- Nov 20, 2010
- 3
- 0
- 7
Hello to all. I just joined this group after searching for some answers about our sick chickens. The low down:
We introduced four older white leghorns to our flock that were sick (my husband did this not knowing the consequences!). These whites had runny noses, that was all. Within five days one of our chickens from our home flock started wheezing with every breath. This lasted five days, until I played around with some homeopathy remedies (when I saw some of our other chickens coming down with it). The ones I gave the remedy to only had the breathing problem for about 6 to 12 hours. Not sure if it was the remedy, or just coincidence, but that first chicken was struggling to breath for 5 days! However about three or four of the 7 chickens that have come down with it (we have a total of 16, not counting the new white birds) have gotten really, REALLY swollen eyes. Two with only one eye swollen the other two with both eyes swollen. So far all but one are on the mend, with no difficulty breathing, and one with her eye still a bit swollen. However one of them, although the breathing troubles have passed is still having problems with her eyes. She had also had a really big problem with her throat swelling as well (maybe more of her mouth) as she could not shut her beak for a couple of days due to the swelling. I've given them two powdered antibiotics, and an injectible, with no change at all. So I am assuming this is viral, possibly IL. They say with IL they can have conjunctivities, with some eye goup of matting. This is beyond matting, the area around their eyes are seriously getting to be about half of a golf ball size. They can not see out of them as they are swollen shut. I was desperate and started giving this one chicken some children's liquid Motrin for the swelling. Within an hour we saw a noticeable difference with one of her eyes, and by the next day, after her second dose (only giving it to her every 12 hours) the swelling in her throat/mouth is gone, and she can close her beak now. But her left eye, although slowly making an improvement is still VERY swollen. This very sick chicken is totally seperated from the flock at this point.
Has anyone seen this kind of thing through? After reading a thread here, I know half of you have suggested culling the sick birds, the others have seen it through (not sure if they had the same thing our chickens do). With our flock so small, and all of them are half pet to our four daughters, we are trying to see this through. I'm just wondering if there is anything more I can do for the really sick one, and to hopefully not have the other ones come down with it. So far no new birds in the past week have caught it.
Plus, I was wondering if anyone knows if this type of thing is contagious to humans? I've been searching and searching and it doesn't seem to be, but I'm a bit nervous seeing how sick these chickens have been. One of my daughters had a swollen throat for a few days, with no soreness the first few days, and then it was sore for a couple of days. She hasn't complained the past two days though. I just started coming down with itchy eyes, that feel like they are getting sick, a bit sticky feeling and swollen feeling, even though there is no apparent swelling. I'm feeling tired as well. I'm pregnant, so I am a bit concerened. But the other kiddos, have no symptoms except what they had before the white birds arrived (I have two boys that have had this long lasting cough that I have heard has been going around in our area). So out of 6 children that have had contact with these birds, only one has had a simple throat thing, and then what I have. So I am assuming our sickness is coincidence, but I would like to be more positive in knowing
Thank you all for reading!
Kerri
We introduced four older white leghorns to our flock that were sick (my husband did this not knowing the consequences!). These whites had runny noses, that was all. Within five days one of our chickens from our home flock started wheezing with every breath. This lasted five days, until I played around with some homeopathy remedies (when I saw some of our other chickens coming down with it). The ones I gave the remedy to only had the breathing problem for about 6 to 12 hours. Not sure if it was the remedy, or just coincidence, but that first chicken was struggling to breath for 5 days! However about three or four of the 7 chickens that have come down with it (we have a total of 16, not counting the new white birds) have gotten really, REALLY swollen eyes. Two with only one eye swollen the other two with both eyes swollen. So far all but one are on the mend, with no difficulty breathing, and one with her eye still a bit swollen. However one of them, although the breathing troubles have passed is still having problems with her eyes. She had also had a really big problem with her throat swelling as well (maybe more of her mouth) as she could not shut her beak for a couple of days due to the swelling. I've given them two powdered antibiotics, and an injectible, with no change at all. So I am assuming this is viral, possibly IL. They say with IL they can have conjunctivities, with some eye goup of matting. This is beyond matting, the area around their eyes are seriously getting to be about half of a golf ball size. They can not see out of them as they are swollen shut. I was desperate and started giving this one chicken some children's liquid Motrin for the swelling. Within an hour we saw a noticeable difference with one of her eyes, and by the next day, after her second dose (only giving it to her every 12 hours) the swelling in her throat/mouth is gone, and she can close her beak now. But her left eye, although slowly making an improvement is still VERY swollen. This very sick chicken is totally seperated from the flock at this point.
Has anyone seen this kind of thing through? After reading a thread here, I know half of you have suggested culling the sick birds, the others have seen it through (not sure if they had the same thing our chickens do). With our flock so small, and all of them are half pet to our four daughters, we are trying to see this through. I'm just wondering if there is anything more I can do for the really sick one, and to hopefully not have the other ones come down with it. So far no new birds in the past week have caught it.
Plus, I was wondering if anyone knows if this type of thing is contagious to humans? I've been searching and searching and it doesn't seem to be, but I'm a bit nervous seeing how sick these chickens have been. One of my daughters had a swollen throat for a few days, with no soreness the first few days, and then it was sore for a couple of days. She hasn't complained the past two days though. I just started coming down with itchy eyes, that feel like they are getting sick, a bit sticky feeling and swollen feeling, even though there is no apparent swelling. I'm feeling tired as well. I'm pregnant, so I am a bit concerened. But the other kiddos, have no symptoms except what they had before the white birds arrived (I have two boys that have had this long lasting cough that I have heard has been going around in our area). So out of 6 children that have had contact with these birds, only one has had a simple throat thing, and then what I have. So I am assuming our sickness is coincidence, but I would like to be more positive in knowing
Thank you all for reading!
Kerri
