When a respiratory disease shows up in a flock, it hits hard and fast. Within days every hen will show symptoms. There are a variety of respiratory ailments caused by numerous bacteria, but symptoms are similar for all of them. Eyes bubble with mucus,  chickens struggle to breathe, and the birds will be listless. Left untreated, all of your chickens will die. It’s no wonder that many farmers cull at the first hint of illness. No one wants to see death rampage through their flock.  However, for the backyard chicken keeper, there are other ways to deal with respiratory disease.

I once brought home a lovely Rhode Island Red pullet. Within days, all of my other hens came down with a respiratory disease caused by the bacterium, Mycoplasma gallisepticum, (MG.) The bacteria which causes MG is an odd creature;  it lacks a cell wall. That means that it is fragile when it is outside of the birds and can be killed with heat, sunlight, disinfectants, or simply time – after 3 days, it dies. But, inside the birds, it is virulent and can lead to severe respiratory disease. My chickens became so sick, and their eyes so crusted, that they couldn’t see to eat. Meanwhile, my new Rhode Island Red never showed a symptom – a hen can look perfectly healthy, but still be carrier of MG (which is another reason why for many farmers it’s and economic necessity to destroy an entire flock when the first hint of illness appears.)

Fortunately, there are drugs that work. Three days on Tylan, and some terramycin squirted on the eyes, and all were back to normal. Although these hens could now be carriers, I’ve never had another attack of MG.

Unless you do a blood test, you’ll never know exactly what your birds have, but, that doesn’t matter, since treatment remains the same for any respiratory disease. If only one hen is showing symptoms, isolate her and treat. To be on the safe side, I’d also put antibiotics in the drinking water of the entire flock.

Tetracyclines are broad-spectrum antibiotics and should knock out any bug that your flock has. They can be bought on-line or in your local feed store. It’s good to have some on hand. Follow the dosage directions carefully. Usually, you’ll dilute it in water and put out for free choice. However, your sickest hens might not be drinking. Use an eye dropper or a syringe to pour the medicated water down the hen’s throat. (Tylan might come in pill form, which makes it easy to give to an individual hen, but not so nice when you have a dozen or more hens to medicate!)

Continue to medicate according to package directions. The ailment will return if you stop dosing before the advised number of days. You’ll have to discard eggs that were laid while the hens were on antibiotics. I’ve read recommendations to throw out eggs up to ten days after the last dose.

I buy meat from farms that raise animals without antibiotics. I’m against feeding sub-therapeutic drugs just so that animals can survive in stressful housing. But, I’m grateful that I can use these drugs when my animals are ill!