted to lay that on the table. Night is the best time to see mites, you can usually see them crawling on the chickens under the flashlight beam. Mites can bring a chicken to death's door very quickly, especially if there's another disease going around.

If you're seeing more respiratory distress even after using the Sulmet, you should probably seriously consider an antibiotic. Duramycin is broad-spectrum and can treat things like air sac disease, CRD, etc. Tylan works, too, but it isn't specifically approved for poultry and is much stronger than the Duramycin.

One of the best things you can do right now is keep your chickens on supportive care to make sure their immune systems are top-notch. Even if it's just yogurt or scrambled eggs, anything at this point would help. I swear by Poultry Nutridrench for very sick chickens (it's fast acting and perks them right up so they can eat and drink on their own). It's expensive, but it's a good product.

I'm sorry you're going through this. It's sad how our favorites are always those that fall ill

It sounds like you're keeping great care of your chickens!

 

[welasharon]

Breathing heavily can also be from heat. They have to pant to cool off and may hold their wings slightly away from their bodies. How hot is it there? Are there any other respiratory symptoms? Lice/mites and worms are frequently top killer of chickens as well. Check for creepy crawlies...esp near the vents. You can dust with seven dust for the garden and dust the area they are in as well. Then do it again in 10 days.
sharon

 

[Gregschickens]

Thank you for the suggestions. I will probably try the scrambled eggs because they don't seem to like yogurt. I had heard that Sulmet was effective for respiratory diseases, but I will pick up some duramycin next time I get a chance. I have some diatomaceous earth that I heard is effective for killing mites. Any thoughts on that? It has been pretty hot lately and that might be a cause of their death.