Newbie...Possible Respiratory Problems

Any advice would be helpful. I have a 9 week old Mottled Houdan hen that is sneezing a lot and panting, which I just noticed this morning. These are my first chicks and I don't know if I am overreacting or not. She seems to be behaving as normal, meaning not lethargic or anything else. I live in Portland, OR and while we are having a hot spell it still doesn't seem that it should be too hot. I checked the coop and the temperature is not much higher than that of outside, probably high 70's. They have fresh food, water, and litter. I have been reading a lot on this forum (thanks!) I have separated her from the others just in case she has something, but I am not sure what to do next. I assume just keep an eye on her. If so, how long? Should I keep her separated? If so how long? Should I do anything in the meantime. Vinegar, electrolytes added to her water?

They are currently all on antibiotic feed for young pullets and free range when I get home from work and on the weekends.

I do have some Clamvamox that my neighbor gave to me for emergencies (she's a vet, but doesn't specialize in poultry). My understanding is that Clavamox is more for fighting infection from wounds, etc. So I am not sure if that is even a drug that would help.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Panting is normal but usually only above 90 degrees.

Is she the only one panting and sneezing? Any nasal discharge?

I've never heard of an antibiotic feed. Are you sure it's not just a medicated feed with a Cocciostat?

She is the only one panting and sneezing. There is no nasal discharge. Sorry, it is medicated feed not antibiotic.

She may be panting because her nasal passages are clogged. For now just add some vitamins to her water and monitor her. If she gets worse you can treat her with an antibiotic like Tylan.

Here are a few links to start with:

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pwhjQ6Yng877iz_JNiCN1IQ

https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=9241

Thank you so much for the quick response. By vitamins do you mean electrolytes? Is there a certain "thing" or amount to add.

Thanks for all the info....

This is truly invaluable.

Feed stores and hatcheries sell vitamin and electrolyte mixes that you add to the water. If you don't have those you can use Polyvisol, a childrens vitamin found at any pharmacy.

For Polyvisol (get the one with no iron by the way) you just put two drops in the birds beak twice a day for 5 days then reduce to one drop twice a day.

Best of luck.


Do a search on ThreeHorses, a member here. Her posts give a LOT of details on treatments and various chicken health issues.

Quote:
Welcome to the world of chickens and welcome to BYC. We all try to help each other out here. It's a great place.

Don

Hi there. I stumbled on your post here and saw that Sir PurpleChicken is taking good care of you. I saw your post and I'd like to help if I may - or try to help - or just support you two and the conversation you're having - or but-in.

First I wanted to ask some questions to clarify some things in my head and rule some stuff out, or focus in on some things.

First, the medicated feed - is that amprolium? Is it a starter, or a starter-grower? If it's starter alone, you could technically now move up to a grower (unless the feed you're using is labeled as for use for older birds - go by the label first always). Or is it a layer already?

At this age, you should be feeding a grower for chickens intended for laying. If you can get one without BMD, please do. (BMD is usually an industry feed as they do a lot of antibiotics to prevent spread through the very closely packed birds in industrial houses.)

More 1,000,000 questions:
what is the bedding you use? What are their living quarters (coop/run, free range with shelter, etc)? Do they have access to a lot of outdoors air? Has it been rainy there? If you spend some time in the coop, do you smell anything strongly - even pine?

Pick her up (please), examine her, and then tell us the following:
Does she feel of good weight to you - for example is her breast bone/keel bone Y shaped or V shaped or U shaped? Looking very carefully at her eyes (versus each other, versus other chicks') do the little third-eyelid membranes near the tear ducts look all nice and tucked up into the eye, or are they at all puffy or showing? Listen to her breathing with your ear against her - do you hear wheezing? Do you see anything (even dust) in her nares (nostrils)? Any evidence of eye drainage, even clear like tears?


Thank you for considering all these questions; the more info we have, the more accurate we can be in our help.

In the mean time, I would consider the Polyvisol as PurpleChicken recommended (I found mine in the vitamin section of Walmart after a couple of unsuccessful searches of grocery stores). 2-3 drops as Purple advises. The vitamin A in the vitamin will help a little with respiratory health as that's an important vitamin for respiratory/ocular health.

I would also consider going to the feed store and stocking up on 2 things 'just in case'. One you can use now, another will come in handy if you need it and stores are closed.

One is VetRx. It helps open airways, you dilute it so 2 ounces lasts ages. You can also fume their sinuses from the outside in to help a little with keeping airflow going. I find it helps with chickens who have little sneezes here and there, or in dusty environments, etc. I just used it to treat a cockerel who had one eye that looked like it might start to get puffy, and he was sneezing occassionally. You use a few drops of very hot water and a few drops of VetRx in a cup. Stir with something non-absorbent. Use q-tips and swab the nares with damp q-tips, use a wetted (but not dripping) qtip and swab the opening in the roof of the beak (called the "choana") to fume the nasal and ocular sinuses. Use dampened q-tips near the tear ducts but not in them. You can even use it under the wings where they put their head when they sleep so that they sort of give themselves a vicks-like treatment when they sleep. (Don't sub with vicks please.) Because it's not a medicine, but a breathing aid, it doesn't matter if the problem is bacterial, viral, fungal, or anything really. It helps all.

The other thing that you could buy for the future is a high-quality antibiotic. My personal favorites to stock up on are the following:

Tylan50 injectable (MG, MS),
LS50 soluble (MG, MS, airsacculitis E. coli),
Sulmet liquid (Pasteurella/Cholera, Coryza, coccidiosis, respiratory E. coli, digestive E. coli.

I don't personally recommend Duramycins or any of the cyclines/mycins over tylosin (tylan) from personal experience and what I've studied as there seem to be a lot more resistances to those drugs. BUT if you can afford that, not Tylan (and sulmet doesn't apply because of the diseases), and it's a tiny case, possibly of MG, MS, or coryza (the smelly one), you could possibly get away with it. For pasteurella (mucus, torticollis) you should use Sulmet as the other drugs don't work for it.

If I could only have two , I'd pick Tylan and Sulmet. I can't pick one over the other of those as they both treat different diseases.

If you want to buy an antibiotic to be ready, those are the ones that are recommended and what they're good for.

In the mean time, please answer the questions, clean the nares up well to keep them clear, investigate your coop for stagnant air, mildew, etc, and I look forward to hearing your replies. GOOD EYE for catching this while it's potentially very very new! Possibly it's nothing but some sniffles from environment or her fighting something well without our interference. Let's hope so!