Untitled

Fighting Respiratory Illnesses in your Flock

I am not a veterinarian, and as I'm here and you're there, I don't claim to be able to give a true recommendation as to what you should do with your birds if they are ill. However, there are some things that I have learned while raising poultry that I hope will help you to keep your respiratory illness time down to a minimum in your flock. I hope this information can be of use to you.

When a chicken has a respiratory problem, I believe it's best to attack the illness with three weapons: Antibiotics (always paired with probiotics), Nutrional support, and Decongestants.

ANTIBIOTICS Despite what the feedstore clerks recommend, I hold little faith in water soluable antibiotics (especially Terramycin), and for good reason. First, you can never really be sure how much the bird is taking in. If they're taking less than the recommended dosage, you could actually be setting up the bird for antibiotic resistance problems. Also, many vitamins and antibiotics lose their effectiveness sitting in water. Unfortunately, sometimes that's all one has (or can afford). So to boost the effect, give the full dosage in the water AND then use the amount recommended for one gallon in one CUP of water, instead. Mix that medicated cup of water into some old fashioned oats, crumbles, or whatever you know your birds just can't resist. Try mixing something else like chopped grapes into it to further tempt them. That way you'll know that at least they got good medicine before it could degrade. Treat your vitamins in the same way to prevent them degrading in the water and leaving a 'soup' in which bacteria flourish.

Injectable antibiotics are by far the better option. It's really simple to give a shot to a chicken if you follow a few simple rules. I'll post what I learned as a vet tech above for those who might be interested. On behalf of injectables, they're less likely to degrade and lose efficiency, they get to the system quicker, and you KNOW that your bird got the whole dose. I love them and Tylan 50 is my all time favorite! It gets the job done in three days, five max.

ANTIBIOTICS' PARTNER, PROBIOTICS: As with any time you give antibiotics, you should also give "probiotics" daily during treatment and for two days thereafter to prevent secondary intestinal complications due to good bacteria getting off balance because of the antibiotic. An easy way is by using yogurt (1 tablespoon per adult bird) mixed in crumbles or anything else the bird simply can't resist! Usually the first time they find it a bit sticky, but thereafter they'll love you for it. I use non-artificially sweetened 'live culture'. You can also use human probiotics or livestock prepared probiotics. Just make sure it either says 'live culture' or refers to CFU (Colony forming units).

NUTRITIONAL SUPPORT: The target vitamin which helps birds with respiratory illness (and health) is Vitamin A. Unfortunately, you can overdose a bird with this vitamin so don't use human "Vitamin A". You can instead use Beta Carotene, which breaks down into only the amount of Vitamin A that a bird needs. Also, you could use cod liver oil, or wheat germ oil blend once a week at a rate LESS THAN 2% of their total feed weight for the day. Mix that into your yogurt glop, or into crumbles or grain. For those who can't measure 2% (like me) pour a tablespoon into a bucket of grain, stir thoroughly and quickly, and repeat until the grains or pellets are only slightly more shiney. Vitamin A helps respiratory health, mucous membrane health, and eye health. Your bird will need this additional support during illness because he's using up his normal supply to fight his "cold".

DECONGESTANTS: A bird can't heal if the bird can't breath. It can be assumed, upper or lower respiratory, that if your chicken has a cold or problem that it will have inflammation making breathing more difficult. Help him along by rubbing VetRx on his wattles, comb, beak, and under the wings (for when he sleeps). Warm it up and use it straight. You can also drop a couple of drops, straight, down the throat for the Chicken-Listerine effect. Furthermore, you could add that to the yogurt-vitamin-glop! He'll breath better and heal better. If you can't find VetRx in your area, you could make it at home using 50% each Spirits of Camphor and Castor Oil.

If you attack each case of respiratory 'crud' this way, you'll find that your birds are under treatment for less time and recover more easily. I hope that it works for you as well as it has for me!