Very sick respiratoray chickens, please advise

[clintbwell]

Please advise me on how to treat my chickens, I had 10 healthy home raised chickens 21 weeks old, and i bought six more hens from a local individual, 14-18 weeks old. One of the new ones was sneezing. I put them all together, and about a week later they were all sick. They have been sick almost two weeks now. My 2 roosters quit crowning over a week or more ago. One has a puffy closed eye. Both had bright red combs that are now pale whitish. Only 3 or 4 had starting laying, i was getting 2-3 eggs a day, and now only one egg every other day or so, from the same chicken. Everyone is mouth breathing. Most everyone has black or yellow crust on their beak. Ive been giving nutri drench and vet rx for about 5 days. No improvement. And the one i brought home that was sneezing that infected my flock i found dead 2 days ago. Iwas gonna get some Tylan 50 and start that. What do you all suggest.

They are all very active, eating, drinking, sunbathing, dust bathing, flying across the yard. They are just all sick. Even the one that died showed no signs of lethargy before death.

 

[clintbwell]

excuse the last picture, accident. thank you

 

[slordaz]

first of all that's why you quarantine for min 2 weeks away from your flock , best 30 days. Stress will also lower their immune systems of both your flock and the new additions

It is most likely a respiratory virus but not sure which one so tagging the experts on this kind of thing and medication dosages

@casportpony
@Eggcessive
@oldhenlikesdogs

 

[Folly's place]

You should have testing done, either by necropsy if one is really ill, or there are nasal swab and blood tests available to ID respiratory diseases. Call your state veterinary laboratory and find out what's needed. Some of these diseases are forever in your flock, and it's best to find out what's going on.
Mary

 

[Eggcessive]

If you lose another bird, refrigerate, but do not freeze the body in garbage bags to keep it cool. Contact your state poultry vet or lab to get a necropsy. That is a very good way to get a diagnosis. Or you can get some testing done bycalling your state vet. That will tell you if there is one disease or more. There are a handful of common respiratory diseases such as infectious bronchitis, mycoplasma (MG,) coryza, ILT and others. MG may respond to Tylan, but coryza is treated by sulfa antibiotics, and viruses (IB and ILT) will not respond to antibiotics.

I would close your flock to new birds as long as any of the birds are alive, and do not give away or sell birds. Knowing what you are dealing with helps to know what or if a medication will help, and if they will be carriers for life. MG can also spread through hatching eggs. This link below is good to read more about the different diseases:
https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ps044

 

[clintbwell]

thank you all for the responses, yes i know its completely my fault integrating new birds. lesson learned. as of right now all the birds are very active and eating and drinking as they should, Their just all sneezing and mouth breathing with crust on their beak. so a necropsy isnt an option at the present. I dont know if i should just let it ride out and see if they get over this, or if i should start denagard or tylan 50. I was just hoping with the symptoms i had explained i could get a reccomendation as to which meds to start them on.

 

[slordaz]

thank you all for the responses, yes i know its completely my fault integrating new birds. lesson learned. as of right now all the birds are very active and eating and drinking as they should, Their just all sneezing and mouth breathing with crust on their beak. so a necropsy isnt an option at the present. I dont know if i should just let it ride out and see if they get over this, or if i should start denagard or tylan 50. I was just hoping with the symptoms i had explained i could get a reccomendation as to which meds to start them on.

you can still call your states vet la or maybe a local vet and get a swab done and tested to find out what your dealing with for sure. because a lot of them require different medications is what Eggcessive said

 

[clintbwell]

you can still call your states vet la or maybe a local vet and get a swab done and tested to find out what your dealing with for sure. because a lot of them require different medications is what Eggcessive said

Yes i understand the answer, I just didnt realize it had to be tested to find a med to work properly, It would take several days to get results back, and i was hoping to start administering medicine before they get any worse than they are. I just figured the evidence i was providing might lead to a pretty good assumption of what to give them.

 

[clintbwell]

I have also read about braod spectrum antibiotics, and was hoping someone may suggest something, that would treat a host of respiratory probems.

 

[Folly's place]

Viral infections don't respond to antibiotics. Different bacterial infections respond to different antibiotics, and many of these infections cause permanent carrier states in your birds, so getting an accurate diagnosis is essential. You can spin your wheels treating for the wrong thing, or treating the unfixable, wasting more time and money. I hope this is a fixable problem and ends well for your flock.
Mary