Hen struggling to breathe, treatment not working

[sog1997]

Gentle is a 21 week old Wyandotte. She started stretching her neck out for breath 4 days ago. This is the first I noticed something was wrong. I took her in and started researching on the forum with her symptoms. My first guess was gapeworm, she definately stretches her neck out for a breath, she was 'croaking' for several weeks, I just thought she had an odd call. I did not see any worms but treated her with both panacur and ivermectin. I had an antibiotic on hand and gave her a bit of that. treated her for 2 days with no improvement. Looked further for symptoms in the forum and with her. She is extremely thin. I thought perhaps a crop issue. Started to treat with olive oil, no food, massage, continued with antibiotic 2 times a day. eyedropper of water, offered yogurt, not interested, offered wet feed, ate like she was starving but drank nothing. I tried to massage her upside down to cause her to vomit, still cant seem to locate the crop. Stopped food yesterday and upped the massage and olive oil. Today she was weaker still. her wings are drooped, she is still stretching out her neck for breath. No discharge of any kind, poop is within normal consistancy. seems if anything harder than normal. Not runny, a littly whitish but according to all the pictures I've looked at easily falls into normal poo. I gave mineral oil this am as well as agrimycin. She was so weak I offered her food, she ate alot, she immediately looked perkier. It was very watered down and that was 40 minutes ago. I just went to take pictures and her poo is very wet but not watery, the next poo is thick and oily, about 1/2 hr between the two poos. Histry on her, she is one of 5. I got them all the day they were born. Gentle is the 2nd smallest, there is one smaller than her by at least a third. Her 3 siblings are at least1 1/2 times her size, the rooster is at least 2x her size. So now I am wondering if maybe it is a heart condition. She has always slept more than the others but when awake is just as spunky as them all. She competes with the older birds for treats where most of her siblings run for cover or wait till the older girls are done eating. I'd say she has held her own as far as that goes. At night 2 I decided if there was not improvement I would cull. Naturally there was some improvement and so I continued to treat her as described above. I have no problem attempting crop surgery but really am not convinced it is crop. My own history, we are new to chickens this year. They are much loved pets and if they never produced an egg I wouldn't care a heap. I do not have a problem culling an obviously diseased bird. I even made the mistake once of culling a bird that I think might have just been a very rough adolecent rather than a nasty bird. I have gone back and forth with this chick and culling, having jumped the gun once already. I took my last rooster to the vet and paid heaps of dollars to have them cut open a tumor, show me how skinny he was and tell me he might be terminal, which he was. He died later that night and I have regretted letting him suffer the hour it took for him to die. I did not know that was what was going on. Experience is teaching me that I dont know for certain the outcome of any situation with these chickens. I only know I adore them, I dont want her to suffer long term, I dont want to cull her if she is just ill and may recover. Hoping someone might share their experience with me to help me treat her with as much kindness is called for. Thank you in advance for any support offered. I love this forum and all the information you all have shared. I have taken pictures but cannot figure out how to put them in this topic.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/63861_img_0815.jpg

 

[tammye]

poor girl, I hope she gets better. Is she in a molt? I have one in a molt now and she is looking kinda weak and tired too. Any discharge form nose/mouth/ears? You can at least isolate her from the others, for their sake and hers, keep her in a warm area, give her some electrolyte solution in her water, if she is not drinking you can get some into her with a eyedropper, make a mash and try to get her to eat some. I think I would hold off on the crop surgery until you are sure that's what it is, the surgery could kill her too, so unless it needs to be done. hopfully she can shake what ever is wrong with her. I wish you and her luck

 

[sog1997]

Thank you Tammy, she is away from the rest of the flock, inside our basement. She is not showing any discharge of any sort. She is not in molt, I dont think she is anyhow. I will have to look up what molt is and what it looks like. Thank you for your encouragement!

 

[Miss Lydia]

sog1997, please read this and if you can get this or order some online I think it will help your hen...http://www.shagbarkbantams.com/oxine.htm sorry this is the link but it's not showing up so you'll have to type it but it's a great article on Oxine.

 

[Judy]

If she needed crop surgery her crop would be obvious -- there are threads about this in the FAQ. Unless it is really sticking out and hard, I would feed her.

What did the vet say was wrong with the bird, other than a tumor? What kind of tumor? What caused it? Did he test for anything?

It somehow doesn't seem right to do any sort of surgery, or to cull, when you really have no way of knowing what is going on. Vets are expensive, and not an option for many of us. I believe I'd just do my best to keep her warm fed and comfortable, and hope for the best, unless you can afford another vet bill.

Molting means they lose a bunch of feathers, then grow new ones. Usually happens around 9 and 18 months. If you don't see a whole bunch of feathers on the floor, this isn't it.

 

[sog1997]

Thank you fot the Oxide info, I've purchased a gallon online and will follow up. Gentle has made a huge comback. It seems the agrimycin was the treatment called for. That is the one she responded to. No gasping or gaping at all today. Up, bright eyed and hungry as a horse!. I was going to get her back to the flock tomorrow... Just keep her one last night in case she turns sick again. - ddawn, thank you for the comments on her crop. I looked at her tonight after several bowls of her mash and it was plain as day where her crop is! Thank you all !!!

 

[Miss Lydia]

I am so happy to hear she's doing so good.