Carol's Chickens

This morning I did the same as yesterday and used a bigger dose of tylan. One heaped teaspoon in a litre of water and then used some to make a big dish of mash once more.

It was very frosty this morning and for the first time this year the metal drinker was frozen. I had to bring it in under the hot tap to be able to untwist it apart. I returned it with the tylan water and tylan mash.

The girls were all perched on the ladder and the branch perch above the ladder while the morning sun was on it. Freckles gave an enormous sneeze and in the sunlight I could see the droplets fly from her. I winced as these droplets are contagious.

Once the sun had left the ladder the little girls went to the small shelter.

The little girls spend time in the small shelter

Freckles still doesn’t look good.

Freckles and Dandelion stayed in there when the other girls had left

I can’t hear their breathing so I have to hope that there is improvement but Freckles is still sneezing the most and looking the most poorly.

I checked on them a bit later and was horrified to see that both Dandelion and Freckles had bubbles in their eyes. Foamy eyes is one of the symptoms of mycoplasma.

Oh no, this is not good

Dandelion and Freckles have bubbles in their eyes

I felt quite panicked. My first instinct was to separate Freckles and Dandelion from the flock by bringing them indoors in the cat box.

I came indoors and told my husband and we both went back to check on them. Their eyes were now clear and they were pecking about in the run. My husband said that had I not gone out when I did I would never have known.

I decided to ring the vet for advice. My local vet was closed but I was put through to the sister vet. The receptionist wrote down everything I told her and said that she would get the vet to call me back.

The vet called me back and we went through everything. She said that I was doing all the right things and that I should carry on with the tylan which is the medication that every article recommends. She said that it was a good sign that they could clear their eyes. She agreed putting the tylan in the water and the mash was a good idea and that one teaspoon of powder to one litre of water was the correct dose.

She suggested that I disinfect the chicken shed. I told her about the droplets from Freckles sneeze in the run and said that the run is not possible to disinfect but she said that it was still worth disinfecting the chicken shed to keep the microbes as low as possible.

I had planned to clean out the chicken shed tomorrow so will disinfect at the same time. She said that I am doing all the right things and that I need to keep on going with it. She said she will talk to the other vets and if they can think of anything else I could do she will call me.

She said to continue the tylan for twelve days and see how they go and to call again early next week and give her a progress report.

I keep getting a bit of hope then losing it again. At the moment there is nothing more I can do but continue as I am doing. It is so worrying.

I checked in on the “Down The Lane” chicken forum, this morning and there were a few more messages. One lady said that she had treated with tylan for as long as twelve days but was not always successful. This depressed me a bit. She also asked if I was using the right strength as she said the dose could be fiddly.

It is not an exact science by any means and dropping to half a teaspoon was probably less accurate than a whole teaspoon.  Now that I have a bigger supply of tylan I can be more generous. This morning I mixed a heaped teaspoon with a litre of water to give a bit more strength. This also means there is plenty of water to drink and also enough for a huge dish of mash that will last all day.

Every time I went in to see the girls I used a teaspoon to take tylan water from the drinker and top up the mash keeping it wet. This is incorporating as much tylan into the mash as possible.

First thing this morning Freckles and Speckles were at the mash and Dandelion was at the water

Then Cinnamon was at the water

Freckles, Dandelion and Cinnamon were at the mash but Apricot wasn’t joining in

Apricot is so timid but having a much bigger dish of mash meant that there would still be plenty left when the other girls had had their fill. In between I dipped a few spinach leaves in the tylan water and hand fed them to Apricot.

At last Apricot was having some mash

What were they looking at in the big shelter!

I listened to the girls breathing while they were having the mash and for the first time in days I couldn’t hear any sound to their breathing. I also think they are sneezing less and I haven’t seen any dozing.

Freckles and Dandelion in the small shelter but looking brighter

I hardly dare to say it, in case I jinx it, but I think things are getting better. I wonder if it is coincidence or if it is due to a bigger dose of tylan. I will do the same tomorrow.

