Fatal Respiratory Disease? *Video*

[JadeMurphy]

I had an adult hen that was constantly sneezing, I gave her quite a lot of time but after hearing many different stories about infectious incurable diseases panicked and culled her (Worst thing I've ever done. Tears & tears after.)

It's been about a week since her death and I've just noticed one of my 6-8 week old chicks sneezing & gasping (I never saw the hen gasp, only sneeze) The chicks and hens have possibly come into contact but I'm not 100%.

The chick is running around fine, same as the hen was, but when they sunbathe her breathing does look slightly laboured compared to the others. Some poop has a small light-browny diahorrea but I can't guarantee it's from this chick.

None of my other hens or chicks are doing this. Does anyone have some advice or experience as I'm confused with stories I'm hearing from chicken 'farmers' who don't care & just cull them. They all have names & I do not want to lose any more of my girls if possible.

Also, any idea of the sex of either of the chicks in the video. I'm calling them 'she' but have no idea yet!

Any help or advice would be appreciated so much, I'm quite a worrier!

 

[JadeMurphy]

Does nobody have any ideas or experience on this?

I thought BYC would be the best place to ask

 

[featherz]

Sometimes sneezing is due to environmental factors/dust/etc, so I would not immediately put down a hen that was simply sneezing unless there were other factors involved (which there may have been! ). What kind of bedding are you using in the coop? Any recent additions to the flock brought home from swaps or auctions? I see you are in england so it's unlikely to be too hot, but that's also a reason for panting and diarrhea.. I have one chicken that gets hiccups and sneezes but it's because she sticks her whole head in the dusty feed and inhales it. LOL.

As for the new chick - is there any drainage/snot from the eyes or nose? Are the eyes swollen? Chances are the other chickens are already exposed - but at the very least I would isolate the possibly sick one so you can get a better idea of what is going on. If it IS one of the contagious respiratory diseases, you can a) treat, but maintain a closed flock and don't sell chickens or hatching eggs or b) cull the sick chicken and hope none of the others got it. First step is to isolate the sneezing bird and see if we can't narrow down the problem a bit.

 

[featherz]

One more thing.. I think it's rather more difficult there to get antibiotics for your birds, correct? You need a vet to give you a prescription? Most of these diseases ARE treatable if you wish to do so and while they have a high rate of spread, they have a low rate of fatality. That said, the diseases can pop up again when the bird is stressed and any new chickens you get will probably also get it. So that's why people opt to kill the bird, not because they feel the bird will die anyways.

 

[JadeMurphy]

We use chopped straw in the nest boxes & they are in an Omlet cube, so the coop is plastic so very easy to disinfect & wipe down. I first noticed the hen sneezing the day after we bought her home, in hind sight I should have taken her back but I just kept telling myself that it was probably a cold, then a whole two months passed.

There was definitely something up with her, you could hear her wheezing when you held her, and the sneezing was just so consistent. We haven't had any new additions in a while, the chicks were bought altogether for a broody sat on some porcelain eggs. We do have a cockerel but we prefer new chicks to prevent any sort of inbreeding.

I haven't seen or heard the chick sneeze or gasp since the day I posted the video, two/three days ago now. The eyes appear a bit watery at times, but I haven't seen any runny eyes or nose, no bubbles etc. Nothing else seems to be wrong, the chick is still running around with the others.

If I haven't seen any other chicks or chickens do this (only two out of ten) are they probably carriers. Do you think it would be wise to monitor the chick for a period of time to see if it starts again or not, or just call a vet in. It is quite difficult to get treatments & antibiotics yes, I can just about get the wormer online without having to take each & every chook to the vets!

Thanks so much featherz.

 

[txchickie]

I've had some sort of respiratory bug going through my flock and it's totally new to me, I've never had a sick chicken. It started with one hen sneezing and wheezing, and spread pretty quickly through my entire flock. I've had chickens for years and never had an illness, so I don't know what happened. The original hen that was sick is now 99% better and there are a few others going through the worst part of it. I have no idea what caused it.

I never saw any runny eyes or noses, but there is a lot of sneezing and wheezing going on.
I did do an extremely thourough cleaning of my coop and run, took out every speck of bedding and washed everything with bleach and left the doors open all day. I plan on doing another deep clean in a couple of days, just to be sure I didn't miss anything. They do free range during the day and I can't bleach the entire property, but I felt I had to do something.
I did add a little more ACV to their water than usual and also chopped fresh garlic. I want to avoid antibiotics if at all possible. It's been so hot here lately (I'm in TX) and I'm sure the extreme heat didn't help them either.

 

[JadeMurphy]

Part of me wishes I hadn't put the first hen to sleep, but she never showed any signs of getting better so I must use that & not look back.

I'm worming at the moment & am going to start another ACV week when I've finished. It's so frustrating, avian vets here aren't widely spread at all, and they're quite expensive.

Has anyone seen the sort of cough/gasp in the video before? It crossed my mind that it sounded like a beginners' crow too.