HELP! Flock is wheezing and sneezing, not responding to treatment

[LeighPea]

Hello everyone, I am desperately seeking help for my girls. I inquired at a few local vets offices and it seems the nearest Poultry vet is about 2 hours away from us. I have three hens in a coop and two in another. The two are new and I bought them from a flea market. They showed no signs of sickness and I kept them quarantined for the two weeks time.
When I did finally introduce everyone it as during free range and they all seemed to get along fine so I left them together. Unfortunately, about a week later I noticed the three oldest and original chickens were sneezing and wheezing. I separated the old and new hens immediately. The new hens are still doing fine but my original three sound like they're dying.
The two new are very young and my original hens are about three years old, they're all RIR. The symptoms are worse in our girl Penelope, she will barely move and is in our garage with a heat lamp. They're eyes are NOT swollen and their stool is loose but not horrible, however, it does stink horrifically. I changed bedding to new dry hay, sanitized everything, changing food and water daily...I am exhausted. I have even taken off work the past two days to watch for any distress, I am incredibly worried. We have NEVER had an issue.
I am beginning to panic because I began administering Tylan 50 injections, 1/2 cc each day now for three days and things just seem to be getting worse. The girls that were only sneezing are beginning to have trouble breathing as well. I have researched everything I can but I can not seem to find anything with the same symptoms (eyes are fine). They are sneezing, wheezing, and holding up their heads to gasp for air. I just got some VetRx and gave that tonight but still seeing no immediate relief. Does anyone have any suggestions of what this may be?!

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Unfortunately quarantine doesn't get rid of stuff chickens are carrying but immune to. I avoid fleas market, and chicken swaps like the plague they are. I have also in the past infected my flock with stuff.

Not every antibiotic works on every illness. If it's a virus it will do nothing too. I don't treat illness so I'm wrong person for that advice.

@Wyorp Rock , @Eggcessive are better at that. Hopefully they can help you.

 

[IZZYBELLA]

I had wheezing, excessive sneezing and labored breathing pass through my flock this summer. I did not treat and everyone got over it. (I hadn't introduced any new birds, so they must have picked it up from wild birds.) As the previous poster said, antibiotics will not help if this is a virus. I hope others have some good advice for you on how to keep your girls as comfortable as possible... watching sick animals is never fun. You are very dedicated to have taken off work!

 

[andreanar]

Warm the vetrx in warm water and drip into each nostril and in each beak. Tylan 50 should be injected twice a day, even up to 3 times a day for a very sick chicken. It only stays in the system for 8 hrs. I would get them on some probiotics in their water also.

 

[LeighPea]

Unfortunately quarantine doesn't get rid of stuff chickens are carrying but immune to. I avoid fleas market, and chicken swaps like the plague they are. I have also in the past infected my flock with stuff.

Not every antibiotic works on every illness. If it's a virus it will do nothing too. I don't treat illness so I'm wrong person for that advice.

@Wyorp Rock , @Eggcessive are better at that. Hopefully they can help you.

I will forever avoid them after this experience. I have no idea what I was thinking trying to make our family bigger. I am so sad, they were so healthy and happy for so long without even the slightest hiccup. I can not believe I did this! Thank you for your help.

 

[LeighPea]

I had wheezing, excessive sneezing and labored breathing pass through my flock this summer. I did not treat and everyone got over it. (I hadn't introduced any new birds, so they must have picked it up from wild birds.) As the previous poster said, antibiotics will not help if this is a virus. I hope others have some good advice for you on how to keep your girls as comfortable as possible... watching sick animals is never fun. You are very dedicated to have taken off work!

Thank you! yes I was hoping if nothing else the Tylan 50 may help alleviate some of the symptoms if it were a virus. I hope this is the same case and ours makes it through as well, especially with all the time and effort weve put into everything.

 

[LeighPea]

Warm the vetrx in warm water and drip into each nostril and in each beak. Tylan 50 should be injected twice a day, even up to 3 times a day for a very sick chicken. It only stays in the system for 8 hrs. I would get them on some probiotics in their water also.

