Strange cough and breathing. No other symptoms at all.

[ParanoidChicken]

Corid is for treating coccidiosis, it won't do a thing for a respiratory disease. And if it's a viral disease, which many of them are, antibiotic's won't cure it either. However, the danger with any respiratory disease is how quickly it can morph into secondary bacterial infections and pneumonia. That's why most people will treat when they start hearing wheezing or rattling breathing. It's those complications that most often kill the bird rather then the disease itself. If you can prevent that they usually recover.

Yes, this is what I am most concerned with but yet most confused about doing.
After reading sad stories of this exact scenario, it has me a bit on edge and really trying to find the right way to get ahead of any potential secondary issue.

 

[ParanoidChicken]

Just found a store within 10 mins drive that has and can get anything I need for these girls
They also raise their own hens and roos.
That takes a huge load off my mind.

I got them some goodies today.

 

[KayTee]

That's good news ParanoidChicken, because now you know you have supplies close to hand.
How is your girl today - any change? I would imagine that the cigarette smoke wouldn't help her at all, so maybe just removing that will relieve some of her symptoms.
Your girls are lucky that you care so much about them and since they are house chickens I am sure you will spot even the slightest change in their health very quickly.
One thing I would suggest is that you buy some Corid in advance of letting them out into your garden, as that will be the moment that they risk getting cocci. Some people automatically give a preventative dose for the first week or two for birds on new ground, whilst others wait in case symptoms appear.
As with anything, there is no hard and fast rule - it all depends on your personal choice and your individual situation. We can all give you our ideas and opinions but at the end of the day we are not there with you - you are the only one who can really judge what to do and when.
Good luck with your girls

 

[ParanoidChicken]

I applied 2 doses of VetRx to her since going to the store, She very rarly has the gargling sound and only sneezes or has that sound when she gets excited or nervous.

Sometimes I have no idea how people stay sane when they have chickens lol.
I accidentally discovered the Amber has bonded really strong to me.
I had to separate the 2 today because as soon as the red got feeling better she started attacking the amber and bit a piece of comb.
So I was giving red her last treatment in the other room, and the amber was trying desperately to get to me after I left the room.
She jumped up at something that was too tall and fell breaking a nail.
So i had to do emergency work on her. Ever since she has been non stop panting but still very much alert and able but not very willing to walk, has good balance still and not lethargic.

We were able to slow the panting with a mix of water and bits of food in it, but she refuses straight water.
When she is more interested in pecking food or pecking at things around her that get her interest she stops panting for a min or so.

If panting too long her cheeks and face get a little lighter. But when she stops, they return color.

And red is sleeping away all calm. Go figure.

Update, as long as the amber is sitting in a luke warm tub just covering her feet she stops the panic.
The one thing I did forget to get that I wasn't even thinking about, wound treatments :-/ I stay awake to get there asap and get the open air off her feet and sealed up well.

Red on the other hand is taking a turn for the worse. How long does anti-biotics take to usually do "something" Not full cure but lessen the load on her.
Because if she tries to sleep, it seems she may suffocate in her sleep. The VetRx was helping till sleep time :-/ i am staying awake to monitor her breathing. If I nudge her awake she does a good sneeze and can breathe fine.

 

[ParanoidChicken]

They both pulled through well so far. Red bounced back very well about 8 to 12 hours after first dose.
I forgot I had fish mox and researched that and found I can use it for her. She is already doing very well.
She no longer harms the other hen. I guess she was grumpy while sick.

Amber was fine and stopped panic after about 6 hours of foot soak.
I finally was able to sleep and my girlfriend said they both would not leave my side while I slept.

So I guess if anyone else ever wonders how long to see "some" result from anti-biotic, I'd say from this the next 12 hours are still critical moments.
She did stop breathing twice briefly when she nodded off and started listing to one side. I startled her awake and she continued breathing after a big sneeze/cough.
I had to do this every few mins and found lightly tapping her over her lungs did loosen something up and she would expel something out of her airway.

Now they are back to being chickens, begging at the dinner table

I also figured out a less traumatic means to give her meds than a syringe.
She was still interested in eating especially treats.
So I mixed the anti-biotic into plain yogurt. Then would break up cabbage into small bits and mix them into the yogurt mix.
The smaller the bits the less of a mess and reclean (swiping the sprayed yogurt with more cabbage.)
She would not eat the yogurt/med mix as she figured out something was "off"
But she is so nuts about cabbage, that she didn't care.

 

[ParanoidChicken]

I wasn't sure if I should start a new topic or not. But since this is still the same bird and related issue I'll just add it here.

My red has been bouncing back and forth from recovering well, to suddenly regressing, then getting better again.
I lowered the dose of anti-biotic a bit and I think that contributed to a decline again but she bounced back a lil more when I brought it back up again.

I saw other posts about the dosages of Amoxacillin and got a little nervous due to conflicting information.
So I reduced her dose. That seemed to not work well.

My question is, would it be better for her to buy some "fake" eggs and halt her egg production until she is back to a full lively girl?
She has not slowed down at all for egg laying, but she seems to struggle a bit. I am thinking the stress of laying is not good for recovery. I care more about her than my breakfast.

 

[ParanoidChicken]

Ok I hope this is the final post on this

I think she had a fungal AND bacteria issue.

The antibiotics did their work and then she slowly got worse again.
We lost power for 16 hours starting at 6:30am on the 1st.
It got super cold and from the research I did, I figured that when she got too cold suddenly from this temp change and then again to warm.
Plus the moisture in the air breeding molds once it would get warm again.
I put her near a heat lamp (powered by my car and an inverter outside with an extension cord inside) and fed her fresh garlic once she perked up.

This worked like night and day. She is symptom free today. no snot, no gurgling nothing.
I will treat her again with another garlic to make sure it is past but I have new hope here