Chicken with wet cough

[FowlWitch]

One of my EE hens started to have a wet cough a week or so ago. She's eating and drinking fine, no diarrhea, and she's still laying eggs. I was treating her with VetRX on the recommendation of some folks on reddit, but I don't think it's helping her (she seems to like it, though, and acts like it's a treat lol). I'm considering buying some 10% Amoxycillin Powder, I haven't purchased yet - I thought I should ask first what you guys thought.

 

[Eggcessive]

If she has a respiratory disease from MG, tylosin or Tylan would be more better suited than amoxicillin which doesn’t affect MG. Doxycycline would also work. If it is caused by a virus, it will not respond to antibiotics, but would last a minth or more. You can get tylosin for the water here without a prescription:
https://www.jedds.com/shop/tylan-soluble-100-g/

Sometimes you can give Tylan 50 injectable orally, and may find it locally with syringes and needles in some feed stores.
Here is a list of respiratory diseases and symptoms to compare what you are seeing:
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ps044

 

[Eggcessive]

How does her crop feel? Can you check it first thing in the morning to see if it has emptied overnight. A full and hard or boggy/puffy crop can be a sign of impacted or sour crop.

 

[Eggcessive]

Rather than starve the others, could you keep her in a dog crate with water? I would add electrolytes to the water. Many use refrigerated coconut oil cut into small pieces, and give a tsp of that daily, followed by massaging the crop several times a day. Mineral oil can also be used instead. The crop impactions that I have seen in my flock have been a secondary problem caused by reproductive problems. Here are a couple of articles with suggestions about crop problems:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...ntion-and-treatments-of-crop-disorders.67194/

https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/

 

[FowlWitch]

Bump

 

[FowlWitch]

If she has a respiratory disease from MG, tylosin or Tylan would be more better suited than amoxicillin which doesn’t affect MG. Doxycycline would also work. If it is caused by a virus, it will not respond to antibiotics, but would last a minth or more. You can get tylosin for the water here without a prescription:
https://www.jedds.com/shop/tylan-soluble-100-g/

Sometimes you can give Tylan 50 injectable orally, and may find it locally with syringes and needles in some feed stores.
Here is a list of respiratory diseases and symptoms to compare what you are seeing:
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ps044

I'm starting to think it may be an issue with her crop. She has no discharge in her eyes or nostrils. She isn't losing weight, eats and drinks just fine, and is laying normal eggs.

 

[FowlWitch]

How does her crop feel? Can you check it first thing in the morning to see if it has emptied overnight. A full and hard or boggy/puffy crop can be a sign of impacted or sour crop.

I'll be up before the sun is, so I'll take a look then. Thank you for the advice

 

[FowlWitch]

How does her crop feel? Can you check it first thing in the morning to see if it has emptied overnight. A full and hard or boggy/puffy crop can be a sign of impacted or sour crop.

I went out and checked right now. Her crop is firm and full. I made her an appointment with the vet but they aren't available until 2 weeks from now. What can I do for her until the appointment?

 

[FowlWitch]

I went out and checked right now. Her crop is firm and full. I made her an appointment with the vet but they aren't available until 2 weeks from now. What can I do for her until the appointment?

I separated her and one of my other hens after I checked all 4 birds in the run. The second hen still had food in her crop, but it wasn't nearly as firm as the first hen. I won't feed them for 24 hours, and in the mean time, I made them "soup" water with VetRX, oregano, cinnamon, crushed garlic, apple cidar vinegar, and a tablespoon of honey. I hope they drink it because I sure wouldn't lol

 

[FowlWitch]

Rather than starve the others, could you keep her in a dog crate with water? I would add electrolytes to the water. Many use refrigerated coconut oil cut into small pieces, and give a tsp of that daily, followed by massaging the crop several times a day. Mineral oil can also be used instead. The crop impactions that I have seen in my flock have been a secondary problem caused by reproductive problems. Here are a couple of articles with suggestions about crop problems:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...ntion-and-treatments-of-crop-disorders.67194/

https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/

I have a little update - the first hen's (Princess Snowflake) crop was completely empty by this afternoon (she pooped it all out and it looked pretty gnarly). She was still coughing, but I'm glad her crop looked a little better. The second hen's (Ginger) crop was small but felt more impacted. I massaged it and gave her fresh water. After she drank, the crop felt softer and more pliable, so I'll be keeping an eye on her.

The other two chickens had access to food - I was only isolating the two hens with crop issues today. I'll see about feeding them tomorrow morning; I put some of their pellet feed and a table spoon of neem oil in a bowl and added some of their soup water (after I watered it down - it was too strong and they didn't touch it all day). I'm going to let that sit over night and add more plain water in the morning.

As far as reproductive issues are concerned - can you elaborate? They both laid eggs today while they were isolated and both eggs looked normal and healthy.

EDIT: I'm reading the links - I don't think it's a reproductive issue. They probably have some kind of parasite or pathogen. Princess Snowflake started coughing after we had some rain and the dummies all decided to drink from muddy rain puddles instead of the water I was providing -_- Who knows what kind of nasty stuff they picked up.