Vets given my friends chicken a death sentence HELP

Hi there,

I too had sneezy hens blowing bubbles out of their nostrils, with a rattle when they were breathing. It was brought in by new hens and transferred to some of my old hens - I didn't quarantine them properly when they first came.

Anyway I got Baytril from my vet who was much more sympathetic than yours sounds, I had to separate the affected one, and give it to her with a syringe into the mouth. It did spread through a few of them one at a time, so I had a big enough supply from the vet to last me, but I got rid of it - I don't know what it was incidentally, just some sort of respiratory infection.

They all came through it ok, I called happy chicks and spoke to Sarah there because I was ordering just about everything she had in natural remedies for chooks from her website. There are particular products there to help boost immunity when on medication, Nutri drops it might be or citrus? She also advised me to give natural yoghurt while on the antibiotics, I gave it to all the hens not just the poorly ones, and they loved it.

Try not to worry, and I would go to another vet if I were you, one a bit less arrogant, making stupid throw away comments when you're worried sick does not help!

I did see something on the forum about finding vets that know chickens, not many do, mainly because commercial breeders don't call a vet to a chicken, not cost effective.

Good luck, and have a read through forums and things to help with preventative measures and natural remedies.

Helen

Your friends chicken has got an upper respiratory disease and most likely has a bacterium cause not fungal though this is possible too.  If a bacterium it needs urgent antibiotic treatment if it is to be treated at all.  Google Chronic Respiratory Disease in chickens or mycoplasma gallisepticum (MG) in chickens. 

Baytril or Tylan are the usual a/bs which are effective at suppressing the symptoms but  there's NO cure and this hen will be a carrier for life and will continue to have outbreaks and become infectious. Frankly it would be best to cull her if the other birds are healthy why risk their lives.

It's sometimes known as stress disease also because it often is brought on by stress for example a move, onset of lay, a moult, heat, any other infection etc.  Don't pass on this bird or breed from her if you keep her and she will infect the others.

Ex batts can be a reservoir of infection and I would never every mix them with other free range unvaccinated birds as both groups can easily cross infect.  Lets be clear batts and backyard free range birds are from completely different environments and have been exposed to a completely different set of infections.  They will not necessarily have antibodies which protect them when they are exposed to one another.  Most times you will be lucky but it can go horribly wrong too.

Your friends vet also sounds totally ignorant of laying hens which are very spare and aren't plump.  You should be able to feel their breast bones so the advice (s)he is giving has to be suspect too.

Quarentine is important for such infections as they usually show themselves after a rehome move but 3 weeks normally suggested is by no means a total guarentee that the new hens and the old ones won't cross infect once mixed.  The risk is greatest when the previous environmental exposure of the two groups is entirely alien and it's a risk you either decide to take or not.

Sorry to sound so negative but it's best to have your eyes open to all the possibilities to balance your decision.  You do risk spreading the infection on your shoes and clothing by mutual visits and hand washing isn't suficient precaution.  That said MG is easily killed with any disinfectant and doesn't lve long off a bird.
HF

I have just brought a hen back from the brink that the vet said 8 days ago was going to die. In fact, she was so convinced that she gave my girl an antibiotic injection but wouldn't give me any more for the following days so as to 'not charge you for something you wouldn't use'! I rang the vet the next day to tell her the chook had made it through the night and she put up the rest of the course of baytril. Rita was already isolated from my others because she was raising a chick (which is also fine!) so it didn't spread to my other girls. Rita is now doing great

Scary

What was the diagnosis of what was wrong with your bird Mary?  Vets are usually right though not always as their knowledge of pet chx is often lacking.

HF

HF - upper respiratory tract infection. She sounded like she had a sore throat and was wheezing on in and out breaths. She collapsed when we got to the vets and we didn't think she would make the short journey home. There was no mucous or bubbling from the mouth. I'm fortunate to have a vet who knows about chickens - the practice is a small animal specialist and there are a lot of backyard poultry keepers in our area.This vet is the vet of choice. I consider myself lucky,

Scary

Thank you all I appreciate all your advice and am passing it on to Helen.

I have a very nice and knowledgeable vet who raises her own poultry. She tells me that myco can be endemic in any free range flock without doing any great harm. If wild birds have contact with your flock then eradicating the infection would never be possible. In a large flock or commercial flock she would always advice a total cull and new start, with my dozen she just treated the poorly bird with Baytril. Other birds do have sneezes and stuff now and again but they are all fine and I live with it. Not wishing to be flippant, there is no cure for most upper respiratory infections in humans, we let them run their course and don't expect everyone to die (or be killed!) unless they become seriously ill with it.

Quote from: Jane-M on July 08, 2011, 10:24

I have a very nice and knowledgeable vet who raises her own poultry. She tells me that myco can be endemic in any free range flock without doing any great harm. If wild birds have contact with your flock then eradicating the infection would never be possible. In a large flock or commercial flock she would always advice a total cull and new start, with my dozen she just treated the poorly bird with Baytril. Other birds do have sneezes and stuff now and again but they are all fine and I live with it. Not wishing to be flippant, there is no cure for most upper respiratory infections in humans, we let them run their course and don't expect everyone to die (or be killed!) unless they become seriously ill with it.

I totally agree. Both of my 2 have had, I think, mycoplasma. One was through stress and and the other seemed to catch it off her. Luckily the first managed to shake it off with a bit of TLC and the second recovered quickly after she was wormed - obviously I know worming in itself isn't a cure but my logic was that if she was carrying worms then that would not be helping her to fight off anything else she might have.

I just try and trust my instincts if they seem off colour. I would never hesitate to take my hens to the vet if I thought they were suffering but other wise I keep a very close eye on them.

I would agree that with a small flock of pet chx you can live with MG and simply treat an outbreak with a/b as they occur.  This is PROVIDED they will remain isolated and you never want to show them or breed from them or let them come into contact with other birds.  However MG should not be taken lightly it is chronic in nature and frankly if you have heathy birds at the present, for the sake of one ex batt which is likely not to live beyond 2 - 3 yo and is probably 18months now and is likely to be a continuing source of trouble and vets bills, why expose your healthy birds to this individual.  Of course you make your own choices which was what I was trying to say in my earlier mail.

One of the reasons MG is endemic in backyard flocks is that inexperienced keepers are ignorant of these infections and seem to think they are like colds in humans and don't take proper precautions to stop the spread.  I'm affraid the fad for rehoming ex batts endangers all enthusiast pure breed chicken keepers when inexperienced people don't understand the dangers. 

I never advise inexperienced keepers to rehome ex batts.  They certainly aren't the ideal chx for first time keepers.  I applaud peoples compassion in wanting to give these birds a happy retirement but that compassion must come with a responsibility to other keepers too.  I see a day fast approaching when all keepers and pure breed rearers are going to have to vaccinate their birds for a multitude of diseases in order to keep infections away.  10 years ago I would never have thought of vaccinating my birds but now I worry about it at each new generation.

HF