Hi all -
Reposting this with a new title hoping to get a new kind of answer.
I'm looking for your experience with chickens with recurrent breathing problems. This is basically a question of to cull or not to cull.
We have a - likely older than 3 years - RIR, who came to us with her 2 longtime flockmates in September. She was well and possibly even laying a egg now and then. In early November we added 3 young Leghorns, all about 7 months old and they began laying within 6-8 weeks. They've all been healthy, but at that time we didn't know about quarentining and we merged the two groups within a few days. The leghorns have never shown any signs of illness.
About a month after the leghorns arrived, the RIR developed a snore and gurgling breath sounds. The morning after we first heard this, she was kind of isolating herself in the yard and even laboring to breath so we brought her in our house and quarantined her, with extra warmth. She slowly improved each day, though a week later was still rattly. At no time did she have swollen nostrils, discharge from eyes or nostrils, or change in appetite, droppings, or curiosity - aside from the breathing, she was still as perky as ever. After that first week, we were getting a little tired of the clean up job, and a little worried that this was now a forever condition - possibly a tumor, though she had no obvious masses. A local vet did a fecal smear and saw no suspicious organisms, but gave her panacur and doxycycline just to cover all the bases. He did this by phone consult and no physical exam (our choice to save $). During the course of treatment she got entirely well - but it wasn't clear that it was the meds that did the trick. Coincidentally, we came into a warm spell though we live in an area with true winters (a cold snap has nights around 0 F.) I kind of hardened her off again by having her in a little pen near the big chicken yard for a few days and then she rejoined her flock. So that was around December 20 that she went back out.
Now here we are at the beginning of Feb and she's having a recurrence, and... so is one of her original flockmates, an Auracana, also likely around 3 years old. I've brought them both back into quarantine. Again - no discharge, no change in energy, appetite, etc. And again, both are improving.
I see a lot about the various illnesses that are more obvious with other signs like discharge, but nothing about something that seems so mild. It would seem obvious that this is contagious, but perhaps it's more to do with age and my newbie lack of experience keeping the coop dry enough (using deep litter method, diatomaceous earth, removing large wet areas, good air flow, but what do I know...)
And of course, now there are 4 new hens to want to protect, also hand-me-downs, on deck as it were in a separate pen and I am running out of ways to keep everyone separate.
Any thoughts? I feel like our choices are: 1. return them to the flock and hope for the best or that at least only egg production would be affected 2. cull 3. spend money on vet and try to get a better diagnosis if that's even possible with no discharge
I would cull but I'd like more assurance that this is really a Not Good Thing, and could wipe out lots of hens and mean no new hens til these ones die. I'd vastly prefer not to cull - my little son has fallen in love with them all and he's very tender hearted.
I appreciate anyone's bothering to read this far, and any thoughts you might have! Red Feather, Ginger, and my little boy and I await your wisdom...
Reposting this with a new title hoping to get a new kind of answer.
I'm looking for your experience with chickens with recurrent breathing problems. This is basically a question of to cull or not to cull.
We have a - likely older than 3 years - RIR, who came to us with her 2 longtime flockmates in September. She was well and possibly even laying a egg now and then. In early November we added 3 young Leghorns, all about 7 months old and they began laying within 6-8 weeks. They've all been healthy, but at that time we didn't know about quarentining and we merged the two groups within a few days. The leghorns have never shown any signs of illness.
About a month after the leghorns arrived, the RIR developed a snore and gurgling breath sounds. The morning after we first heard this, she was kind of isolating herself in the yard and even laboring to breath so we brought her in our house and quarantined her, with extra warmth. She slowly improved each day, though a week later was still rattly. At no time did she have swollen nostrils, discharge from eyes or nostrils, or change in appetite, droppings, or curiosity - aside from the breathing, she was still as perky as ever. After that first week, we were getting a little tired of the clean up job, and a little worried that this was now a forever condition - possibly a tumor, though she had no obvious masses. A local vet did a fecal smear and saw no suspicious organisms, but gave her panacur and doxycycline just to cover all the bases. He did this by phone consult and no physical exam (our choice to save $). During the course of treatment she got entirely well - but it wasn't clear that it was the meds that did the trick. Coincidentally, we came into a warm spell though we live in an area with true winters (a cold snap has nights around 0 F.) I kind of hardened her off again by having her in a little pen near the big chicken yard for a few days and then she rejoined her flock. So that was around December 20 that she went back out.
Now here we are at the beginning of Feb and she's having a recurrence, and... so is one of her original flockmates, an Auracana, also likely around 3 years old. I've brought them both back into quarantine. Again - no discharge, no change in energy, appetite, etc. And again, both are improving.
I see a lot about the various illnesses that are more obvious with other signs like discharge, but nothing about something that seems so mild. It would seem obvious that this is contagious, but perhaps it's more to do with age and my newbie lack of experience keeping the coop dry enough (using deep litter method, diatomaceous earth, removing large wet areas, good air flow, but what do I know...)
And of course, now there are 4 new hens to want to protect, also hand-me-downs, on deck as it were in a separate pen and I am running out of ways to keep everyone separate.
Any thoughts? I feel like our choices are: 1. return them to the flock and hope for the best or that at least only egg production would be affected 2. cull 3. spend money on vet and try to get a better diagnosis if that's even possible with no discharge
I would cull but I'd like more assurance that this is really a Not Good Thing, and could wipe out lots of hens and mean no new hens til these ones die. I'd vastly prefer not to cull - my little son has fallen in love with them all and he's very tender hearted.
I appreciate anyone's bothering to read this far, and any thoughts you might have! Red Feather, Ginger, and my little boy and I await your wisdom...
