Advice needed: hen with pneumonia

[Sarynda]

Hi all,

I'm new here and I will introduce myself, but I'm having a serious situation now so I'm starting with that.

I went to a poultry vet yesterday because my 3mo hen was separating herself, not eating/drinking and sitting puffed up. She was diagnosed with pneumonia. She was given a pill yesterday (doxycyclin) and I've been given pills for nine more days.

I'm at work the full day, husband is home. He's not very confident in chicken care. She's on the roost, her tail is moving with her breathing. What can he do to help her today? How to have her eat/drink and what?

Please help!

 

[Chicken_Obsesser]

@Eggcessive

 

[Eggcessive]

Does the vet know much about chickens? Chickens usually get respiratory diseases. Doxycycline is one drug that can treat symptoms of MG (mycoplasma gallisepticum.) I usually would recommend Tylosin for that since it is approved for poultry and has no egg egg withdrawal time. What are all of the symptoms that she has? Do you see any watery or bubbly eye, swelling around her eye or the face, sneezing, gasping, rattles or wheezes when she breathes? How old is she? Do you know if she lays eggs or have you seen any soft or thin shelled eggs? What are her droppings looking like? Is her crop empty first thing in the morning? Is she eating or drinking? Can you offer her some elctrolytes in her water and a bit of watery chicken feed and cooked egg?

 

[Sarynda]

Hi! Thanks for your reply. She's 3 months old so not laying yet and I mentioned in the op I went to a poultry vet so yeah, she knows about chickens.

The only symptoms I saw at first are withdrawing from the rest, sitting puffed up and not eating or drinking. Now that I know a bit more I can see she has difficulty breathing. Vet could hear rattling when she was breathing. Droppings are watery white. Crop is empty but she hasn't been eating.

I gave her some water with multivitamins and a bit of sugar yesterday, she drank that when I put drops in her beak. I can get electrolytes today. She's still on feed for chicks so I wanted to mix a bit of that with the water so she also has some food in her.

 

[Eggcessive]

Have you had any birds in the past or others now with any rattly breathing? Respiratory disease can be common in backyard flocks and usually come from bringing in a new bird or from wild birds using the feeder or waterers. I don’t know your location, but can you get Corid or amprollium to treat her for coccidiosis? That can cause weakness, sleepiness, poor appetite, and hunched or puffed up behavior. Did the vet check for that or offer an antibiotic for respiratory infection?

 

[Sarynda]

Hi, all the birds are from the same flock and none of them seem to have respiratory issues. The feeder is in the coop and inaccessible to wild birds, I haven't seen any wild birds at the waterer.

I'm from the Netherlands and the vet checked her over completely, including checking her droppings which came back clear.

 

[Eggcessive]

Many times if there are no other respiratory symptoms, rattly breathing can be due to crop contents coming back up in the throat, if the crop is not emptying overnight. That is why we ask about the crop in the morning, or any other symptoms. I hope that she gets along okay.

 

[Sarynda]

Unfortunately she died today. I'm very thankful for your help and advice!

Are there any other symptoms for crop distress? Since she hadn't been eating her crop was empty when I was at the vet with her.

 

[Eggcessive]

Sorry that you lost her. A necropsy/autopsy could be done on her body. I do my own brief necropsies on hens I lose. You can look at her abdominal organs and her lungs which are in the upper back. Post pictures here if you can. Do any vets in your area do necropsies on poultry? Here is a vet necropsy that identifies normal looking organs, although mine are much more brief:

 

[Sarynda]

Hi, a necropsy isn't an option I'm afraid since we already buried her and she was a beloved pet so I don't think I'll be able to dig her up again, let alone cut her open...

To try and prevent this from happening to the rest of the flock, what can I do? What are things to watch out for? My late hen just sat puffed up and was suddenly tamer than usual. Her breathing became more laboured throughout her illness, at the point where I even saw her face 'breathing'. Is that also a symptom of impacted crop or did she really have pneumonia then? Could I have done something for her then other than electrolytes and the antibiotics?