Chicken lethargic and has a hard time breathing

[casportpony]

Unfortunately he just said it was a virus without specifying any disease or treatment.

She is walking a little, standing up, walking, sitting down. Mostly sitting down. I move the food from one place to another, whereever she is sitting so she can be close just in case.
So, no limbs are paralyzed it seems.

When you see the next vet, ask lots of questions, have them do a gram stain and have them show you how to tube.

-Kathy

 

[mithious]

I wonder if your first vet suspected Mareks disease? Did he ever say that? That could be why he was so pessimistic and wanted to euthanize her. Is she standing or walking at all? Pleas let us know what this vet says.

That was my first thought also Eggcessive. With this being a slow progressing illness, two dead a month ago. Now another chicken sick and the corid or meds for cocci not working ( that should've shown some improvement by now ), vet said virus from the soil, no hope and they will all die....does sound like that is what he suspected.

If you unfortunately do lose her also, I would highly suggest getting a necropsy done.

Did your vet, or do you, feel any tumor feeling bumps anywhere? What do their eyes look like? Dang it, I sure hope that is not what this is!!!! Out of all the diseases chickens can get, this one scares me the most!!!!

If it is Marek's don't lose hope of having chickens again, there are ways...but let's not go there yet

Have you seen the other vet yet? If so, what did they say? Best of luck and many prayers for you all!!!

 

[ShimmersMom]

Oh no. That would be really scary.

Her eyes look clear, not foggy. She basically looks pretty normal except for the lethargy and a crooked comb.

My husband just called me - he saw the second vet. She looked at the stool and didn't find parasites but gave her a shot for parasites for good measure. She also gave her antibiotics and a good feeding. She thinks its a respiratory issue and subscribed Antibiotics. She also gave us a feeding tube to make the feeding easier.

We have a little more hope now.

 

[casportpony]

Did they do a gram stain to check for bacteria?

-Kathy

 

[ShimmersMom]

Day 2.5 on antibiotics. She is still fighting, she's a trooper.

Her breathing seems to have improved and she is trying to peck on some rocks. We are providing grit for her to peck on, she's drinking some water but mainly she wants to be in her little area lying down. We are still hoping, feeding her with a tube and giving her the antibiotics.

The rest of the flock seems unaffected. Keep the fingers crossed.

I am not sure what exactly the doctor did. My husband says she looked at the poop under the microscope - she didn't find any worms or parasites.

 

[NanooseDeb]

Hi, I have one young hen in a similar circumstance. She is very lethargic, runny nose, but not sounding wheezy, just keeps falling asleep when out running around with the others. So, we brought her in a couple of days ago and went to the feed store, my very experienced fellow there gave me Oxy Tetra-A. He is an egg farmer himself. He said it works for cocci as well. We have been using it as a drench for "Peppercorn" and she seems to be improving. We have mixed up some medicated chick feed with probiotic yogurt and hand feeding her that as well as her medication and lots of water with a syringe. Some folks say to turn them over, etc. to get the water in to them, but she just licks it off the syringe. Check and see if your chicken has hot legs, she did, so we have been treating her like she has a fever and cold. Today she ate most of a cooked, scrambled egg and will get her meds again tonight. She is still laying, but you must remember not to eat those eggs. We save them to feed back to her. If you are worried about the rest of your friends, put 1 tablespoon per gallon of water and give it as a preventative for 5 days. Again no eating those eggs and for another 5 days after the treatment.

 

[ShimmersMom]

After two weeks of fighting whatever it was, our trooper died last night.
We are very sad.

We had just decided that she deserves a third look by the vet and were ready to pay for the blood works. We tried our best but we still feel that we failed her somehow.

Thanks for all your support. All your input was very helpful and although we hope that all of our remaining chickens are healthy, we learned a lot and will deal with the next incident with more knowledge from the start.

 

[azygous]

I'm so sorry your girl lost her battle, and it sounds like she really tried. I highly recommend you get a necropsy done. Put her body in the fridge until you locate a place to take her remains.

A necropsy can tell you why she died and if it could affect the rest of your flock, and it doesn't cost very much at all. Recently, my year-old rooster was very sick, had trouble breathing, but his eyes were clear with no discharges. He lost weight and had bright green diarrhea. I decided I needed to know what killed him so I took his remains to the university agricultural lab to have a necropsy done. They got on it immediately and in a few hours I learned it was an avian leukemia that killed my roo, but more important, that it was in my entire flock. It was under $50.

Knowing what has made one bird sick can sometimes prevent your others from getting sick and dying. In my case, there is no treatment, but in yours, you might learn information that can save the rest of your flock from a similar fate. Get it done!

 

[Eggcessive]

Sorry for your loss.

 

[casportpony]

After two weeks of fighting whatever it was, our trooper died last night.
We are very sad.

We had just decided that she deserves a third look by the vet and were ready to pay for the blood works. We tried our best but we still feel that we failed her somehow.

Thanks for all your support. All your input was very helpful and although we hope that all of our remaining chickens are healthy, we learned a lot and will deal with the next incident with more knowledge from the start.

So sorry!

-Kathy