Chicken struggling to breathe

[twotailsfarm]

Hello,
Our chicken has been struggling to breathe for the past 6 days, and due to the Avian Flu going around the Pacific Northwest, no vet will see any bird exhibiting respiratory issues despite calling multiple centers all across the state. Since we really don't have anywhere to go, I figured someone here may be able to help us out.

Background: 1.5 yr old, 4lb Red Sex Link named Sugar (she's very sweet). We have 20 chickens in a custom backyard coop/run combo that is 8ft x 40ft, the coop is 8ftx8ft.

Issue: We noticed on Friday night, 6 days ago, that Sugar was struggling to breathe, gurgling sounds. On Saturday we just monitored her to see if it would get better and noticed that she was not eating or drinking, still struggling to breathe. On Sunday we ran to the farm supply store to get Safe-Guard (fenbendazole, dewormer thinking it could be gapeworm) as well as LA-200 (Oxytetracycline antibiotic thinking it could also be a respiratory infection). We gave her a 0.5mL injection of the LA-200 in the breast as well as some water. On Monday she was still struggling to breathe and I felt a small lump in her throat, thinking this was possibly a gapeworm infection we gave her 1mL of the Safe-Guard as well as additional water mixed with vitamins. I then learned that all chickens have this small lump in the upper part of their throat so I don't think it's gapeworm.
On Tuesday we started giving here egg yolk out of a syringe as she was still not eating or drinking and on Tuesday night we deiced to start her on a 0.5mL oral dose of LA-200 twice a day. We have since been giving her two doses a day as well as egg yolk, water, vitamins, and occasionally some diluted Gatorade.

Current Status: It's been 3 solid days of antibiotics with no real signs of improvement. She wheezes on the exhale with here mouth closed and then opens here mouth to breath in. I think maybe the wheezing is coming from her nasal cavity? She's still somewhat spunky and will roam around the barn a bit, but she is still not eating or drinking on her own - every now and then she'll pick a drop of egg yolk off the ground while we're feeding her. At this point we really don't know what to do, part of me feels like we're prolonging the agony, but on the other hand every morning we go to see here we're hopeful she's better. We don't see any discharge from her nose or puffiness in her eyes, her crop clears overnight, and there isn't any swelling or bloated feeling in her abdomen. No others chickens appear to be sick.

Day 1:

Day 6:

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Kind Regards,
Two Tails Farm

​

 

[Backyardhomestead921]

I am so sorry this is happening. Maybe there is something stuck in her throat? Since she looks to be opening her mouth for air , and struggling to breath, something might be stuck in her throat, but not blocking the whole airway path , and she might not be eating because it can’t go down, or it’s uncomfortable.

 

[teach1rusl]

Poor thing looks and sounds terrible. Here on my farm, I’d be alternating oxytetracyline with Tylan. When you’re guess treating, sometimes you have to roll the dice. A Purdue pathologist who did a necropsy for me told me that if symptoms are responsive to oxytetracycline, it’s one of the flu versions (caused by a few different viruses). But there are other respiratory issues that are more responsive to Tylan. So I’d do one injection one day, and a different one two days later, for a few rounds. I give all of my shots subcutaneously. LA 200 especially is supposed to be very hard on muscle tissue.
Any that I’ve treated for flu (oxytetracycline) have shown improvement (started) within a few days. If you’re not seeing at least the start of improvement within 3-4 days, I’d definitely try Tylan.