Chickens gurgling when breathing plus sneezing/coughing & making strange head movement

[egghead@1265]

Ok, I did contact the state vet and they referred me to my regional person.  I talked to him for a while explaining all that had happened and he said based on the symptoms, it is not one of the two things they monitor for.  He suggested using either Baytril 10% oral solution, Baycox 5% oral solution or Tylan Soluble (all mixing in drinking water).  He emailed me the info to take to the vet with me.  I liked this vet much more than the other one.  He examined my hen real well and found that she has lice and also 2 kinds of worms (whip worms and another kind of stomach worm that he wasn't sure of).  He gave her an antibiotic shot of Baytril and gave me some to bring home.  He prescribed Ivermectin for the worms and wormed her and then we wormed all the other chickens except the chicks (we assumed they are too young?).  Now the Ivermectin is mixed 50/50 with something else but I don't remember what it is and it's not on the bottle.  He also gave me Permethrin 10% to mix with water to spray my chickens, the coop and any free range areas they go in but also told me to keep any animals out of the area for 24 hours because it could/would kill my cats.   I have 7 outdoor cats and 2 of those hang out around the chickens and their coop most of the time.  Spraying the chickens sound like it would be hard not to get it in their eyes or mouth and a lot of work.  I have read on here about using other things for lice.  Wondering about using Epernix Pour because it sounds very easy to just put drops on them or using the sevin dust, but not sure how much to use of course I can research that.  I have a large outside area they free range and wondering best way to treat it and also not kill or harm my cats. I would also like to note that I have 5 mallards (just over 4 months old now) who also free range with the chickens and roost in their own house next door to the chickens.  The vet said I probably need to treat them too.  Now this could get tricky as they do come near me when I'm out there feeding, watering, cleaning but they would freak out if I tried to catch them when they are in their house and they have very sharp claws (learned this last time I tried to pick on up and hold it).  Do I treat all the chickens and ducks for lice - even the youngest chicks that are about 1 1/2 months old or what?

Wow, that is an unusual vet! Nice- but wow!

Sorry I am not caught up-but are your hens better?

 

[egghead@1265]

Ok, I did contact the state vet and they referred me to my regional person.  I talked to him for a while explaining all that had happened and he said based on the symptoms, it is not one of the two things they monitor for.  He suggested using either Baytril 10% oral solution, Baycox 5% oral solution or Tylan Soluble (all mixing in drinking water).  He emailed me the info to take to the vet with me.  I liked this vet much more than the other one.  He examined my hen real well and found that she has lice and also 2 kinds of worms (whip worms and another kind of stomach worm that he wasn't sure of).  He gave her an antibiotic shot of Baytril and gave me some to bring home.  He prescribed Ivermectin for the worms and wormed her and then we wormed all the other chickens except the chicks (we assumed they are too young?).  Now the Ivermectin is mixed 50/50 with something else but I don't remember what it is and it's not on the bottle.  He also gave me Permethrin 10% to mix with water to spray my chickens, the coop and any free range areas they go in but also told me to keep any animals out of the area for 24 hours because it could/would kill my cats.   I have 7 outdoor cats and 2 of those hang out around the chickens and their coop most of the time.  Spraying the chickens sound like it would be hard not to get it in their eyes or mouth and a lot of work.  I have read on here about using other things for lice.  Wondering about using Epernix Pour because it sounds very easy to just put drops on them or using the sevin dust, but not sure how much to use of course I can research that.  I have a large outside area they free range and wondering best way to treat it and also not kill or harm my cats. I would also like to note that I have 5 mallards (just over 4 months old now) who also free range with the chickens and roost in their own house next door to the chickens.  The vet said I probably need to treat them too.  Now this could get tricky as they do come near me when I'm out there feeding, watering, cleaning but they would freak out if I tried to catch them when they are in their house and they have very sharp claws (learned this last time I tried to pick on up and hold it).  Do I treat all the chickens and ducks for lice - even the youngest chicks that are about 1 1/2 months old or what?

Do you believe the Tylan in the water is the solution to the gurgling? Been trying to figure out similar situation and need to do something else or continue the LS-50 from the vet. Did 5 days but still gurgling exists

My net went down, so being brief but have posted onBYC what's been going on

Thanks for sharing!

 

[Eggcessive]

Egghead, I have seen where you have been posting on several theads looking for advice ( of course, nothing wrong with that to learn.) You may want to start a new thread of your own giving all of the symptoms, treatments, your setup, and history of your flock to get more help. That way many people can give you their opinions, and it might be helpful. To post a new thread, just look for the box at the top of this page. Sorry that you are having problems--it certainly is the time of the year for respiratory issues.

 

[egghead@1265]

Thanks, just did! I wou

 

[egghead@1265]

internet keeps going down! As it did during this post to reply to you! ugh

 

[MeTxLady]

Hi there! Sorry for late reply. I honestly think that my problem was gape worm. After I wormed them the gurgling went away. I did treat their water for a short time. I did have one of my large RIR hens that ended up dying...she was still having problems and I think she got too hot one day and with the breathing probs she couldn't handle it. I have not seen a problem since. I never treated the ground as I have too many cats and a dog to worry about keeping them out of the area. I hope you find the answer.

 

[egghead@1265]

Thank you?! I think they are recovering now. The vet has been pretty helpful, and they seem to be quieting down.

Relief!

 

[Bocktobery 10]

I know this thread is old, but after reading through it I’m wondering if the OP had first a worm overload on their flock and a respiratory ailment set in because of that? If the de-wormer for gapeworm (I’m assuming would treat many several types of worms) worked well, it seems worms would be the culprit. Internal parasites can really bring a bird down and make them more susceptible to catching respiratory ailments. If you don’t treat the worm load the antibiotics most likely won’t do much to protect the bird as the parasites are literally starving your bird of the nutrients it needs along with the antibiotics to get better. This would be especially important if you notice your birds are more on the side of being emaciated.

There were a few of you here commenting that you had reoccurring ongoing issues with gurgling (I’m assuming as that’s the main symptom of this thread). For those I’d suggest treating the flock with Denagard 12.5% and to do a preventative treatment every 6 months. What’s making them sick is probably a whole other thing.

Basically, If meds don’t work within the first 24 hours, meaning you don’t witness a lessening of symptoms, that med either isn’t treating it at all (wrong med, wrong diagnosis) or perhaps is the wrong dose (the birds not getting the full amount or it wasn’t measured correctly). It also could be that the bird is very sick and so it might take more dosages for improvement to be seen...it depends on how close to death they are, and only you seeing and knowing your bird can tell. Those are just a few generalizations that might help in troubleshooting.

I’d like to encourage others to try learn to to treat their flocks. The more people working to facilitate bird health (and sharing information via venues like this website) the more chance we have at eradicating diseases or developing ways to prevent bird loss. We as humans utilize poultry as a food source to keep ourselves healthy, I sense we owe it to these creatures and ourselves to do our best at keeping them healthy.