Hen sounding congested with a smelly mucus coming from beak!

[Eggcessive]

Here is what the online fish zole looks like:

 

[Liz Birdlover]

Did you put her elsewhere for now? Is anyone else displaying similar symptoms? I've set up anyone not feeling well in a separate area that is climate controlled, easy to monitor eating, drinking & droppings, and bird won't have to spend energy on trying to keep warm or get picked on by anyone else.

Respiratory issues can range from minor to serious, so if possible you want to try and find out exactly what illness you're dealing with, see if it is treatable & what medicine may work best. For regular Respiratory Doxycycline & Tylan are helpful, Broomhexine helps address mucus. Canker responds to the "zoles" that's metronidazole, ronidazole or carnidozole. Immune system boosters for your other birds are ACV, minced garlic & oregano but these won't cure a bird already ill.

You may need to take this bird to a vet for testing, I know that's easier said than done, most vets are not familiar with birds, or if they are, they usually only treat parrots.
It could be anything from bacterial, viral, or even a form of pox.

I had a new sweet Roo with respiratory once, brought him in & set up in a large cage in my spare bathroom. His nares & inside the upper cleft in beak were literally clogged with hardened mucus plugs, poor boy had to breathe through his mouth. I'm lucky he was a sweetheart & appreciated that I rescued him from a nasty place, because he sure didn't like what I did, even though it helped. I had him on my lap, I wore the headband light so I could see well, got Q-tips & a bit of Vaseline, (I've since found a jar of coconut oil is better to loosen & clean hardened stuff around beak), very gently cleaned the cleft & nares. There were actually hard plugs of mucus.

Thank goodness when I get any pigeons or chickens to lay on their backs in my lap, they do eventually stay perfectly still. With chickens, I still need one hand to hold at least 1 foot. At 1st if they try to kick I just gently hold them secure & talk softly, it's ok be calm. Once still, I can inoculate, clean with a Q-tip, trim or gently file beak, whatever I need to do.

So anyway, the slimy mucus cleaned well, but there were also literally hard plugs, so I had to use a tweezer to grab the plugs & get them out. Nare plugs were easy & small but the beak cleft plug came out in 3 pieces, the last piece was really long, and let me tell ya, they all stunk!

After they were out, my Roo could breathe! His congestion was upper, none lower for him. I rubbed some VetRX on his beak wattle & comb, too. When I let him get down from my lap he snorted, blowing his nose clean a few times, then began to peck around looking for treats. I kept him on meds for 10 days then followed up with Probiotics, then ACV garlic oregano, & he did fine. This was abt 4 yrs ago. This Roo is still the most loving sweetie & very healthy.

I had some powdered meds on hand from racing pigeon days, mix 1 teasp per gal, or these meds are avail individual pill form, Doxy, Tylan & Broomhexine, & Metronidazole. I also had penicillin on hand but that is usually used for lower respiratory so I didn't use it in this case. I prefer powder or pill form as they store & have a better shelf life as compared to liquids.

I was fortunate my Roo recovered & hasn't been ill since. I also began doing what I've done for my pigeons, more often, a rotation of ACV, Orgeano, Minced garlic & then Probiotics on a different day, 1 teasp per gal. Some people add a dash of Cinnamon, so I do that too. (Plastic waterers, vinegar corrodes metal ones) Waterers can get nasty so clean them daily, I use bleach to clean, rinse well, then clean once more with white vinegar, rinse well, I use a large plastic bin to dunk & soak waterers. I use other smaller waterers on those herbal tonic mixture days & reserve the large 3 gal waterer just for plain water. Sometimes I offer flock a little treat of yogurt, blueberries & flax seed oil & Orgeano to peck at, I mix abt a cup & offer it in a wide shallow bowl I hold it as they peck, it goes fast, they love it.

