Sooo much pooping

[EmyMoo]

Hi all, I got 3 beautiful hybrid hens 7 weeks ago. They are around 26 weeks old now, one has been laying regularly for 2 weeks now, the other 2 are yet to lay. I had a bit of bad luck with them, as Dotty had mycoplasma recently, she never seemed quite right when we got her but being new to chicken keeping I wasn't sure what the norm was, she was a bit snotty from day 1 but only mildly. I bought them from what I thought was a decent seller and they were supposed to be vaccinated against the major respiratory diseases . A couple of weeks ago she got very snotty, bubbles coming out her eyes and sneezing lots and under the weather / off her food. Betty, the other one who is not yet laying had been a bit snotty too and on a very hot day a few weeks ago had had a bad day with bubbly eyes but then picked up loads the next day after some vit drops and seemed to go back to normal. I took Dotty to the vets a couple of weeks ago and the vet gave her a Tylan injection, and after that she picked up loads and has been eating really well since and seems to be gaining weight. No eggs yet but I'm not bothered at mo as just want her to get 100% better. However I've noticed that Betty has seemed snotty in the last few days and is sneezing a little, no bubbles in her eyes and she's eating fine and happy, I'm just a bit worried that she may have a touch of mycoplasma and may need antibiotics to get rid of it completely.

I had been hoping the vet would give me soluble Tylan to treat Dotty so I could treat the others too and could easily repeat the treatment in the future. However vet said that they don't give soluble Tylan to domestic chickens as it's in a massive pot and so they do the injection instead (at £10 a go). She said if Dotty needs another dose I should just bring her back in again, and same if the other chickens need treating too. However I'm loathe to do this as it really stresses the chooks out taking them in the car, and I've also read bad things about muscle damage from the Tylan injection. Does anyone know anywhere where you can buy a small quantity of Tylan soluble instead of the 100g tub, or has your vet prescribed you just a small amount with no issue? I may call them on Monday and ask again if they'll just sell me 10g or similar, or issue a prescription so I can buy elsewhere. I would never use even a fraction of a 100g tub, and can't afford to be spending lots of money at the moment as my husband has just lost his job, he had a collapsed lung just before we got the chooks and his work sacked him last week for taking time off due to his, totally unfair but very stressful and we're obviously trying to be careful with money.

[mollyripkim]

Sorry to hear about your troubles, my vet weighed out the amount of soluable powder I needed once, can't remember how much it was but I believe a large Tub is around £40.

[EmyMoo]

Thanks, if I need some I may try again to convince the vet to sell me a small amount. However Betty today laid her first egg so quite exciting I've not noticed her looking snotty today so hopefully she'll be OK without Tylan but will keep an eye on her. She did get very wet the other day in the rain and went to bed still wet so maybe that's why she went a bit snotty again?!

[Luvachicken]

I have asked about Tylan before and was told that the vets don't tend to have it unless they have a lot of patients that need it.

It goes off too quick once they have opened it which makes it very expensive to put on just a few patients.

[The Dogmother]

I have used it before, but only n the injectable form, so can't really help you.

 

If your hen has been poorly since you got her, then the supplier should really offer to replace her, or at least pay the vets fees, as he must have had Myco in the flock for her to display symptoms that quickly.

 

I hope that you get it sorted