Weezing Roo! Please Help!**UPDATE 3**PATHOLOGY REPORT

[snowhorse]

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I suspect, like you, that it might just be irritation. But of course irritation lowers immune systems, which leads to illness, so I'd keep up the vitamins for the week to get him through it - boost him over any infections, support his immune defenses, and hopefully he won't get sick(er)!

Yeah dust isn't great for them, neither is it good for humans.

So be sure and wear dust masks when you do it - and protect your eyes if there's dust. (I'm mother-henning YOU now, not just your chicken lol).

I'll look forward to an update.

Mother henning is just fine with me threehorses haha. I actually work at a surgical office and asked the woman that does the orders to put one in for a box of masks me. I have a few at home, but I always wear one!

I do however have to invest in some eye protection.

I got the Tylan and VetRx late today. I will go by tomorrow and give it to him. But when I checked on him today, he was very alert and eating. Still slightly congested, but I think the VetRx will have that fixed over night. There is a alot of applications for that, almost seems like Vicks for the chicks...haha I made a funny....


Oh I tried the yogurt yesterday and he wasn't interested, Im going to give it a shot tomorrow and see how it goes.

I have a few other things on order that I want to have on hand, I got terramycin water soluble(which actually has a different name I cant remember right now) and Penicillin water soluble. So I will be a little more prepared now.

 

[threehorses]

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I think he's going to be fine now, thankfully. And yes - VetRx is great stuff - it IS vicks for chicks only better. It used to be a human product and honestly I'm considering getting my own bottle (as they're all the same) as I have allergies and just smelling that stuff helps me more than putting Vicks in does.

Probably the terramycin might be Duramycin 10. If so, it's 3 teaspoons per gallon of water dosage. It's really good to have that stuff on hand and then NOT have to use it!

That's the best. It reduces the stress factor on the humans.

 

[snowhorse]

What I orderd was this

Polyotic Soluble Powder
10 gm. Tetracyline HCl

is that the same? and there is no dosage for poultry on it.


So I put some VetRx in his nose and down his throat last night, as well as under the wings. (warmed up of course)

He appears pretty alert this morning, but it still sounds like he has a sneeze/cough going on. Do you think I should do a course of antibiotics where it has been so long?

At this point I have the Tylan and the stuff above.

Question on the Tylan, it says to disolve in water, do you do the whole bottle and keep it made, or do you try and figure out how much you need to make at a time for a fresh batch?

 

[snowhorse]

So to me my Roo was active breathing fine and starting to get aggitated in the small cage. So I put him back out with everyone else yesterday afternoon..

I was letting everyone in last night and heard that same breathing noise. It was my speckled sussex. So I put her in the emergency cage and gave her some vitamins, VetRx which seemed to clear up my Roo, OACV in the water and see how it goes.

So I'm a little nervous someone else showed the same signs. Does that mean I should treat my whole flock with antibiotics??? Im really concerned at this point that it is something worse then just aggitation

 

[threehorses]

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No, I would treat them with every respiratory health/immune boosting thing you can without using antibioticss because you didn't yet need them for the other bird. And honestly you don't know that this is bacterial, which bacteria it is, or if it's viral.

So I'd do vitamins for the whole flock - water vitamins if you must. But cod liver oil or fortified wheat germ oil sprayed on the feed twice weekly with a handheld sprayer (like a garden one, mini-size from cosmetic sections is more convenient). The oil-base of the vitamins and using them on the food means they'll be viable longer and get into your birds instead of degrading in light before they get in there. Oil vitamins are the ones most useful in immune/respiratory/disease fighting. A is a target respiratory health vitamin, and E is an anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant.

However they're oil vitamins - so 'more' isn't necessarily ' better'. Only use twice a week and sparingly as described above. Just mist the feed til it appears, well, slightly more wet.

Then Vet Rx swabs for all effected birds, and a drop down each effected bird's throat. It wouldn't hurt right now to get them all and give each bird a drop down the throat once in case anyone else is fighting it.

Yogurt is beneficial for all birds anyway, but particularly for any with respiratory signs to combat their respiratory drainage (which you may never even see) that goes into their digestive tract via the opening in the roof of their mouth. The opening (from their sinuses) drains into the mouth/esophagus and thus into the gut, where it causes problems for healthy bacteria. So you want to combat that by boosting good bacteria numbers.

Save antibiotics for a last resort. Otherwise you may make the illness inadvertantly stronger than it already is.

 

[garngang]

Hi I also posted about this same situation about a week ago. I started feeding them a yogurt oatmeal mash with a couple drops of cod liver oil and then I always use acv in the water. I've been watching them closely bc this is worrying me and they are still sneezing. No discharge. They act totally fine. All eating well and no one is acting lethargic. Any more suggestions? Am I over complicating this???? Just a worried mother????

 

[threehorses]

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Well it depends - every case is absolutely different. What's going on there? Any new birds? Any big weather changes? Rain? What's your bedding?

 

[snowhorse]

I actually have a question about my bedding...and wondering if thats the culprit.

I use pine shavings, the same that I use on my horses stalls. And I probably clean my coop once every 3 weeks.

Do I clean it to often? (I have 20 chickens)
How much bedding are you supposed to use?

I don't use a ton of shavings, you can usually see the wood floor in spots. I live in New England and temps get really cold here in the winter, and was wondering if I should do deeper and not clean it as much.

And is there a better less dusty alternative to shavings? They seem to get pretty dusty have a few weeks. They do go outside all day, but have access to the coop all day as well.

I'm new to all this, and want to get it down, as I'm thinking about some turkey's next year, but I'm thinking I need to get the chickens down first.

 

[garngang]

Quote:
Well it depends - every case is absolutely different. What's going on there? Any new birds? Any big weather changes? Rain? What's your bedding?

I dont have any new birds. just my original flock. i have had them since april. they have been laying for a little while. There has been a lot of rain lately. Not any in almost a week but there was rain for like 5 days in a row. There run got a little flooded and they were all walking around in it. i didnt go out as often bc of the rain obviously. so when the weather cleared i went out spending my normal time with them and noticed that one of my roosters was sneezing and a bit gurggley when he crowed. then my second rooster started sneezing. and i think that one of my hens did it too. i use pine shavings for my bedding. it hasnt seemed any more dusty than usual thow....i had scooped out some damp shavings and gave it all a good turn after the rain had quit.
does any of this look like the culprit?
like i said they all seem totally fine. and they LOVE the mash i have been giving them...the little piggies!

 

[threehorses]

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Honestly, I use deep bedding, and I rarely clean it. And when i say deep, at least deep enough for horses. I use scratch in the bedding and the birds keep it aerated for me. It's worked for me for years and years, way better than more shallow and more cleaning.

As for dust, I get medium sized shavings. Not the ultra tiny ones, certainly not the big ones - maybe medium small. Mine are moderately dusty but the birds going through them (because they're older) knock the dust to the ground and just shavings on top.

Incidentally, word of advice on turkeys. If you have turkeys and chickens, it's best that they don't share the same ground. I do with mine, but it's gambling as chickens can tend to carrry blackhead (its carrier, the cecal worm, and the protazoa). So you'll have to rotation worm with broad spectrums more often. I do mine now every 2-3 months after before doing them 2 annually with broad spectrums (ivermectin, fenbendazole).