Hello everyone.
I am a small farmer of 23 Chicken and have come a cross this platform every time i am online researching about my birds and the diseases that affect them.
I was hesitant to join since i am cautious of my digital footprint. However i have experienced and observed some things with my bird that i haven't seen on the internet and thought it would be nice to share them here where i can learn, re-learn and unlearn from those in the same field as me.
I will not share information about my family or my personal information since i would like that to be private.
Anyways, these are the things i have experienced with my birds (i began rearing them from March 2022 - present.
I have 8 roosters and 15 pullets.
10 were from a hatchery but 2 died before they were 2 months ( please remember this)
The rest were from a broody chicken. ( Also remember this)
1. Injury
Bumble foot, cut on the legs, broken legs and wounds from being pecked.
Most victims are my rooster due to the pecking order. They fight to the point one of them has a broken leg.
Bumble foot was due to sharp objects on the ground ( have since removed them)
Treatment is done at night when the bird is resting. This does help the treatment to work uninterrupted overnight.
->Warm salty water to wash the wounds
->Iodine on a cotton swab and gently pressing it onto the clean wound.
-> Applying Vaseline to cover the wound to prevent dirt. I tried covering with bandage but they peck on it and remove it.
I usually do this for 3-5 days depending on where the wound is located. If bumble foot i do it for 5 days, where if the bird was limping, there will be a noticeable difference from day 1 of treatment to day 5.
2. Coccidiosis
Now here is the difference that i noticed with my birds
The 10 from hatchery got sick when they were 3 weeks old.
The rest from broody mum have never develope the disease while at this stage. I only gave them oxysol chick formula when i day old and that was the only medication ever given.
The ones from hatchery came after and developed the disease at week 3.
All were sick on the same day
. 1 died the rest 9 survived.
What i did and discovered from the one that died:-
->I administered Amprolium in their water and personally gave them the medicine with a spoon every 30 minutes. The one that died had shown signs of improvement but i didn't know that she needed warmth to survive the low temperature that accompanies the disease. From that experience, i decided to use an old duvet that nobody uses to warm the little ones.
The rest recovered fast from the warmth and Amprolium. For the duvet to be warm for them, i used plastic bottles with hot water placed them strategically whereby they would not burn my chicks but the duvet would get the heat to them (the goal is to keep them warm not to burn them.)
-> At week 5 another one developed caecal coccidiosis. Blood and lots of blood everywhere.. I thought he would die.
Solution was Toltrazuril and the blood disappeared completely in a mater of 4 hours. Toltrazuril is one drug that performs miracles in chicken. I have never seen any drug work faster like Toltrazuril. Try it if any of your roosters or pullets have bloody poop, by the end of the day they will be pecking and picking fights with others like nothing happened.
The 9 survived until 2 months old when i lost another one to:-
3. Cholera and Mycoplasma.
In all my years living, i never thought i would here chicken snoring, coughing, having foam at the corner of their eyes, having a running nose, producing a rasp when eating, sneezing. It was all new to me plus accompanied by white green diarrhoea from cholera. I first thought it was a different type of coccidiosis but when all coccidiosis medicine failed i decided to contact a veterinarian who told me what my 2 month old was suffering.
After 1 week with the disease, the disease had done it's damage. Mycoplasma had already shut her left eye, her bones were broken from the joints by the disease (she couldn't walk, her wings were hanging low), and was too pale. I had to have her euthanized to stop the suffering. From then on i have been keen to check the diseases and treated it 3 times now.
It has managed to attack all my bird but none have died. Though the ones from broody mum only developed the disease once and have never caught it again.
The ones from hatchery have developed Mycoplasma 3 times this year till it got to a point where i separated them completely from the rest.
Treatment i have used is oxytetracycline from a brand vetoxy( this drug helped to treat cholera from the 2 that developed it) and Tylosn titrate together with doxycycline from a brand Tylodoxy.
Most vets usually tell a person that your bird has a bacteria infection since they know Mycoplasma is a bacteria and will live in your bird for life re-infecting it as well as other. They don't tell you exactly what the disease does and the only way to get rid of the disease is by culling the infected ones.
My vets (i have 3 on speed dial, 2 live a 15 minutes walk from my home, the other, i have to drive 30 minutes to get to) have been telling me the truth from the day i began calling them.
I couldn't bring myself to cull something i have named and laboured since it was one day old
but Mycoplasma is not cheap and easy to treat.
Having a 9-5 job means i have to administer the drugs with a spoon to the 8 in the night. They fight and scratch all while i try to keep them alive!
Huh, seeing them lay an egg, bask in the sun and take a bath or sit on my lap when i am outside enjoying the weather is a beautiful thing and makes the scratches worth it
.
Onces this animals associate you with food, protection and joy of being healthy they show you love as well. Mine have made it a habit of sitting on my lap or flying to my should when i am standing near them and they can nap while there. I just can't kill any coz of Mycoplasma.
The last thing i have learnt that is of at most importance is that all the medication opened have to be completely used.
Amprolium has a 28 days period to be effective after opening it. That is ones you open it, the air begins to weaken it and after 28 days it won't work. I have had a rooster from the 8 from hatchery develope coccidiosis, the Amprolium that i bought this year jan was not working till i thought he had something else. Two of the vets gave me the same solution, buy another one since the one i was using had already expired after 28 days.
They also told me that any other drug i use should be completed since it won't be effective after a month of being opened. Point to note, this vets don't know each other, i just call one at a time to get a 2nd and 3rd opinion
.
Sorry for the long post though. Hope I've helped. Thanks for this platform.
I am a small farmer of 23 Chicken and have come a cross this platform every time i am online researching about my birds and the diseases that affect them.
