Infectious Bronchitis - Need good advice

[snowboarding.matt]

Hi All,

I'm new to this forum. I have two Buff Orpingtons one is about two years (stew) and the other at point of lay (little one), we've only had her around 4 weeks.

For some context: We had a fox attack a little over 4 weeks ago. the 2 year old chicken (stew) was injured and her sister (cassie) was killed

the two year old chicken (stew) a few weeks ago was a big healthy hen but has lost almost 2kg in weight in about 4 weeks, this may be down to the stress of the attack/loosing her sister. Whilst the younger hen (little one) still appears to be gaining weight.

Both Chickens now have coughs, sneezes, quite snotty and a runny nose and have been visually diagnosed as having infectious bronchitis, this started around two weeks ago hasn't really improved much. (I suspect the infection was brought by the new chicken)

Both chickens appear to have a good appetite, eating pellets and various treats like apples, bananas and mashed potato etc. They also seem to be drinking ok.

Energy is a little down with 'Stew' but 'little one' seems fairly energetic.

The poop has been a little runny at times over the last few weeks (mainly on 'little one') but has been ok the last few days

We are giving both chickens a course of antibiotics to fight a possible secondary infection.

The Hens have a coup, with hay bedding, inside a mesh run.

What I would like to know is, if anyone has any good advice, as to how to care for the chickens, to ensure we don't lose them.

Any help you can offer is very much appreciated.

Many Thanks

 

[dawg53]

Why do you suspect Infectious Bronchitis Virus (IBV?) There are many poultry diseases that fit the description that you described. Typically with IBV, eggs that are laid by an infected hen are mishapen...usually wrinkled and when cracked open, there are watery egg whites. Here's a link for you to read. Scroll down to Infectious Coryza and Mycoplasma Gallisepticum (MG.)
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ps044
You will have to have bloodwork conducted or necrospy done to find out which respiratory disease it is for sure. You can contact your state agriculture dept or county extension agent for more information how to go about doing this.

 

[flashover1969]

Welcome to the forums snowboarding.matt!

Please do not take any offense, but there is no way to "visually" diagnose a specific respiratory infection.

Read up on the link dawg gave you, as it has lots of great information.

Here is another link for you:

http://www.nt.gov.au/d/Content/File/p/Anim_Dis/668.pdf

 

[georgeandmildredgoose]

hope your chickens get well soon.

 

[snowboarding.matt]

Thank you for the responses. Both Chickens did indeed make a full recovery, following on from a few visits to the vets to get antibiotics to fight infection.

We found that plenty of mashed potato helped them gain weight.