Help...Sick Chickens

[wendys_goats]

I put this in the poultry thread but there are more people here and thought I would get a quicker response. If it has to be moved I understand. But I'm desperate and in a hurry to go get what they need

I have a half a dozen or so chickens that seem to have a cold or bronchitis. They are sneezing, coughing and have watery stuff coming out of their nose and mouth. What can I give them. will antibodies help. Any help is greatly appreciated. I want to get it under control before the whole flock gets it.
Thank You and God Bless.

[pumpkinlady]

I don't have much advice to give since I haven't had chickens for many years but I would give them some electrolytes in their water to help. Good luck.

[marinemomtatt]

I agree with Pumpkinlady...Electrolytes! You can get them from your local feed store.
My flock had what sounds like the same thing a couple years back....come to find out they caught something from the wild birds, (they were drinking out of the birdbath). We stopped allowing them access to the bath and now they have their own waterer...so look at where they are getting their water, are wildbirds also drinking from that source?

MMT

[shiloh]

Oh Boy!
Did you get any new chickens recently ? Or handle other people's chickens ?

I/we had a neighbor give us a couple of chickens a few years ago. After a few days the "free" chickens truned out to be sick, with something like what you discribe. Antibiotics were the only thing that worked to stop it, and I can't remember which one we used. Maybe because we did not start the antibiotic soon enough, we lost about half our flock.
We also made the mistake of handling some of our rabbits after tending the chickens and we lost a lot of our rabbits as well.
What your birds have may not be the same thing as ours, but from your discription it sure sounds the same. Good luck.

[wendys_goats]

Thanks everyone I will try the antibodies and electrolites.
I did get some chickens frome a friend but most of them I butchered but the one that is left from those is not sick and the rest I got from the hatchery.


Just to add another thought most of mine are in a pen except those little hudinni chickens that seem to be able to excape

[bgraham]

Wendy,

How old are the chickens?

It sounds like bronchitis which is very contagious and will probably spread to most of the flock. Mortality is high in young birds....not significant in birds over 5 weeks. There is a vaccine for it.


Since there are other serious respiratory diseases that affect chickens, if you lose any you might take one to your state ag center for necropsy to be sure what you are dealing with.

Hope they get better soon.

Beth

[wendys_goats]

They are about 6 mo.old. Can they still be vaccinated at that age and if so where do I get the vaccine?

[rio002]

Powder form of Terramycin works very well, your feed store ought to have it. I don't recall if it says it's ok for poultry, but our vet has ok'd it for ours. All you do follow measurements and mix in their drinking water--now when using this you should eat the eggs during their treatment and not for a week after they've been off it. We've used this several time the respiratory issues hit and have only lost 1 chicken to it. Good Luck btw the bag should only cost about $10. Oh I'll save you the math and the dose is 2 teaspoons per 1 gallon, change water everyday.

[haypoint]

Could be one of several things. The symptoms are simular to Avian Influenza. I'm not saying you have Bird Flu, but without a culture, you'll never know. See if your Vet will let you get a swab of that mucus in the back of their throat. If not, see if he'll let you bring it in and he can gather a sample, culture and blood draw. Wouldn't hurt to call your Wisconsin Department of Agriculture or local Extension Office.

[fin29]

I'm not sure how we can speculate on anything without knowing more details:
Are they free-range or confined?
What type of bedding do you use and how often is it changed or turned?
Is the coop drafty?
Are they broilers or layers?
What do you feed them?
Do they have fresh water every day or do they go for several days on the same fill?

[coventry49]

Use the terramycin. If you don't see improvement at the recomended dosage within 36 hours, triple it. It won't hurt your birds, and will probably save your flock. Been there done that.

Also, since they are sick, using a liquid supplement called "Red Cell" (found with the horse supplies) in their water is a tremendous pick-me-up for them.

I learned these two things from a large poultry breeder in Texas, and they have worked great for me.


-Barb in Montana