2 hens gurgle when they breathe

[Catharina]

They are eating & behaving pretty normally, a little less active though. No discharges, normal poop. They are 6 years old. Yesterday I brought them in to the house to keep warm, & am giving erythromycin + vitamins & electrolytes for birds dissolved in their water. I can't tell for sure, one might sound a little better today. I am trying to figure out what's wrong but it's hard with only one real symptom. I gave up taking chickens to the vet a long time ago. They would order expensive lab tests & then say they didn't know what the results meant because they didn't study chickens in school. Thanks for any help.

Catharina

 

[Pork Pie]

Guess it sounds like a respiratory illness of some kind, but you are doing all you can. Whilst others disagree, i, like you do not consider vets an option (in fact a vet i spoke to a while ago told me not to waste my money

) so i do exactly what you have done in such circumstances and the rest is in the lap of the gods.
CT

 

[cluckcluckgirl]

It might be a respiratory illness. Keep them isolated, on electrolytes, and give them about 25mg of amoxicillin by water, just in case. Are their combs a nice, red color or are they purple or pale? Also, feel their crops; do they feel squishy? I've sometimes noticed that my chickens will drink a lot before they eat, and they will make a raspy noise because of that.

I agree with choosing not to go to a vet. It's surprising how many chicken problems can be healed with proper knowledge at home.

Best of luck!

 

[Catharina]

Thanks for the encouragement! I also feel very happy to have talked with some one from a country in Africa! It is my favorite continent to read about, but I've never been....I wonder why my computer switched to italics? It has a mind of its own & its against me!!!

 

[Catharina]

Hmmm..now my computer gave you my reply to the previous poster. Aah well...so, do you think Amoxy will work better then Erythromycin?

 

[Catharina]

Hi! I tried to reply to you but it went somewhere else! Thanks for your encouragement, that's really nice. I'm thrilled to be talking to someone who lives on my favorite continent that I've never been to! I like to read books & newspaper stories about countries in Africa

 

[Pork Pie]

Hi! I tried to reply to you but it went somewhere else! Thanks for your encouragement, that's really nice. I'm thrilled to be talking to someone who lives on my favorite continent that I've never been to! I like to read books & newspaper stories about countries in Africa

Me thinks you should stop reading and come! There are some pretty amazing countries here with such a great diversity. Im actually from the UK, but i have lived in Africa for over 20 years and would not trade it for anything!

BTW - IMO any broad spectrum antibiotic would probably do the trick.

CT

 

[cluckcluckgirl]

I used amoxicillin because it was an emergency and I was unable to get any Erythromycin any time soon. I had a hen with mycoplasma synoviae (a respiratory illness), put her on amoxicillin, and she improved very fast.

 

[Eggcessive]

Erythromycin (Gallimycin) is one of several antibiotics including Tylan and oxytetracycline that treat common bacterial respiratory diseases.

 

[Catharina]

Thanks to you both! They are not doing any worse, at least, & no other chickens have showed symptoms yet. I'm wondering about enclosing the roost area more--maybe they're getting too cold. I don't know if I've ever seen information on the ideal temperature for chickens--I should look that up! I noticed they roost all scattered out these days so they're not keeping each other warm.

I hope to go to Africa some day...which country would you think is the most interesting? I am interested in both nature & human culture. I would love to see baobobs, the Congo river, the Kalahari desert, anything really old, & a tropical rain forest. I saw some baobobs in a park in Honolulu but they weren't big. The rain forest there is considered sub-tropical. We lived on the Big Island for a year--really fun after the culture shock wore off & we found the cool places to hike. They weren't too big on signage there. Are those ads for volunteer/vacation travel bogus?