Cinnamon getting ready to lay her egg

Cinnamon is now laying every three days so I think that she is okay. She has always drank the most water and along with Freckles she has always eaten the most mash. She is the only one of the little girls that didn’t have a sound to her breathing, just sneezing.

It is surprising being the tiniest girl that she has remained the most robust. I wonder if it is because despite her small size she is always eating. Her crop is always huge by bedtime.

At last I think that maybe we are turning the corner. I am keeping everything crossed.

A few days ago my vet said that she had measured out a larger bottle of tylan for me. The stock was at my local vet’s sister practice which is half an hours drive from me whereas my local practice is five to ten minutes away.

As I still had enough for several more days she said that she would get it transferred to my local vet as the vets do shifts at both practices. Today it was ready for me to collect from my local vets. The bottle is twice the size of my last bottle.

I now have a larger bottle of tylan

To eek out my diminishing supply of tylan I have been mixing half a teaspoon with half a litre of water. This has meant that I could only make tiny amounts of mash with it throughout the day as I didn’t want the drinking water to run out. I had to tip the metal drinking water up with a wedge to make it easier for the girls to drink as it was so shallow.

Now that I am confident that I have a good supply I am going to mix a full teaspoon of powder with a litre of water for the next couple of days. This means I can mix up a big dish of mash with the extra water that will last the girls the whole day. They can fill their boots and I hope that will mean they will consume a larger dose of the tylan.

They are still sneezing and I can still hear a whisper to their breathing. I haven’t seen them dozing as I was out in the afternoon.

Just before bedtime Apricot decided to have a dust bath. This is a good sign that she isn’t feeling too bad. However she did start to nod off her in her dust bath. For a moment I thought she had decided to sleep there but once the other girls started going in she stood up and shook herself off.

Just before bedtime Apricot has a dust bath

She was dozing in her dust bath

I feel happier now that I have a good supply of tylan and can mix up as much as the girls can eat. I hope this will help them.

When I have used tylan before there has been an instant improvement in the girls but then they weren’t sneezing before. I think that takes much longer to shift. I am disappointed that there doesn’t seem to be any improvement and if anything Apricot now looks worse.

This started in Freckles then moved to Dandelion and then in the last few days has moved to Apricot. All three spent part of the afternoon in the small shelter, wheezing, sneezing and dozing.

I took dishes of mash mixed with tylan water to the shelter to try to encourage them to have some more.

The three amigos are in small shelter and Apricot is dozing

Apricot dozing

Freckles joins them

Speckles joins them

Emerald looks on but there isn’t room for her to join them

I bring dishes of mash to the shelter

Apricot has some

Dandelion and Freckles snooze together

This is not looking good

Freckles head was bobbing up and down as she snoozed. This is just so frustrating but there is nothing else I can do but carry on with the tylan and hope in time this improves.

I had a couple more replies from the “Down The Lane” forum today. One said he had had his girls on tylan for a long period of time to shift the illness which reassured me that it is okay to continue. The other agreed that I needed to keep treating.

I got the call from my vet this morning and I explained all the information that I had gathered. She agreed to give me some more tylan and to make it a larger amount so that I can keep going as long as I need to.

I asked her if it was okay to mix the tylan water into a mash to encourage the girls to have more of it. She said that was fine. She said it goes in the water to make sure all the girls get some but any means of getting more of it into them can only be a good thing.

Once she had reassured me of that I mixed up a little mash and will continue to do this along side the water.

All four little girls are sneezing but Freckles and Dandelion are sneezing the most and Cinnamon the least. Freckles, Dandelion and Apricot have a slight wheeze to their breathing. Cinnamon drinks the most water and eats plenty of the mash and seems the most well of the little girls. She also laid again today which is only two days after her last egg. She is the only girl laying and is the most active.

