Gargling/Gurgling Nosie Chicken

[eatcud]

I have about 14 hens and 2 roosters. Last night I lost 3 hens-I am unsure how they died however I know it was a disease or illness of some sort.

This morning I found another one dead on the roost area. Today I stayed home and carefully checked in on them every hour. I bought some chicken 'gatorade' electrolights...
Just gave them that but some aren't drinking or eating at all and worst of all there are some making some gurgling sounds...My rooster constantly has his mouth open and my little hens (and roosters) are gurgling, sneezing and making awkward painful crys.

Please help me I don't want them to die.

Note- I have a 5-6 year old chicken in there, many are 1-2 years and some are 3 years old... Please help me some of them won't eat of drink!

1) What type of bird , age and weight. -
Most are Rhode Island Reds, (I don't know the other breeds sorry) some black and white striped hens, and black hens
2) What is the behavior, exactly.-
Gurgling noises, mouths are open, no roosters crowing, not really moving (if their sick)
3) How long has the bird been exhibiting symptoms?
1 day and a half
4) Are other birds exhibiting the same symptoms?
yes
5) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma.
Not that I see
6) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation.
Uncleaned coop (I haven't cleaned it for 2-4 weeks )
7) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all.-
Some are some aren't like my rooster isn't
8) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc. -
Most is runnynormalish?
9) What has been the treatment you have administered so far? -
electrolights
10 ) What is your intent as far as treatment? For example, do you want to treat completely yourself, or do you need help in stabilizing the bird til you can get to a vet?
Treat myself
11) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help.
Might post one later...hopefully
12) Describe the housing/bedding in use
Shavings and the house is about 6 ft by 6 ft and has a waterer and feeder along with 5 hen boxes and a roost above and a cabinet to the right. Under the cabinet is another roost

 

[ladrholman]

I am sorry. I have no idea. Nothing in the water or feed that they could have gotten into?? Did you recently get new feed? Any heavy rains that could have contaminated the water or poisoning?? It seems if it was some sort of infection that you would have had one or two starting to get sick and others more behind. It sounds more like they all got sick together. I really hope you get some help. Thoughts.

 

[eatcud]

Thanks for your support

I don't think we got new feed and we just had a snow storm...Thanks hopefully their will be more posts, thanks very much

Does anyone think they'll survive?

 

[easttxchick]

This caught my eye because it sounds like what you are dealing with.
Take a look at this thread.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=441319

 

[tryxichicks]

So it could be a number of things, if it happened rapidly like over night...probably a resp. infection which are hard to treat. Do you see and discharge clear or otherwise from noses or eyes? Are they active or just ruffled up in one spot?
Sneezing? Coughing?
"yawning" or neck stretching?
Do they sound wheezy or just like they are full of fluid?


In some cases they just need extra pampering, and a clean coop. They may recover on their own, but you can always try to get an antibiotic from your feed store, usually they are marketed for cattle or sheep, but of course you need a MUCH smaller dosage, and you'll have to find out what that is depending on the kind you get.

There is a possibility its gapeworms, but thats a slow onset usually you'll notice them "yawning" or gaping there mouthed open for awhile before its that bad.
Keep posting to get more replies.
Good luck and I hope this helps a little...

 

[eatcud]

I saw some discharge on my oldest hen...and maybe on a few others most of my new black hens are active and running around- however about 7 are on the roost ruffled up. They sound wheezy. Last night my baby, Sammy died and she was ruffled up. Ok thanks you are all so very nice and helpful! I'll keep posting and thanks for the tip on medication I will see what I can do.

 

[easttxchick]

Good luck!
I sure hope you can get them all fixed up!
Let us know.

 

[olinandkim]

this happened to our birds after introducing 3 new chickens. Lost all of them but they made the other 7 birds sick. Coughing, gurgling, and sneezing. I was able to get an antibiotic into them and all but the 3 new birds surrived. You will have to act fast. I crumbled the pill up and they ate it out of my hand. I was lucky I had some medicine at home, I gave them Spectracef foe 2-3 days(its for people but I had read chickens could tolerate it). Good luck!

 

[tryxichicks]

If there is discharge, its got to be a resp. infection.
You can use antibiotics, some people disagree with this but its completely up to you. If they survive with out the antibiotics, they will be stronger for it. If you give them to your chickens, it may help, but some aren't really effective you'll need to talk to a pro to find out the best one. Otherwise your just adding more stress to their bodies. Its a tough call, I'm going through the same thing here. Thinking good thoughts!

 

[Luvroos]

As a result for having the same sort of problem that you are having and as per a state avian vet I am treating mine with duramyacin in their water as well as aueromyacin crumbles made by Manna Pro. You can pick this up at most feed stores! I have not lost any at this point and know my babies are not feeling well due to the changes in their voices and so forth. It's as a result of the weather per this vet and some cannot shake it and will pass. I think he had mentioned CRD in which is treatable with proper meds unless it's to late! Might you have a heater in their coop? This could help to resolve the problem since mine don't seem to appreciate the cold weather to well. It's as if they have a severe cold!

I also feed them in addition to above recommended crumbles as many probiotics as I possibly can. I give them warm oatmeal, cooked spinach, bananas, vitD milk soaked bread, canned pumpkin, hard boiled eggs, garlic powder, apple cider vinegar and sugar in their water when I'm not treating them with meds and tons of scratch grains as well as corn, corn and more corn in addition to their layena! It would not hurt to feed them sprouts also since they would help to strengthen their immune systems.

I have been treating mine for 2 days now and they seem to be coming along just fine however I will never know for sure until treatment is complete- 10 days. It's also very tough on them when being medicated during the cold winter months as it takes it's toll on them with temperature changes that fluctuate.

These manna pro crumbles are also good for peventitives against these infectious diseases. If you can you might consider placing them in your garage, basement or some place warmer for a while unless their coop is heated. Mine are still in the house at night and free range during the day with access to their area in the basement.

I wish you the best of luck with them, this is a first for me.