Loss, Learning, and Love

Sunday I discovered one of my Silver Laced Wyandotte chicks was sick. She was rasping for air and could not breathe. I quarantined her and used a dropper to administer ACV water. More than 24 hours later, she did not improve, and grew worse. After spending hours researching the issue, I found she had some sort of respiratory disease. The only treatment is antibiotics.  

Let me start by saying one of the reasons I wanted to raise chickens was so that I could have meat not “infected” with pesticides or antibiotics. I know what commercial poultry farms do to their birds, and I have stopped buying commercial meat altogether, including beef. I stopped eating pork a long time ago. The only fish I buy at the store is wild-caught salmon. The rest of our fish is supplied by our fishing excursions to streams & spring-fed lakes. Our diet mainly consists of venison, salmon, crappie, trout, bluegill, and bass. We also do not eat catfish. But I digress.

I decided, when I first got chickens, that I would not treat them with anything that wasn’t 100% natural. So antibiotics were out of the question. This poor girl was so bad, and I wasn’t going to watch her suffer. Monday, when I got home from work, and I saw there was no improvement, I humanely put the chick down. I hated to do it. Killing something you are going to eat is different. I don’t like to see animals die for no reason. It was such a difficult thing for me to do. But it had to be done, and there you have it.

Wednesday I found another sick chick in the same pen. This time it was one of my Light Brahmas. Her eyes were very puffy and she had fluid coming out of her eyes and nose. She did not show any labored breathing or wheezing like the first chick. She is now in quarantine, along with another Silver Laced Wyandotte showing similar symptoms. After doing even more research, here is what I have found. It seems to be an outbreak of Infectious Coryza. It’s very common, and has no cure. Once a chicken catches it, they are a carrier for life, if they survive the illness. From what I have read, it shows its ugly face when new chickens are introduced to a flock, and one of the new chickens is a carrier. It also seems that combining chicks of different breeds and different ages can trigger it. I recently combined my SLWs and Brahmas in the outdoor pen.

Again the issue comes up: should I use antibiotics??

After much prayer, lots of research, and a long discussion with dad, here's what I came up with:

     A) Antibiotics only stay in a chicken's bloodstream for about 5 days, depending on the drug used
     B) I can save my flock by spending a little money, instead of letting them die and waste all the time and money I put into them
     C) I have to ensure these chicks do not infect the rest of my healthy flock

I chose the safest antibiotic I could find: sulfadimethoxine. Not only does it treat infectious Coryza, but it also treats Cocci, and E. coli - both of which may also be existent in my little birds. I only have to treat them for up to 5 days, so I will take it one day at a time, and let the Lord show me what to do.

The great news is that the chick showing the worst symptoms has healed a bit already. Only one side of her face is swollen now, and there is no discharge in her eyes. Praise God!

I will write another post in a few days once I see the results of the treatment. Prayers are welcome! :)