WHAT HAVE I DONE?!?!

[DirtLaneFarm]

About 2 weeks ago, I bought 2 Leghorn pullets from a place in town. They are supposed to be about 6 months old. (I should have taken a better look at the living conditions.) Anyway, they had about 75 chickens running around a weedy growed up pen with no visible sign of clean water or food, and I picked out 2 pullets to take home.
We have a sweet pet Black Sumatra rooster that was lonely. I have 18 10-week old babies and a trio of Sumatras. All were healthy, clean and happy.
Mr. Brown, the Sumatra, liked his girls, and all was good, or so we thought. These three were housed in a different coop at night while a new one was being built. But, they all, except the Sumatra trio, free range in the afternoons together. The Leghorns do tend to keep to themselves.
At first, I noticed a bit of raspy breathing in one of the Leghorns. Then some neck stretching. I start looking up symptoms! It must be Gapeworm! I go out and buy Safeguard paste to worm them. I worm everyone individually, just in case. It has gone downhill from there. One of the Leghorns has gotten worse.
Some of my other babies are wheezing. No one seems to be gaining weight. The Leghorns have roundworms and tapeworms. Found that little discovery out after worming for what i thought might be Gapeworm. The sickest Leghorn will not walk now. I give her a butt bath several times a day. Well, it gets better, the Leghorns have lice, too! Now everyone gets dusted for bugs and coops cleaned.
I feed the sickest one yogurt with grated apples, honey, oatmeal and egg yolk. I started giving her Pedialyte today. I finally got the nerve to put a tube in her throat to get more of the Pedialyte and yogurt into her crop. That went pretty good. Scary the first time. She seems to be perking up tho.
I just don't know what else to do for them. I am exhausted from all of this. To top it off, I work during the day and the weather is hot and humid.
My bargain hens to get eggs faster has ended up costing me so much more. And, this is a valuable lesson to quarantine your chickens before integrating them into your flock.
Now, I am trying to figure out the raspy breathing and the lack of weight gain and trying to get the hen to walk. I am wondering if trying to cure them I am doing them harm.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[BWchicken]

I would look up CRD (chronic respiratory disease). It's a very contagious respiratory illness. I think it can be treated with an antibiotic called Tylan. Hopefully someone with more experience on CRD will respond with better help. Best wishes to you and your flock!

 

[Erica]

Hi DirtLaneFarm,
I think most of us have done something very similar, and have ended up in the same predicament.

When chickens move to a new place it's often very stressful, and stress brings out underlying illnesses like CRD. For what it's worth the previous owner may not have seen any signs.

At this point, I would say you've got two choices: one, to cull all birds and start over (a heartbreaking thing to consider, but it means you don't keep nursing sick birds forever, which will happen otherwise); or two, bring in antibiotics, treat any sick birds, nurse others as they fall ill, lose some, and don't let any birds in or out (i.e. no selling or buying).

Basically if you keep these birds, chicks hatched are almost certain to eventually catch the disease. Not all will get sick, and if you keep your husbandry good, perhaps most won't show signs. The trouble is the CRD germ can be passed via the egg, so even artificially incubated chicks can carry it. At times of stress like reaching point of lay the disease can show up as symptoms like gurgling and rales. I'm mainly speaking of the CRD germ (mycoplasma gallisepticum) but to some extent this is true of other diseases too. Whatever it is, you can choose to cull the sickest and hope you're breeding stronger immune systems, but frankly by the time you're seeing sick birds it's debatable whether breeding immune systems to cope is even possible (some strains of the disease agent are worse than others).

Tylan and other antibiotics can control symptoms. They can't remove the germ because chickens have very complex respiratory systems (not just lungs, but a series of internal air sacs that also harbour the germ). It may be worth it if you wish to keep these as pets to go down the antibiotic route, and be prepared to administer them whenever a bird is unwell. But if you wanted the birds for eggs, antibiotics create problems (not least being withdrawal periods). It's something for you to consider, whichever way you go.

I'm no expert, and I'm sorry to be so blunt about all this, but those are the things I had to think through when I bought in some carriers and ended up with CRD in 5 pens. I went through 6 months of TLC, though these were production birds so I didn't want to use antibiotics. If I had I could probably have eventually hatched some non-carrier chicks (the trick being to keep germ counts low in the adults) but it would have been an expensive process.

Keep and treat, or cull... Sorry to put it so frankly. Listen to all answers, then decide.

best wishes,
Erica

 

[CMV]

Well stated, Erica. I couldn't have said it better myself.

Good luck OP.

 

[DirtLaneFarm]

How do you test for CRD? I would hate to cull when I only have 2 that are displaying the symptoms that might have something to do with it being so hot and very high humidity right now. (1 being my favorite Black Copper Marans rooster). I will do what I have to for the health of my peeps tho. Fortunately, I only have 24 in total. DARN IT!!! I think the one Leghorn is just weak from hunger and the fact that they had such a load of parasites did not help and I wormed them right off with the Safeguard.
Unfortunately, no vets around here do anything for chickens. Even the feed stores are clueless about most things that are chicken related. Good thing that BYC is here.
I will make a decision about my chickens soon and let everyone know the outcome.
I appreciate all the help.

 

[DirtLaneFarm]

By the way, is there a vaccine?

 

[CMV]

You can have the flock tested. Your county extension agent or state lab can help you find the resources to do that. You need to know what you are dealing with before you can vaccinate. There are a variety of diseases that fall under the term "CRD".

 

[DirtLaneFarm]

Thank you. Just hate to jump into culling, vaccines or medication without knowing what I am dealing with. I want to do this right the first time. I should have done that with the 2 Leghorns. Hindsight is 20 20 though.

 

[Mule Girl]

Sorry your dealing with this its a tuff situation and hind sight is 20 20 as we have all done this wether it be when we first started or not.

I think Erica said it best.

I hope all goes well, keep us posted though. Hope the young cluckers get better.

 

[DirtLaneFarm]

Symptoms of Mycoplasma or Chronic Respiratory Disease:
Signs

• Coughing/sneezing
• Nasal and ocular discharge
• Poor productivity
• Slow growth/stunting
• Leg problems
• Morbidity and mortality
• Inappetance
• Reduced hatchability and chick viability
• Occasional encephalopathy and abnormal feathers

I only have the raspyness in 2 chickens now. Everyone is eating well except for the one Leghorn. And actually, she is perking up now. In fact, I was "bothering" her this morning and she actually pecked me. I think she is weak from hunger. She eats the yogurt concoction I fix for her pretty well. There is no leg problems (Except the one) facial swelling, nasal or eye dischargeon any of them. Fortunately, throwing out eggs is not an issue at this point as we do get eggs.
I am beginning to think that using the broad spectrum wormer on the 2 Leghorns is what has brought them down so bad. I could be wrong. But for now, I will not cull anyone too soon before I am sure what is going on. That might be naive, but I have invested an enormous amount of time, money, energy and husband labor into the small flock that I have now. To go and cull them all before I know for sure what is going on is not something I am willing to do at this point. If things do not improve, then that would be my last option. I am going to treat for the respiratory problems and see what happens. I will keep everyone updated.