Chicken "moaning" all day now

[TJPENN]

I have a pullet that has been moaning all day as if in distress. There's no sneezing as she's to young to lay. Does anyone know what may be wrong and if I can do anything for her?

 

[Eggcessive]

Is she active and walking around, eating, and drinking okay? Or is she lethargic and lying around?

 

[TJPENN]

She got worse but looks great, good poo, active, but started to 'cry' louder and sneeze. Thankfully, I bought her from an excellent breeder who came over and took her home to try and pull her through this. He's not sure what's wrong either.

 

[BantamLover21]

Did the moaning sound as if she was purposely making the noise, or was it occurring when she breathed? It sounds to me like she has some sort of respiratory infection. I would treat her with Oxytetracycline (sold under names such as Terramycin, Duramycin-10, Tetroxy HCA-280, and LA200). The dosage is 1/8 teaspoon Oxytetracycline powder per cup of drinking water for 7-14 days. Improvement is usually noticed after 2-4 days.

If Oxytetracycline doesn't work, my next antibiotic choice would be either Tylan50 or Tylan200, which are stronger antibiotics. Tylan comes in an injectable form, and a water soluble oral form. I prefer the injectable form, as it works faster. The Tylan50 injectable dosage is 1cc for large-fowl, .5ccs for bantams, injected into one side of the breast once daily for 5 days. The Tylan200 (similar to Tylan50, but more concentrated) injectable dosage is .5ccs for large-fowl, .2-.3ccs for bantams, injected in the same manner. When injecting Tylan, use the smallest needle gauge possible, and alternate the side of the breast that you inject into, as Tylan can make the injection area painful.
When giving antibiotics, do not feed the bird any dairy products or probiotics. Definitely restore the bird's digestive tract health after the treatment by giving probiotics, though.

However, keep in mind that whatever respiratory disease she has might be caused by a virus, not bacteria, which means that antibiotics will have no effect. In that case, culling might be preferable, or you could give her supportive care and hope that her body fights off the disease on its own.

It is also possible that your hen's respiratory tract was irritated by some environmental factor. What type of bedding do you use? I would check to make sure that there is no mold growing in the coop, as that can cause respiratory issues. If mold spores are the cause, your hen will probably improve now that she has been taken to the breeder.

 

[TJPENN]

BantomLover, thank you, this is very helpful information. We have dosed the water for the flock with Duramycin-10. I'm glad you have recommended the same course of action as the breeder.

We have 16 that we bought from the same breeder in a 2 week span. Two have shown signs of respitory illness at this writing. Strange thing to me is they are showing different symptoms. The second bird did not make the moan/cry sound or hiccup like sound, but started with a running nose.

Our coop iwas just built it. We do have some leaves in the corners of the run that have piled up, leaf mold causing this maybe?

 

[BantamLover21]

BantomLover, thank you, this is very helpful information. We have dosed the water for the flock with Duramycin-10. I'm glad you have recommended the same course of action as the breeder.

We have 16 that we bought from the same breeder in a 2 week span. Two have shown signs of respitory illness at this writing. Strange thing to me is they are showing different symptoms. The second bird did not make the moan/cry sound or hiccup like sound, but started with a running nose.

Our coop iwas just built it. We do have some leaves in the corners of the run that have piled up, leaf mold causing this maybe?

Sometimes, respiratory diseases manifest themselves differently in different birds. The causative agent is probably the same. I don't think that leaf mold would cause symptoms like this in only a few birds, so I would rule that out for now.

 

[TinaFridgen]

My chicken has been moaning all day... Eating and drinking is fine... She does have a sore leg from a pulled muscle or something. I think she needs to lay her first egg!!!! The only other moaning chicken does this around laying time if another chicken is in the coop. Is this possible?? 5 hours of moaning and counting. My breed of Easter eggers are about 4-5 months now.