I was hesitant to join since i am cautious of my digital footprint. However i have experienced and observed some things with my bird that i haven't seen on the internet and thought it would be nice to share them here where i can learn, re-learn and unlearn from those in the same field as me.
I will not share information about my family or my personal information since i would like that to be private.
Anyways, these are the things i have experienced with my birds (i began rearing them from March 2022 - present.
I have 8 roosters and 15 pullets.
10 were from a hatchery but 2 died before they were 2 months ( please remember this)
The rest were from a broody chicken. ( Also remember this)
1. Injury
Bumble foot, cut on the legs, broken legs and wounds from being pecked.
Most victims are my rooster due to the pecking order. They fight to the point one of them has a broken leg.
Bumble foot was due to sharp objects on the ground ( have since removed them)
Treatment is done at night when the bird is resting. This does help the treatment to work uninterrupted overnight.
->Warm salty water to wash the wounds
->Iodine on a cotton swab and gently pressing it onto the clean wound.
-> Applying Vaseline to cover the wound to prevent dirt. I tried covering with bandage but they peck on it and remove it.
I usually do this for 3-5 days depending on where the wound is located. If bumble foot i do it for 5 days, where if the bird was limping, there will be a noticeable difference from day 1 of treatment to day 5.
2. Coccidiosis
Now here is the difference that i noticed with my birds
The 10 from hatchery got sick when they were 3 weeks old.
The rest from broody mum have never develope the disease while at this stage. I only gave them oxysol chick formula when i day old and that was the only medication ever given.
The ones from hatchery came after and developed the disease at week 3.
All were sick on the same day
. 1 died the rest 9 survived.What i did and discovered from the one that died:-
->I administered Amprolium in their water and personally gave them the medicine with a spoon every 30 minutes. The one that died had shown signs of improvement but i didn't know that she needed warmth to survive the low temperature that accompanies the disease. From that experience, i decided to use an old duvet that nobody uses to warm the little ones.
The rest recovered fast from the warmth and Amprolium. For the duvet to be warm for them, i used plastic bottles with hot water placed them strategically whereby they would not burn my chicks but the duvet would get the heat to them (the goal is to keep them warm not to burn them.)
-> At week 5 another one developed caecal coccidiosis. Blood and lots of blood everywhere.. I thought he would die.
Solution was Toltrazuril and the blood disappeared completely in a mater of 4 hours. Toltrazuril is one drug that performs miracles in chicken. I have never seen any drug work faster like Toltrazuril. Try it if any of your roosters or pullets have bloody poop, by the end of the day they will be pecking and picking fights with others like nothing happened.
The 9 survived until 2 months old when i lost another one to:-
3. Cholera and Mycoplasma.
In all my years living, i never thought i would here chicken snoring, coughing, having foam at the corner of their eyes, having a running nose, producing a rasp when eating, sneezing. It was all new to me plus accompanied by white green diarrhoea from cholera. I first thought it was a different type of coccidiosis but when all coccidiosis medicine failed i decided to contact a veterinarian who told me what my 2 month old was suffering.
After 1 week with the disease, the disease had done it's damage. Mycoplasma had already shut her left eye, her bones were broken from the joints by the disease (she couldn't walk, her wings were hanging low), and was too pale. I had to have her euthanized to stop the suffering. From then on i have been keen to check the diseases and treated it 3 times now.
It has managed to attack all my bird but none have died. Though the ones from broody mum only developed the disease once and have never caught it again.
The ones from hatchery have developed Mycoplasma 3 times this year till it got to a point where i separated them completely from the rest.
Treatment i have used is oxytetracycline from a brand vetoxy( this drug helped to treat cholera from the 2 that developed it) and Tylosn titrate together with doxycycline from a brand Tylodoxy.
Most vets usually tell a person that your bird has a bacteria infection since they know Mycoplasma is a bacteria and will live in your bird for life re-infecting it as well as other. They don't tell you exactly what the disease does and the only way to get rid of the disease is by culling the infected ones.
My vets (i have 3 on speed dial, 2 live a 15 minutes walk from my home, the other, i have to drive 30 minutes to get to) have been telling me the truth from the day i began calling them.
I couldn't bring myself to cull something i have named and laboured since it was one day old
but Mycoplasma is not cheap and easy to treat.Having a 9-5 job means i have to administer the drugs with a spoon to the 8 in the night. They fight and scratch all while i try to keep them alive!
Huh, seeing them lay an egg, bask in the sun and take a bath or sit on my lap when i am outside enjoying the weather is a beautiful thing and makes the scratches worth it
.Onces this animals associate you with food, protection and joy of being healthy they show you love as well. Mine have made it a habit of sitting on my lap or flying to my should when i am standing near them and they can nap while there. I just can't kill any coz of Mycoplasma.
The last thing i have learnt that is of at most importance is that all the medication opened have to be completely used.
Amprolium has a 28 days period to be effective after opening it. That is ones you open it, the air begins to weaken it and after 28 days it won't work. I have had a rooster from the 8 from hatchery develope coccidiosis, the Amprolium that i bought this year jan was not working till i thought he had something else. Two of the vets gave me the same solution, buy another one since the one i was using had already expired after 28 days.
They also told me that any other drug i use should be completed since it won't be effective after a month of being opened. Point to note, this vets don't know each other, i just call one at a time to get a 2nd and 3rd opinion
.Sorry for the long post though. Hope I've helped. Thanks for this platform.
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Most of these ailments are pretty common in flocks. I had MS in my first flock, it's a Mycoplasma as well. It's tough to watch them struggle.
to have you here with us. Enjoy your time here at BYC!
