3 week barred rock open mouth breathing heavily

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Nendei said:
Did the vet give you an actual diagnosis of which disease it is? It’s critical in poultry to know which disease your flock has in regards to treating it throughly. It sounds like it could be MG, but again, I’d need a list of her symptoms.
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She did not give specific diagnosis other than "respiratory".
For a long time, her only symptoms was breathing heavy (like you could see it in her whole body) and open mouth breathing that looked like gasping. But she has done it consistently for 2 weeks now. I can sometimes hear a slight click on the inhale when I have her close to my ear. She had been eating and drinking and pooping fine. But starting yesterday she hasn't been eating much and breathing much heavier with her mouth opening further. She looks very uncomfortable.
 
humblehillsfarm said:
If the vet didn't perform any actual test, I would take his advice and diagnosis with a grain of salt.

Coccidiosis is an intestinal disease caused by parasites. Most of the time the disease progresses extremely rapidly, often resulting in death, and is highly contagious. Common symptoms do include blood in the poop. Personally, I feel it is highly unlikely at this point that your chick has coccidiosis since it has been nine days since your original post and your chick is still alive and the other chicks aren't sick. Medicated chick feed, when used, is used from the day you acquire your chicks until about eight weeks old and is used as a preventative measure to avoid coccidiosis. That is the only reason medicated chick feed is used. It is not a sure-fire way to prevent the parasite, and it not recommended that you switch to that feed at this point. Corrid is a treatment against coccidiosis. There typically not any side effects in using Corrid, so it's generally a good idea to treat for coccidiosis with Corrid when there is doubt regarding the diagnosis.

Gapeworm can be diagnosed with a fecal exam, but the adult worms live in the respiratory tract, not the digestive tract, so it is unusual if not impossible to ID the worms in the poop. What is found in the poop are the eggs, which are passed through the digestive system into the earth, waiting to be eaten by another chicken so they can hatch. Given that the vet said it is not common in Kentucky, and given the age of the chick, it is also highly unlikely if not impossible that your chick has gapeworm.

Respiratory disease is very common in chickens, but can be in a viral, bacterial, or even fungal. All forms are contagious, but obviously only the bacterial and fungal forms are treatable (in the form of antibiotics for the bacteria). There are different viral strains with different expressions and symptoms, and most of which will reside permanently in the chicken, and some chickens will live with life-long symptoms, some will succumb to the virus and die, while others may be briefly ill and suppress the virus. Sometimes steroids can help the chicken, and sometimes the viral infection can cause a secondary bacterial infection. Fungal infections are usually caused by moldy feed and/or bedding and removing the mold source is usually effective in this case.

My recommendation at this point is to contact your state's Department of Agriculture. They will be able to offer better regional advise. If you're form KY, here's a link to their site: https://www.kyagr.com/statevet/poultry.html
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Thank you for your reply. That's a good point about what type of respiratory illness. She did not perform any tests. :-(Its the only vet that I can find that will see chickens within 2 hours of me.)
 
Sheri460 said:
Thank you for your reply. That's a good point about what type of respiratory illness. She did not perform any tests. :-(Its the only vet that I can find that will see chickens within 2 hours of me.)
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Yes avian vets are few and far between, and those that do exists usually work with fancy fowl, not chickens. It's nice to have access to them for antibiotics, injuries, or fecal tests, but beyond that the skill level and expertise can vary widely.
 
There are other ways to get your bird tested, a vet visit isn''t always the answer, but more of a waste of money because an avian vet is for parrots, not for poultry. Poultry have different diseases than parrots.


List of testing and necropsy labs for poultry & other animals:







In my opinion though, I think a necropsy is the best way to go as it is WAY more accurate for testing. Live testing is available as well. Testing a test by one of these sites, saves a lot more money.
 
Nendei said:
There are other ways to get your bird tested, a vet visit isn''t always the answer, but more of a waste of money because an avian vet is for parrots, not for poultry. Poultry have different diseases than parrots.


List of testing and necropsy labs for poultry & other animals:







In my opinion though, I think a necropsy is the best way to go as it is WAY more accurate for testing. Live testing is available as well. Testing a test by one of these sites, saves a lot more money.
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The chick is still alive.
 
humblehillsfarm said:
Yes I had recommended a local resource for the OP, but since you had recommended a necropsy I just thought I’d mention the chicken was alive just in case! I know I’ve misread plenty of things in here lol. Thank you for the list of resources!
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I understand! And you're welcome!
 
I might have missed it so just in case: It’s worth mentioning that coccidiosis is very common when a chick (or any baby animal) has already been weakened by something else— like a respiratory infection. And it can then take hold in the other chicks. From the stool shown, I’d start Corid immediately, dosed as suggested earlier.
It wasn’t said in the previous post, but the Corid water needs to be made new daily, and should be the only water offered (can be given in multiple waterers & “recipe“ can be halved—1 teaspoon in 1/2 gallon H2O— to avoid waste).

Perhaps, hopefully, it wasn’t really coccidia & your chick is now fully recovered after the antibiotics had more time to work
 

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