Freckles sneezes the most but does seem much improved which is probably helped by the fact that she isn’t dropping many feathers now. She also eats the most mash. Dandelion is dropping a few long feathers and goes to the water and the mash the least. She is the least active but there again she has always been less active than the other girls.

Apricot also doesn’t have much water but I encourage her to the mash whenever the other girls aren’t nearby. She is also not as active as usual.

Emerald and Speckles seem not to be effected, thank goodness. I think the little girls are more delicate and more vulnerable.

Cinnamon getting ready to lay her egg

This is Cinnamon’s favourite spot to lay her egg. She doesn’t use the nest boxes, preferring this corner of the chicken shed, under the perches.

Speckles and Emerald perch here, together, before bedtime

Tonight’s bedtime line up

Emerald always faces front and the other girls, randomly, face either way. Tonight they are facing the back of the shed together.

I will just have to keep going with this and hope for the best, keeping everything crossed.

To encourage the girls to have as much tylan as possible I have been making small amounts of mash throughout the day with the tylan water.

The girls have a little mash mixed with the tylan water

Apricot is firmly bottom girl and is the most timid around the flock. Oddly enough she is the most friendly around me. She is looking over the edge of the patio but can’t pluck up the courage to join the girls.

Cinnamon takes no notice of Freckles, pecking her away from the dish, and just bounces back and yet she is the most timid around me.

Apricot is too timid to join in

I moved Apricot on to the patio but she is looking at me instead of the dishes

I move the dish in front of her

She had a little mash until Freckles spotted that the dish had been moved and came running over. Freckles is firmly top serama.

Apricot makes the most of the other girls losing interest in the mash

Apricot has her own dish

The girls look brighter and  although they are still sneezing I think it is a bit less frequent. There is still a whisper of sound from the breathing of Freckles, Dandelion and Apricot. It is only noticeable when they are eating the mash.

Freckles has slowed down with the feather dropping too which I am pleased about.

I called the vet today to ask about ordering more tylan. My vet was away today but the receptionist has left her a note to call me tomorrow.

Apricot was last in tonight and I put the mash dish in front of her so that she could have a last top up before bedtime.

I think we are making slow progress and I am feeling hopeful.

I let the girls out this morning about fifteen minutes before the automatic door opened. As they hear my footsteps and then hear the gate open I hear them all start to chatter. When I open the big door they are all behind it waiting for me to let them out.

At the moment the automatic door opens at eight o’clock. I let the girls out at quarter to eight as it gives them a bit more time out but any earlier than this is too dark for them.

I was pleased to see first, Freckles and then Dandelion go to the water which has the tylan powder in it.

Freckles has a drink of water

Dandelion joins Freckles at the water

It was good to see the two girls who need it the most have a drink.

I have spent time with them today keeping a close eye on them. Unfortunately I can hear a faint whisper in Apricot’s breathing now and the same again with Dandelion once more. I have seen all the girls have a drink of the water today.

I am only giving them dry treats of the morning sunflower hearts and bedtime corn, no spinach or fruit. I hope this encourages them to drink more water. I don’t want them to get moisture from anything but their water.

I also mixed small amounts of mash with the tylan water in two small dishes (the little dishes that I measured the powder in). I mixed a little at a time each time I returned to check on them and the mash dish had been emptied. I felt this would get them to take a bit more of the water. Freckles likes this the most followed by Cinnamon but all the girls had some at different times throughout the day.

The girls were all in by four o’clock tonight which is usual at the moment. They were all snuggled up together.

I will keep up this regime for ten days and hope that this will improve them. Again Freckles looked a little brighter today but is still sneezing the most. I have a feeling this is going to be a long slog.

I asked a question on the “Down The Lane” chicken forum. The link to this forum is on the right hand side of my blog. They have a wealth of knowledgeable chicken keepers with many years of experience. I briefly explained our situation and asked if anyone knew if it was okay to repeat tylan after a one week break.