Thank you so so much! we will try the solution warm this evening and I have even roped my husband into giving another late night dosage on your advice. Maybe in the morning they will be a little less congested. I just hope the Tylan is the right thing to be administering at this point.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I will forever avoid them after this experience. I have no idea what I was thinking trying to make our family bigger. I am so sad, they were so healthy and happy for so long without even the slightest hiccup. I can not believe I did this! Thank you for your help.

I unfortunately learned the wrong way too. I only get fresh new chicks from a hatchery now. They grow up and become immune to whatever diseases are in my soil and area. I'm sorry you have to go through this. Hopefully your bird recover. Wishing you the best of luck.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Tylan 50 injections, 1/2 cc each day now for three days and things just seem to be getting worse. The girls that were only sneezing are beginning to have trouble breathing as well....They are sneezing, wheezing, and holding up their heads to gasp for air.

Hi @LeighPea Welcome To BYC

I'm very sorry to hear about your troubles.

It does sound like you are dealing with a respiratory disease. If it's viral like Infectious Bronchitis or ILT, unfortunately, antibiotics usually won't help unless there is a secondary bacterial infection.

Tylan50 is used to treat secondary infections due to respiratory illness, but you need to make sure you are giving the correct dosage. Injectable Tylan50 canbe given orally or by injection - dosage is 1cc or ml per 5lbs of weight given 2times per day. Can you weigh your sick girls?

It won't hurt to see if the Tylan50 makes a difference once you adjust the dosage, it has a large dosage range and is fairly forgiving. The VetRx is a good idea - some people report it seems to help relieve some symptoms.

Do your best to keep them hydrated - if you have poultry vitamins add those to their water.

We also tend to want to close up chickens (like we would humans) when they are sick - but they do need fresh air and plenty of ventilation, but need to be kept out of drafts especially during roosting time. Since your birds have already been exposed, it's not necessary to keep them separated, except for the ease of giving supportive care/treatment.
I don't like to mention this, but if you do lose one, then having testing/necropsy performed so you can find out what you're dealing with would be a good idea. http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ps044

Please keep us posted.

 

[Arya28]

Hello everyone, I am desperately seeking help for my girls. I inquired at a few local vets offices and it seems the nearest Poultry vet is about 2 hours away from us. I have three hens in a coop and two in another. The two are new and I bought them from a flea market. They showed no signs of sickness and I kept them quarantined for the two weeks time.
When I did finally introduce everyone it as during free range and they all seemed to get along fine so I left them together. Unfortunately, about a week later I noticed the three oldest and original chickens were sneezing and wheezing. I separated the old and new hens immediately. The new hens are still doing fine but my original three sound like they're dying.
The two new are very young and my original hens are about three years old, they're all RIR. The symptoms are worse in our girl Penelope, she will barely move and is in our garage with a heat lamp. They're eyes are NOT swollen and their stool is loose but not horrible, however, it does stink horrifically. I changed bedding to new dry hay, sanitized everything, changing food and water daily...I am exhausted. I have even taken off work the past two days to watch for any distress, I am incredibly worried. We have NEVER had an issue.
I am beginning to panic because I began administering Tylan 50 injections, 1/2 cc each day now for three days and things just seem to be getting worse. The girls that were only sneezing are beginning to have trouble breathing as well. I have researched everything I can but I can not seem to find anything with the same symptoms (eyes are fine). They are sneezing, wheezing, and holding up their heads to gasp for air. I just got some VetRx and gave that tonight but still seeing no immediate relief. Does anyone have any suggestions of what this may be?!

Hi! I'm so sorry, it does sound like you must be very tired out and worried about your girls.

A couple months back, our flock had a respiratory issue. We don't know exactly what it was, but they did get puffy eyes. I know you mentioned yours don't have that, but respiratory is respiratory, right? I wrote an article about how we ended up treating it, if you want to read that maybe it will help you. It might have been something totally different from what yours have, but it might be worth a shot if nothing your doing is working.

Some sinus-clearing herbs that might help include Rosemary and Oregano. We ended up using NutriDrench which completely cleared up their problem. It is a really good vitamin supplement, and might be enough to give their immune systems the boost they need. And it might not fix it, but it won't hurt to give it a try.

Also reccommend VetRx!

I hope this helps you! Again, so sorry you are going through this!