Several of my 5 month old pullets are sneezing and a couple of them have puffy/watery eyes. I have looked in the sticky but can't find any disease that fits their symptoms - unless, perhaps, a mild form of an avian flu. They seem to feel fine: eat, drink and potter around normally. Any suggestions?
Sneezing Chickens
Moxie had chickens with respiratory problems which were quite serious...but I think there are also much milder diseases, more like colds.
I googled "chickens respiratory disease" and found a lot of information. It might be wise to start them on antibiotics since even with viral infections there can be secondary bacterial infections that do more damage. Not that I usually jump to antibiotics...but sometimes they can be helpful.
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/diseaseinfo/121/respiratory-disease-complex
I had a similiar problem about two years ago and I put them on teramycin for about a week in their water and they cleared right up. I don't know if the antibiotic did the trick or if it was like a mild cold (sneeze). Also the whole flock did not get infected so not sure this helps...Good luck to you Porkpal...Hay
Well, I don't suppose an antibiotic is likely to hurt anything - especially as they are not yet laying. It's worth a try. Thanks.
hope they recover PP. May be a cold with the hot then cooler then hot weather we have had the last couple of weeks
There is a good chance you have Chronic Respiratory Disease/Mycoplasmosis Tylan 50 injection is the fastest but Oxytetracycline in their water works well. Chicken do not usually get that sick, peacocks is another story. http://www.vonrussellfarm.com/pffrontpage.html also has pictures of the best place to give shots.
Thanks Kenboy.
Oxytetracycline is just a big word for terramycin...Hay
Yes, I keep it on hand. Thanks Hay.
good info. Being new to chicken keeping I guess I better be finding out what I need to keep on hand for such emergencies
Oxytetracycline was the second of the broad-spectrum tetracycline group of antibiotics to be discovered, slightly different. Terramycin is a brand name brand of Tetracycline. Oxytetracycline has been found to be slightly more affective on Chronic Respiratory Disease/Mycoplasmosis than Tetracycline but either one will work. Baytril is also quite affective but is not found in as many feed stores, Tractor Sup. etc.
According to Texas A&M, Mycoplasmosis is found in 90% of back yard flock of poultry in the state of Texas. Most people do not know their birds have the disease until they show signs of having a cold. It is quiet common at flea markets and bird shows. It shows up when birds are under stress and usually does not last long in chickens, even it birds go untreated, peafowl and turkeys are another story. I have shipped bird all across the country and received many a bird that came out of the box with swollen eyes and the shipper had no knowledge it was ill. When birds come down with Mycoplasmosis, they usually also come down with the secondary infection of e-coli. If you run a culture from fluids from the eye, the first reading you will get is e-coli. E-coli is not severe in birds and will go away when you cure the Mycoplasmosis.
In chickens the easiest way to get the drug into their system is putting it in their water. In peafowl the disease is much more problematic. In a very short time their eyes will get so swollen they are unable to see, sometimes in just two days. The fastest way to get the drug into the system is by injection. The best drugs for injection is Tylon 50 and Baytril. The best place to inject the drug is strait into the sinus cavity. It put the drug where the infection is. There is a picture of where to inject and more information on our Web-site; http://www.vonrussellfarm.com/pfcare.html I know, this freaks a lot of people out but it is really quite simple. This is very seldom needed for chickens but if you get a case where the bird is very sick or just does not get better this will usually fix them up.
If I get a sick bird I like to get them back to good health quick. If you have one sick bird on the place and they do not get better soon, the whole flock can get the disease. Chickens do not carry handkerchiefs, so they wipe their nose on their backs and since chickens are bad about feather picking, the disease can spread fast. Feathers blowing in the wind can spread the disease from pen to pen. This disease often shows up when the weather makes a big change or if it rains a lot and birds get cold. I very cold weather the disease is killed by freezing temperatures, so the spread is not as fast. Keep your birds healthy, good food, clean water, etc and these outbreaks will be few and minor. This disease can also be passed on from hen to egg to chick. So very young chicks can come down with the disease if they are under stress.