Poultry Talk Ontario (pto.ca)

I noticed cold like symptoms in one of my hens during the recent cold spell. Tonight, when I went to tuck them in, a second one was showing the same symptoms. I'm worried that it will spread through so I should isolate the two? This is my third winter with chickens and I've never experienced this. Can someone recommend treatment? And what temperature is too cold for chickens?

Yes, absolutely, isolate if you can. I recommend trying VetRx as the first line of defense. If there is no improvement by next day, go for the big guns - don't mess around. Time is of the essence: Tylan 50 or the like (Baytril, for example, works wonders).

Sounds like to me like CRD (chronic respiratory disease), move fast and medicate as they will die after two or three days.

Its happened to me twice in 30 years, both in cold and wet conditions (November, December).

http://www.birdhealth.com.au/crd-chroni ... ry-disease

This hit me with young birds, not yet a year old, so "the more complicated form" as written by this doc applied to me.

get all the sick ones isolated right away, and any that seem off.....and get them onto higher protein (boss, dry cat food supplements, mashed up hard boiled egg etc) along with their regular food and get some tylan, vetRx, tetracycline or super booster into them-usually via their drinking water. If they do survive and get better, know that they could become carriers (even if they don't show symptoms anymore) and it will likely reoccur any time they get stressed (like a cold snap in the spring or cold and wet, or change in seasons etc).
and don't be shocked if you lose them in the first 2-3 days....chickens are masters at hiding sickness (because they're a prey animal) until the last minute....and sometimes by the time we can see they aren't well, they're too far along to bring back.
good luck....most (if not all of us) have been through this at one point or another.....we totally understand.....

I've checked out two local feed stores and called two others, nobody carries Vetrx?! Where can I get this stuff?

I've never found vetrx in stores near me either. I've only seen it sold by a vendor at a buy/sell/trade. Heres a link for amazon.ca

https://www.google.ca/aclk?sa=L&ai=DChc ... IIw&adurl=

Most feed stores will have powdered tetracycline or Oxysol that you mix with water. Of course that only works if the bird is still drinking as once they get very ill they will stop. If they are still eating and drinking I use the medicated water to moisten their food into a mush to entice them to eat more and get more meds into them. I hope something helps.

VetRX is just basically Vick's VapoRub for animals. If you can't find it, you can make your own, or use Vicks, or even Buckley's Original cough syrup. Just original mixture though.

You could try Neo-Chlor it is normally available at TSC, many of the other antibiotics or other medications you will have to get from a vet or online. I order all my meds online and since I am close to US boarder easy to pop across and pick up.

JimW

We use OXYTETRA-A for our sick hens. We got it at the feed store and find it works really well.
This morning, I just reintroduced our house hen back with the flock. We kept her in a huge cardboard box in the house, and let her out for exercise during the day. She recovered from her wheezing quite well.
This time, because it was terribly freezing temperatures, she was in the house longer than expected - 4 weeks.

It's likely that they all have already been exposed, but yes, isolate sickies and closely watch the rest. Maybe somebody had something that remained hidden until the severe weather stressed it out, maybe their immunity was dhown and they caught it from wild birds, but no matter where it came from, or which ones are showing symptoms and which aren't, treat all birds aggressively. If it's a respiratory virus, many will only take hold in a bird if certain bacteria are also plentiful.
It's true that antibiotics won't kill viruses, , but they CAN prevent certain viruses from getting a foothold in your flock. Knock down e-coli, and you'll have fewer deaths at least.
Once a bird sounds rattly, it is a definite carrier, and will shed virus, be contagious, forever. Even if it seems fully recovered, it will come out during moves, predator stress, a change in flock order, or temperature or humidity swings, or if a Sparrow finds its way into your coop and farts too loudly .If a bird makes a rattling or gurgling sound when breathing, unless you have a well-defined plan to breed for resistance, I recommend that said bird be euthanized a.s.a.p.