I have had two answers so far. The first said that I must repeat it because the chickens won’t get better without it so there is really no choice and nothing to lose. The second said that she had been told by her vet that it could be given for ten to twelve days. Respiratory diseases can be stubborn and longer treatment may be needed to shift it.

The first answer was the conclusion that I had already come to and the second I found reassuring as it seems that it is okay to use it for longer.

The dose on the tylan is one gram per litre of water. This is too small for me to measure so by my previous internet search I found this equated to one teaspoon per litre. As I only have five teaspoons left I am dividing it into ten half teaspoons to be mixed with half a litre of water.

The most accurate way to do this is to lay out ten little dishes and put half a teaspoon of powder in each so that I can see that I have enough to go round and that it is as even as possible. This is not an exact science but is the best I can do. I then cling wrapped the ten dishes and will mix one up each morning and put it in the run before the girls come out so that they have it for a full day each time.

Ten half teaspoons of tylan powder

Had I have known before that it was okay to treat for longer I wouldn’t have taken a weeks break. I just have to hope that this will work. I will ring the vet tomorrow and see if I can order some more tylan so that I can keep some in stock or continue for a few more days if needed. I will also ask how long it is safe to continue giving it.

I really hope this will shift the mycoplasma. On another note, Cinnamon laid an egg today. She had been laying one a week but this time it’s only been five days since her last one. At least one little girl is feeling okay.

I know my girls so well that I know that Freckles isn’t right. Despite having brighter moments she doesn’t seem to be able to shake of this bought of mycoplasma.

Dandelion and Freckles in the small shelter

Freckles eyes keep closing. Freckles and Dandelion seem to have paired up and I wonder if they sense that they are both under the weather together.

Her eyes open

Then close again

I have read every bit of information about mycoplasma and about tylan that I can find on the internet, many times over. I can’t find anything that says how soon tylan can be repeated. I remember a year ago reading that it could be repeated three weeks later as a precaution. I can’t find this information again now.

I am going to have to follow my instincts. I am going to repeat it from tomorrow when they will have had a full seven days clear in between.

I put into the search engine the question “can chickens get colds?” and the answer is that chickens don’t get common colds like we do, they get respiratory infections such as mycoplasma.

There are seventeen types of mycoplasma and four are pathogens in chickens. Mycoplasma effects wild birds, chickens, turkeys, pigs, calves and even people. We can’t catch a chicken’s cold and they can’t catch our colds.

Occasional sneezing in chickens can be due to dust irritating the birds sinuses. Continued sneezing and especially in more than one bird means you need to take action.

Mycoplasma will not get better on it’s own and the recommended treatment is tylan. It has to be caught early to get better and by the time a chicken has a rattle in their breathing it is most likely too late.

When I got Caramel and Pebbles from my first serama breeder I rang her when I was concerned about Caramel. She told me that they are prone to getting colds and there was no point in taking her to the vet as they would only give antibiotics. Now that I know there is no such thing as a chicken cold, but that it is a respiratory disease that must be treated, I feel very let down at her lack of knowledge as a breeder. I was unable to contact her after this and she had told me she was giving up breeding so I let it go. Caramel and Pebbles were her last two birds.

I know so much more about this now and would never make that mistake again. I was too late to save Caramel and Pebbles.

Both Freckles and Dandelion are still sneezing and Freckles is dozing from time to time and just doesn’t look right to me.

The information says that when mycoplasma returns to the same bird it is usually not so bad as the first time. Freckles didn’t have sneezing the first time though and I think sneezing, moulting and cold weather are not helping her. I think that I must take action before it becomes too late. I will repeat five days of tylan from tomorrow onward and keep everything crossed.

I think Freckles looks brighter today. I haven’t seen her dozing. It is absolutely freezing today and there are still loads of feathers in the run from Freckles. It may be having such a heavy moult that is making her feel under the weather as well as being so cold.

Freckles seems a bit brighter today

I shall continue to keep a close watch on the girls with tylan at the ready.