Emergency! Hen struggling to breathe!

[evenstar]

This is my first post here. I have had a flock of chickens since March 2015. This is the first time any of my chickens have gotten sick. My 10 month old blue orpington hen started having trouble breathing and coughing/sneezing on Friday afternoon. Today she is struggling to breathe still. Her eyes and nose are clear with no discharge anywhere. She ate and drank yesterday but today she stopped eating and drinking. I have given her some water with a pipette today. I was thinking it could possibly be gape worm so I treated her with some fenbendazole. Any ideas on what to do for her? She is one of my favorite hens with such a sweet personality! I would hate to lose her. Any help greatly appreciated!!

 

[evenstar]

Went to check on her this morning and she was dead! :0 ( Her name was Blue and she was the sweetest chicken. I will miss her. I hope it isn't contagious.

 

[Mr Beaks]

So sorry for your loss . Is there any way you could send the bird in for a necropsy? That will help determine what you're dealing with and whether or not it's contagious.

 

[evenstar]

I took her to our vet and they did a necropsy. She died of pneumonia. They are still looking into what caused it, virus or bacteria. They said she was an extremely healthy, we'll taken care of bird except her lungs. I'meant waiting to hear back if it is contagious or not. Hopefully not. All my other birds seem fine so far.

 

[Eggcessive]

Respiratory infections such as MG, coryza, infectious bronchitis, and ILT can have symptoms that look similar to one another. Those can be complicated by secondary infections which include those same diseases in addition to E.coli and other bacteria. Air sacculitis which is an infection of the many air sacs which can spread infection all over the body is what usually kills chickens from respiratory diseases.The lungs in chickens are usually not as important as the air sacs. Infectious bronchitis and ILT are viruses which don't to antibiotics, while the others are bacteria or mycoplasmas that will respond to antibiotics such as Tylan, tetracyclines, or Baytril.