Hello, I'm a new member. I am currently battling, what I believe is a respiratory disease issue within my large flock. Started with some young pullets I bought from someone local. They didnt show any signs of illness at first but then one became lethargic and I discovered she had mites, treated for that and she just never seemed to thrive, I found her one day laying down unable to get up and a bunch of goop in her eye, with bubbling. I had chickens here for 6 years prior and never once had a single illness on my property. We decided early this year to expand our flock and try our hand at breeding certain breeds. I bought several more from this same person. A few months later the other pullets that I purchased from this breeder started showing signs of illness, mostly with the eyes, getting crusted, bubbling and sneezing a lot.i began researching and we gave LA200 injection to them, seemed to clear it up within 4 days. I've made a lot of mistakes along this journey, mostly out of pure ignorance. I didn't even realize chickens could get so sick like this.. like I said, we always kept 30-40 hens on our place for eggs and never once had an issue until this year. I never did anything special, just fed and watered and kept the coop clean.. we free ranged during the day. Only issues I ever had was with the occasional predator. My chickens were always healthy. Anyway, this illness has spread throughout my entire flock almost ... I've treated, culled the really bad ones, cleaned coops, runs, waters feeders, quarantined, treated with preventative on my chicks in Hope's they wont get sick. I understand I have to have a closed flock, which I do now. I have roosters, unfortunately a few of them are from this same breeder so I'm pretty sure they are carriers anyway. I'm not breeding because of this issue. I use oxine in coops 1x a week in hope to stop the sickness, I use it on their waters too when I'm not treating them. Currently I'm treating 2 coops with tylosin powder. Some are showing improvement, others are not. But they all seem to be showing same signs... sneezing, loud coughing, gaping, and lethargy with gunky eye. I'm so depressed about this situation I cannot even began to describe how terrible I feel. I've invested 1000,s of $$$ into this flock for breeding and it's a complete waste because of this illness. I've come to terms with that part but I'd like to try to help my existing flock, at least the ones that are not showing symptoms because theres a bunch that are not but I know theyve had to have been exposed. I have a beautiful group of lavender orpingtons with 1 rooster that haven't show a single sign of illness ... yet... and my silkies haven't been sick either. Only a 1 of my light brahma is sick currently. They were all together though when this first started. They have all been given the prevention dose of denagard and so far seem ok (knock on wood) I've lost all but 2 of our speckled sussex pullets to this and several cochin... we seem to be having to cull 2 to 3 a week because of this. I'm at a loss at this point and feel like giving up and culling my entire flock of 145 chickens... a mix of chicks, pullets, roosters... but not all are sick though and haven't showed signs... but from what I've read, once exposed they are carriers for life and will pass on thru eggs to chicks. I'm exhausted from treating, constant cleaning, worrying, being borderline neurotic about watching for any sign of illness. This was going to be my hobby and way to make a little extra income selling eggs, and chicks but that's not going to happen now. I wont do it. Sorry this is so long but I am so disgusted and disappointed in this situation. I'd like to try to keep my healthy (for now) chicks and chickens for personal use. The denagard seems to work well for some, not all though. I purchased 3 bottles while I could still get it. My last bottle came in and its different from my others.... it smells like nail polish remover.... very strong while my other bottles have little to no odor... I'm confused on that part. And I have been adding kool ade mix to the water with the denagard to encourage drinking because they dont seem to like it. Should I not be adding kool ade to it? I thought I read recently that you arent to use sugar with the denagard and should use an artificial sweetener instead?
Thank you for taking the time to read this. I do not have an avian vet anywhere near me, we live extremely rural. There are no other nearby chickens around us. I have them separated as best as I can for now and am keeping a close eye on everyone and doing my best for biosecurity measures with the oxine. I'm on day 4 of the tylosin powder treatment in the waters... some are improving, others still not showing any signs of illness, others are not improving or seem to be getting worse, we give them a few days to see before we cull. I haven't had any tested, I dont know for sure what I'm dealing with I dont even know where to go, I haven't had any success in finding any local information regarding chicken health issues ... no nearby avian vets either.
Thank you for taking the time to read this. I do not have an avian vet anywhere near me, we live extremely rural. There are no other nearby chickens around us. I have them separated as best as I can for now and am keeping a close eye on everyone and doing my best for biosecurity measures with the oxine. I'm on day 4 of the tylosin powder treatment in the waters... some are improving, others still not showing any signs of illness, others are not improving or seem to be getting worse, we give them a few days to see before we cull. I haven't had any tested, I dont know for sure what I'm dealing with I dont even know where to go, I haven't had any success in finding any local information regarding chicken health issues ... no nearby avian vets either.
that's good to know about the short lived lifespan on the ground once the chickens are gone. I have 1 empty coop and run right now that the last sick chickens that passed were in. I plan on letting it sit for a while and then spraying it down with the oxine and putting my chicks that haven't been on the ground out there yet in it. Maybe they will stand a chance at a healthy life .
