The Poultry Keeper

HaplessInHampshire

i had 10 hens
about a week ago i went to two different breeders and got 12 more between them.
some of them are youngsters and still on growers pellets, so they are in the cube and extended run next to the shed, but the others all went into the palace/shed and are totally free range.

on friday i noticed that scotty, my scots grey youngster was a bit quiet, so i brought her in and when she sneezed a couple of times, i took her to a vet.
vet gave me baytril (0.3ml 2x/day for 7 days).
i set up a little ark in the conservatory to keep her away from the others.

was away saturday and dp was looking after the house/chickens/children.

got back today, and 4 are now sick. have used most of the baytril. mostly, they sound chesty and ones eye is closed... but one of them looks REALLY bad... she doesnt move, or drink or eat... her eyes are closed, and her head is swollen to twice its size.

shes going to die isnt she?

but what of? and are they all going to die?

dp and i cleaned and disinfected the shed and i put lots of DE in with fresh shavings... have put tonic in water and have fingers crossed, but am worried.

most of them seem to have gut ishoos too; a lot of poos are v runny and nasty. could they be sick from overdosing on flubenvet? maybe i didnt mix it with the feed well enough?

help!
sick ones came from both breeders, so not all from one place. both seemed like good places to me.

Chris Kurzfeld · Joined: 29 Oct 2007 Posts: 1712 Location: Carmarthenshire

Sounds like Mycroplasma. See if your vet will sell you Tylan 200, it's not licenced yet for poultry but is the best thing for this. Inject 0.5ml (for large fowl, 0.3 ml for bantams) into the breast of the worst of them followed by another 0.5 ml 48 hours later. Keep them warm and draught free. Give Tylan soluable, in drinking water, to all your chooks - even those that aren't showing any symptoms yet. I had this problem recently after buying new POL Lohmanns that had been vaccinated - apparently vaccinated birds become carriers. I did lose one youngster and one oldie and had to re vaccinate one chook and few weeks later (she had the large swelling you describe). If you can get Tylan 200 into them you will be amazed at the speedy recovery. Good luck.

tuzo2k · Joined: 09 Jun 2007 Posts: 216 Location: charente sw france

I agreed Tylan injectable is the fastest treatment for mycoplasma - as the previous poster says it is not licensed for poultry. It know it is licensed for cattle as a dairy farmer helped me out with some when I was in the UK. A lot of vets still prescribe Baytril for mycoplasma but this never worked for me whereas tylan is brilliant. Powdered form is OK but not fast enough in dire circumstances. There can be an adverse fatal reaction with the injectable - perhaps this is why it is not licensed for poultry - but then the chicken will die anyway if not treated quickly. Best of luck. Jan OH Richard

HaplessInHampshire · Posted: Mon Nov 24, 2008 1:57 pm Post subject:

thanks peeps!
have just been searching the site for info on mycoplasma... sounds like i need to get hold of some tylan sharpish.

do i need to continue to keep these girls separate? warm (ish)?

(tried to post a thank you earlierr when i saw your reply, chris, dunno whewre it went. but THANK you both !)

Magpie · Joined: 28 Aug 2007 Posts: 667 Location: Norfolk

With mycoplasma it helps to have them somewhere airy so warm isn't always best. I've used tylan soluble and haven't lost any but it does sometimes take two courses (treat for 5 days, five days break, then treat for another 5 days) to clear up all the sniffles. Get a whole bottle of the soluble from the vet if possible - 100g should be about £18 so you will have plenty.

My vet won't prescribe the injectable unless the bird is at deaths door as it can, rarely, cause muscle damage where it is injected.

Tim

tuzo2k · Joined: 09 Jun 2007 Posts: 216 Location: charente sw france

As posted above my experience with Tylan injectable has been to observe many fatalities - heart attack and death. I wouldn't call this 'rarely' but I suppose it just depends on the amount of chickens you are treating. It is not registered for poultry for this precise reason. You take a chance when asking a vet to inject Tylan but he should tell you of the risks if he is prepared to administer the dose.

Chris Kurzfeld · Joined: 29 Oct 2007 Posts: 1712 Location: Carmarthenshire

Not had any problems with Tylan, both soluable and injectable - just remarkable results. I think there is a small risk but as nothing else really touches mycroplasma then I believe the small risk outweighs the benifits.
I am lucky in that I have a vet who trusts me enough to know what I am talking about re the chooks and will give me what I ask for.

Pekinout · Joined: 29 Apr 2008 Posts: 1219 Location: Cornwall

Swollen heads can mean several diseases in chickens as well as mycoplasma.

Avian Rhinotracheitis - antibiotics won't work, give multi vits.

Pneumovirus - antibiotics can help. Increase ventilation in house and make sure the chicken are not overcrowded.

Newcastle Disease - No treatment, but antibiotics can help secondary infections.

Here's a link to a poultry med site that can give you more information:

http://www.poultrymed.com/Poultry/Templates/showpage.asp?DBID=1&LNGID=1&TMID=103&FID=502&PID=1134

All the above and mycoplasma is highly infectious and will spread to your other chickens as they are airborn virus'

HaplessInHampshire · Posted: Sat Nov 29, 2008 2:26 pm Post subject:

hiya

thanks for all these replies.
the one with the big head died sadly.
a couple of days ago.
i got a mum on the school run who is a vet to give me some tylan soluble and she gave me a bottle of capsules... i ran out before long but all seemed to recover...
till yesterday i saw that 2 of the speckled sussex youngsters were not looking good. this time i got a farm animals vet to come round and see them... she has given me erithrocyn which she says does the same thing as tylan.
i have a large sachet to treat the whole flock... have made up a litre of solution and syringed some of it directly into the mouths of the two speckled...
one looks absolutely fine now (obv will continue to treat) the other still bad

her eyes are fused shut... and she is scratching at them a bit. theres a touch of blood on one.
when shown where the water is she drinks and i can syringe some in now and then... but she cant see and seems to be v hunched and im worried.

CAN I HELP CLEAR HER EYES - IF SO WHAT IS DEF A BAD THING TO TRY?? sorry for caps but thats the most urgent Q atm.

im going to get kids eyes drops from the chemist now...

Pekinout · Joined: 29 Apr 2008 Posts: 1219 Location: Cornwall

You can try bathing her eyes with cold tea (no milk in it), it's quite good for cleansing their eyes.

HaplessInHampshire · Posted: Sat Nov 29, 2008 5:42 pm Post subject:

huzzah!

i bought Clarimist eye spray for people, you spray it onto a closed eye and its supposed to lubricate it... anyway, i sprayed both eyes and literally within 4 minutes she had them open and was eating and drinking and pecking about the place!! she is going to be FINE now!!

hurrah hurrah hurrah !