I hope whatever your hen has, it is not serious. There are some bad illnesses out there that can be devastating to our sweet chickens, some illnesses spread by wild birds or mice, or they can be carriers the whole time & we never know. Wish you the best with your hen!

https://redrockfarmstead.com/battling-fowl-pox-home-remedies-for-sick-chickens/

https://www.evolutionfarmvets.co.uk/respiratory-disease-chickens

https://www.freedomrangerhatchery.com/blog/protecting-your-flock-what-you-need-to-know-about-mg-ms/

https://www.fresheggsdaily.blog/2012/01/holistic-trinity-acv-garlic-and-de.html?m=1

http://www.49w.us/firstaidkit.htm

 

[Raeganmh02]

She does not have any eye drainage at all. She is not necessarily sneezing or coughing, but she is wheezing and gargling a lot. When she breaths I can hear the mucus making gargling and cracking noises, and some times she’ll shanks her head struggling to breath. Her breast area below her crop seems swollen and inflamed (I’m thinking that’s her irritated lungs). I may look into the fish Zole. I’ve heard it suggested on quite a few slights. The yellow mucus in her beak looks like the mucus chickens with pox, however she does not and has never had that. Thank you for all your replies so far, they have helped a ton!

 

[Raeganmh02]

None of the other birds are displaying any symptoms so far. She is in a horse stall separate from all the others. I’ve been giving the flock all kids of healthy immune boosts like ACV and garlic. I have noticed her dropping smell (oddly enough) like the distinct smell of a horse. It sounds weird, but it has that equine smell to it! I could not find anything about that online, so I’m not sure why her droppings smell that way. I am thinking a vet would be necessary, even though I usually don’t take mine to a vet. At least I could know for sure what she has, because there are a TON of respiratory issues and infections that can determine a lot (such as weather she will be a carrier the rest of her life or not), which hopefully isn’t the case. For now she is drinking, eating, and pecking around for food. If she is acting this well, I’m hoping it’s just a minor respiratory infection that can be treated without complications.

 

[Liz Birdlover]

She does not have any eye drainage at all. She is not necessarily sneezing or coughing, but she is wheezing and gargling a lot. When she breaths I can hear the mucus making gargling and cracking noises, and some times she’ll shanks her head struggling to breath. Her breast area below her crop seems swollen and inflamed (I’m thinking that’s her irritated lungs). I may look into the fish Zole. I’ve heard it suggested on quite a few slights. The yellow mucus in her beak looks like the mucus chickens with pox, however she does not and has never had that. Thank you for all your replies so far, they have helped a ton!

I'm no vet, but I used to call a knowledgeable, kind man for advice, til he passed on. I remember he said diff meds helps diff areas of congestion. When you don't know exactly what you're dealing with, and no vet can help, you just do your best & monitor & consider ALL symptoms, dietary, poo, where is congestion, is there any other body swelling, look at eyes, throat, nares, butt, etc. Sounds like you are doing that.

There are various illnesses the have similar symptoms, some are gram positive some are gram negative, some are bacterial or viral, we don't know unless tested. Diff meds address diff things, there are some you can combine.

I recall he told me penicillin for congestion lower than throat, into chest & bronchial, and he said tylan for sinus. But often what starts as sinus can travel down into bronchial.

I've used these sites in the past for meds. Some you can talk to someone for advice, Jedd's was great.

https://www.jedds.com/product-category/poultry/healthcare-poultry/medicine-poultry/

https://globalpigeonsupply.com/collections/respiratory

https://allbirdproducts.com/collections/pigeon-antibiotic-medications

https://allbirdproducts.com/pages/search-results-page?q=respiratory

 

[Liz Birdlover]

None of the other birds are displaying any symptoms so far. She is in a horse stall separate from all the others. I’ve been giving the flock all kids of healthy immune boosts like ACV and garlic. I have noticed her dropping smell (oddly enough) like the distinct smell of a horse. It sounds weird, but it has that equine smell to it! I could not find anything about that online, so I’m not sure why her droppings smell that way. I am thinking a vet would be necessary, even though I usually don’t take mine to a vet. At least I could know for sure what she has, because there are a TON of respiratory issues and infections that can determine a lot (such as weather she will be a carrier the rest of her life or not), which hopefully isn’t the case. For now she is drinking, eating, and pecking around for food. If she is acting this well, I’m hoping it’s just a minor respiratory infection that can be treated without complications.

