# Respiratory infection



## morningsidefarmva (Nov 21, 2014)

Sorry for this long forum,
February was a horrible month for us. We lost our daughter and my hens came down with a respiratory issue. I lost 6 of them. They were coughing,sneezing,running nose and eyes and basically stop laying. It started out with a few hens and then everyone came down with it.
Researching this it sounded like CRD. My biggest problem is I bought 32 new chicks in three different orders. I had them in another area of our property where these hens do not have contact with them. We emptied the coop where the sick hens lived and moved them as well. We emptied,hosed and sprayed the coop with vinegar. We kept it emptied for a month. Part of the coop has wood floor ,part has dirt floor , which We dug a couple inches of dirt out of there as well. I have half the new chicks in there now. I did not have them vaccinated either. I have never had issues with this before . The brooder cage with 2nd batch were on the dirt floor with shavings. Yesterday I noticed a chick was not moving around much when I got her her eyes were matted shut. Took her and isolated her and put RX on her nostril,cleaned her eyes. Today I gave her some LA200. This concerns me that we have more of an issue. Thinking it might be MG.
The hens that were sick, are starting to lay after I added poultry booster to their food. 

My concerns are ,can I vaccinate these small chicks or is it to late specially since I have other hens that were sick. 
Should I treat all my new girls for M G and vaccinate them.
Love to hear you thoughts . Been reading so much about this.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I've provided a link to Tiamulin and how to use it from NIH. That's if it is MG. It would be helpful to know what you're dealing with rather than guessing and throwing the wrong drugs at them. Your high mortality rate is concerning. A necropsy to establish what exactly is going on would be the best choice.

If you contact your state ag they can tell you what they can do to help you establish what this is.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19834086

Please keep us posted on what you learn.


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## Maryellen (Jan 21, 2015)

My condolences to you on your daughter. 

The only way to know is to have blood and cheek swabs done to see what you are dealing with. 
If its MG all the chicks are probably infected as vinegar doesnt kill bacteria nor viruses.

Oxine and virkon and what robin said do kill pretty much everything


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## Maryellen (Jan 21, 2015)

The oxine and virkon is sprayed on the coop,in the coop, wash the food and water containers. The birds do not drink these two cleaners.

to treat the chickens you can get Denagard at amazon and denagard goes in their water containers so they drink it.


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## morningsidefarmva (Nov 21, 2014)

Maryellen said:


> The oxine and virkon is sprayed on the coop,in the coop, wash the food and water containers. The birds do not drink these two cleaners.
> 
> to treat the chickens you can get Denagard at amazon and denagard goes in their water containers so they drink it.


Would I treat even the hens that were sick with Denegard as well.


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## morningsidefarmva (Nov 21, 2014)

Is it to late to vaccinate the chicks?


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I'm going to say, probably. If they've been exposed to the bacterium then vaccination will not have the time necessary to build antibodies against it. And that's only if it is the right disease. 

I haven't explored poultry vaccines in some time but the MG vaccine was known to create carriers which would mean anything brought in would still need to be vaccinated and none could leave the property. 

No, on treating the recovered birds. Tiamulin and Denguard are the same drug. I can never remember the common name Denguard for some reason.


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## Maryellen (Jan 21, 2015)

All the birds should be treated , denagard goes in their drinking water add sugar as its bitter tasting. Once a bird shows symptoms everyone is already infected. 
Once infected the vaccine wont work. Vaccinate any new birds before they get to your property. 
Some birds wont make it, some will. The ones that make it will be carriers for life. Stress, cold weather,extreme hot weather will bring the mg out


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## morningsidefarmva (Nov 21, 2014)

Two question

Is there a withdrawal peiord with denagard?
Reading online a natural source is oregano for respiratory issues. Anyone try this?
I sell my eggs. Also putting inI drinking water my hens hangout with my goats. Not sure how I would do this.


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## Maryellen (Jan 21, 2015)

I am not sure on egg withdrawal . There might not be one with denagard. If there is its probably 2 weeks. 
Oregano oil supposedly works too


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## Sylie (May 4, 2018)

Hi  I would like to weigh in as a medicinal herbalist for both people and animals and treat my chickens and ducks only with herbs and natural remedies and preventatives. Vinegar is antibacterial (see this study: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9713753/) and here is an article on it being antiviral: https://www.enotes.com/homework-help/apple-cider-vinegar-antiviral-134207.

Oregano is also really amazing at treating and preventing respiratory and other bacterial infections and no, there is no withdrawl period.

You can put 2 TBSP of apple cider vinegar per gallon of water and let them all have it, it won't hurt your goats either. You can also give them garlic water (5 garlic cloves scored but kept whole per gallon of water) but don't put the garlic and vinegar together, keep them in separate bowls. Don't let your goats at the garlic water or they will eat the cloves before they have a chance to soak and put the "goody" in the water for the chickens.

If you want/need I can supply a ton of articles and references on the ACV, oregano and garlic. These remedies have been proven to be effective anecdotally for hundreds of years and scientifically for over 50 yrs.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

No withdrawal on Denagard. It might have been that NIH article but one of them that I read stated studies showed that there was no withdrawal time for meat or eggs. 

Another study I read from Europe showed that the sooner birds were treated with the drug the higher the probability they would be completely cleared of the disease.


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## dawg53 (Aug 25, 2015)

Denagard is the way to go for MG, if in fact it's MG. MG bacteria can only survive in the environment for 3 days because it lacks a cell wall. The problem with poultry respiratory diseases is that birds can have more than one disease at the same time. For example; MG and coryza, MG and Infectious Bronchitis (IB) which in fact is a viral disease and antibiotics wont treat it. It's that same for MG and Infectious Laryngotracheitis (ILT.) The list goes on.
If there is more than one disease involved with MG, vaccination would be ineffective.
The other diseases I mentioned have longer course times and all are very infective, including MG.
Here's the kicker; these diseases can be carried on your person, clothing, shoes, hands, tires on your vehicle etc...
Diseases can be picked up from birds off Craigslist, farmer down the road, swap meets, chicken shows, agricultural fairs, breeders, even at feed stores. 
I wash up and change into "chicken clothes" when coming back home from the feed store. I have "chicken shoes" outside our back porch. Biosecurity.
As mentioned, you should contact your local county or city extension office or talk to a vet about getting your sickest bird tested. You can also contact a college veterinary school that'll do tests for you. 
Contact the University of Georgia Vet school in Tifton. They will test a chicken for you. You can call them for more info, check packing instructions and fees for testing.
http://vet.uga.edu/dlab/user_guide/collect_samples


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## morningsidefarmva (Nov 21, 2014)

Sylie said:


> Hi  I would like to weigh in as a medicinal herbalist for both people and animals and treat my chickens and ducks only with herbs and natural remedies and preventatives. Vinegar is antibacterial (see this study: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9713753/) and here is an article on it being antiviral: https://www.enotes.com/homework-help/apple-cider-vinegar-antiviral-134207.
> 
> Oregano is also really amazing at treating and preventing respiratory and other bacterial infections and no, there is no withdrawl period.
> 
> ...


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