williamspencer98 Posted July 16, 2012 Share Posted July 16, 2012 Hi all, been a long time since I have posted about the sudden death of Prudence and Lou Lou. Mildred fell really really poorly one night last week, so we took her to the vets. Her eyes were foamy, she was gaping, and she was sneezing and coughing alot. We thought we need to get to the bottom of this because the other 2 deaths had these symptoms but no where near as bad as this. So we took Mildred to the vet, looking seriously ill and the vet was either prepared to give her some antibiotics or put her to sleep I don't belive in euthanasia myself so we decided to take the antibiotic route. He jabbed her there and then (jab at £5 each) and we took her the next 2 nights for two more jabs and she looks just as she used to now, no gaping, no sneezing, and she can see now! Her eyes were so gunked up and scabbing over, I felt so sorry for her But unfortunately Wilhelmina fell ill with just the same symptoms so we took her down to the vet with Mildred for Mildred's 3rd jab. The vet said that it is a contagious respiratory disease, probably Mycoplasma so he jabbed both of them on Friday night. He also gave us Tylan to put in the water too. Whilst Mildred is looking beautiful again, Wilhelmina looks terrible. Her eyes are inflamed and closed, she's gaping, and rattling alot. We've made another vet appointment for tonight for another jab, I'm really hoping that it will work just like it did with Mildred. The vet said that he doesn't feel brilliant about giving antibiotics in a chicken, that are really for dogs and cats, but he said that's only if they're going to be table birds (which they're not going to be! ) I'm prepared for the other birds to go down with it too, I just hope they all fight it off with the help of the antibiotic! It just shows, if you spend £5 you can have the same hen, back to normal rather than ending her life artificially Has anyone else had these problems and how did you solve them? Thanks Will Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daphne Posted July 16, 2012 Share Posted July 16, 2012 Hi Will - this is the 3rd time I've tried to reply....my computer keeps deleting my responses I tried to send 2 replies to your last message when you lost your other 2 girls. Basically I was going to say that when we get new birds the process of moving can be very traumatic for them and they often get ill and/or they are ill anyway and the process of moving triggers an outbreak. The illness is often respiratory, and the symptoms you described sounded like myco which can be a severe disease. This is why we should always quarantine them (for 14 days if you can manage it) and I was going to advise you to keep a very close eye on your flock. It now sounds to me like you do have a classic case of birds with mycoplasma - which is often brought on by a stressor, in this case moving house. Unfortunately, as your vet has said, it can be spread. As you have seen, antibiotics can save a bird, but I am sorry to tell you they do not always work, so don't pin all your hopes on the injections although they are the quickest way to get the drugs into the bird. Its good that the vet has given you tylan to put in the water, although in my view it is even better to dose them all individually using a syringe (if you feel up to it) as you are never sure if they are drinking enough when they are poorly. I hope Wilhemina gets better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redwing Posted July 16, 2012 Share Posted July 16, 2012 The vet should have given you enough Tylan to treat them all when your first went in Otherwise you will be going round in circles If they havent given you enough Tylan for all of the birds I would go back and ask for some Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