Mine occasionally smell horsey too, & I wondered is my sense of smell off a bit, it is the neighbor's horse barn I smell, or it is the straw I put in their nesting egg boxes? I'd be curious to hear others giving feedback on that lol.

Chickens droppings sure have a wide range of normal, too. Mine have pooped just about every single type there is I think! What goes in, comes out, various veggies make for some colorful poop.

https://chartde.blogspot.com/2017/04/chicken-poop-chart.html?m=1

https://chat.allotment-garden.org/?topic=17568.0

https://www.fresheggsdaily.blog/2016/03/all-about-chicken-poop-brown-black-and.html?m=1

 

[Raeganmh02]

Thank you so much for all the helpful sites! I have learned so much from this experience and these sites that I never knew before! It never hurts to grow my mental notebook of “chickens knowledge”

 

[Raeganmh02]

UPDATE on the sick hen. Yesterday she has bubbles in her eyes, so I’m starting to think she has Mycoplasma Gallisepticum. When I went out this morning, I noticed a another road island hen drinking. When she leaned down to get a drink, clear mucus would run out of her beak making it difficult. As I examined her, I realized she too has the respiratory disease! She has the same terrible breath, and upon opening her mouth I saw the cheese like mucus sticking to the roof of her beak and sides of her beak. I’m thinking they either have Mycoplasma Gallisepticum, or wet pox. I’m thinking it’s not Coryza anymore because there is no facial swelling or sneezing. Although I’ve been giving them garlic and ACV, I will probably just do what needs to be done and send the sick one In for testing, and once I know what it is examine treatment options for the whole flock.

 

[Liz Birdlover]

So sorry. If it is MG...not good. I know someone that had that, she had a bird tested, as she never sold her birds (closed coop is the term they used, no birds coming or going) the State gave opportunity to treat but no medicines helped & the suffering got worse, broke her heart, loved her flock. She also got the MG vaccine eye drops, did treat entire flock. Of those 6 in that group & coop, 3 were ill & eventually humanely euthanized, the other 3 never got sick but are considered carriers. She has other coops, none of them ever got sick but they're considered potential as they all had free ranged the same areas, even though at different times. The State told her she'd be under quarantine 6 mos after the last bout. This was a few years ago & she's had no recurrence. MG can come from a carrier or even wild birds, so it can happen to anyone, no matter how careful, clean or even if you inoculate, so it is a very sad thing, but it can happen. I know she is a very clean coop keeper, she even dug out the whole top layer of soil in all pens & actually hauled that little coop the sick ones were in, to the dump. Well, I am sorry, & my heart goes out to you.

 

[Raeganmh02]

Thank you! I looked into finding a way to get the sick birds tested so I can know for sure what they have, but it looks so pricy! A Necropsy is very expensive, and it looks like a Gram-stained smear is pretty pricy as well. On other sights, poultry owners have suggested calling the State Department of Agriculture because they can do the job at a much cheaper price, but I’m still in a tie about it. My parents don’t think it it’s worth all the trouble, but I really don’t want to have to deal with this for the rest of my flock (and possibly future flocks) lives. I ordered some oregano oil to help boost the heathy ones. Crossing my fingers and praying that my younger flock and my rooster do not come down with it. My road island reds (10 of them in all) are 4 and a half years old, and I’m not necessarily “attached” to them like I am the younger flock (10 nine-month old Dominique hens), so if I need to cull the old hens and start new with my young ones I will. I read that younger birds are less likely to contract respiratory diseases.