Can someone help me narrow this down?

[Jenny Douridas]

I have a five-month-old hen, Who up to this point has been extremely healthy and active. About a week ago she started sneezing, three days later we noticed when she laid down or hunkered down on her perch, she would wheeze and have trouble breathing. As soon as she would stand back up, her breathing would return to normal. We've made no changes in diet. Our girls are not free range because we have dogs and there are several feral cats in the neighborhood. The wire on their coop is too fine to allow access even for the smallest of wild birds. I took her to the vet, who didn't run any tests, but said that her lungs and air sacs sound clear. Her three sisters are showing no symptoms. I'm just trying to find out if this could be The beginning of an illness, if she possibly somehow injured herself, and what I can do to help her. These girls are the loves of my life. Any suggestions are welcome.

 

[Eggcessive]

It doesn't sound like you have added any new birds to your flock recently who could have been carriers of a respiratory disease, so it could be a fungal infection such as aspergillosis from mold or wet conditions, possibly a crop problem which sometimes can cause rattling in the throat, or possibly a heart problem. Fatty liver live might be another possibility. I would check her crop in her upper right chest to feel if it is empty, full, hard, or puffy like a balloon. It should have some food in it gradually filling up by evening, and be mostly empty by early the next morning before she eats. If it is puffy and full, that can be a sign of sour crop. If it is hot, she could have some panting and open-beak breathing. How does her comb look--bright red, pale or discolored? Is she overweight or underweight when you lift her and feel of her breast bone? Hopefully you can figure it out, or her symptoms may improve. Make sure that she is eating and drinking, and note any unusual droppings.

 

[Jenny Douridas]

Hi. Thank you for your reply. Her comb and waddles are more pale than those of her sisters. She is underweight. I can definitely feel her breast bone. I'll have to feel her crop in the morning. They start in on their food first thing in the morning, so I will try to catch her early. She seems to eat and drink as much, or at least as often, as her sisters. I doubt it could be a mold problem. We live in the desert and our humidity is rarely in the double digits. The coop and the house get cleaned twice a week. Their food and water gets cleaned daily. We tried to be very careful with these girls. We've done everything we can to keep them cool. They have a waiting pool that gets the water changed every day. We make them Popsicles out of melon and peppermint. We freeze water bottles for them to lay next to. They even have a fan. That's why I was a little concerned about a possible injury. The vet gave me amoxicillin for her, but I'm hesitant to start her on it, in the absence of signs of infection.

 

[Eggcessive]

What dosage was prescribed? Amoxicillin is pretty safe to use in chickens, and after a safe egg withdrawal time, it won't affect her eggs. Amoxicillin also can treat a variety of ailments in chickens, so I would go ahead and use it. Dosage for a normal 5 pound chicken is around 125 mg twice a day. Some chickens can have problems thriving for one reason or another, such as being too meek to get enough food, immunity issues, a latent coccidiosis infection, or others. Some birds don't show signs of heart failure or other organ failure until about the point of laying or maturity. Hopefully, she will start to improve.

 

[Jenny Douridas]

What dosage was prescribed? Amoxicillin is pretty safe to use in chickens, and after a safe egg withdrawal time, it won't affect her eggs. Amoxicillin also can treat a variety of ailments in chickens, so I would go ahead and use it. Dosage for a normal 5 pound chicken is around 125 mg twice a day. Some chickens can have problems thriving for one reason or another, such as being too meek to get enough food, immunity issues, a latent coccidiosis infection, or others. Some birds don't show signs of heart failure or other organ failure until about the point of laying or maturity. Hopefully, she will start to improve.