Hen wheezing, thrusting her neck up, and has no "voice"

[MichelleObenaus]

Hi, On 10/22, one of our 7-month old Speckled Sussex hens was let out of the coop and made a normal clucking noise. Then, the next noise was "voiceless." I looked up her symptoms and thought she had laryngitis.

10/23 she started thrusting her neck up, and was still voiceless. She was still laying. (Perhaps unrelated, another hen laid a water-balloon type egg (very soft)).

10/24 she began wheezing, a bit. She may have stopped laying (she or another hen stopped--can't tell). I looked up her symptoms, thinking she could have gape worm.

10/25 (today), she is voiceless, thrusting her neck up and is wheezing a lot. She is eating and drinking and running with her flock like normal (though they can hide things). We looked in her throat -- all normal - and felt her crop - seemingly normal as well.

I have read and read and read the threads and just have no idea what is going on. My gut is telling me this is respiratory simply because I didn't find anything else. So, I'm thinking to treat her (and her flock) with an antibiotic. It's not what I want (organic girls), but it may save the girls if she has something serious. I've read about "broad spectrum antibiotics." What is a good product, if you all agree that this is the path to take.

Any advice is welcome advice! Thank you in advance!

 

[MichelleObenaus]

And, if it could have anything to do with this: I bathed the flock 10/5. I made sure to keep her head high and dry. It was a warm fall day and the hens were fully dry by bedtime.

 

[Eggcessive]

It probably is a respiratory disease. Some common ones are MG, coryza, infectious bronchitis, and ILT (infectious laryngotracheitis.) Is she having any bloody mucus from her beak or nostrils? Some diseases are viral and won't respond to antibiotics, while some can be treated with Tylan 50 injectable given orally at 1 ml twice a day by mouth for 5 days. Oxytetracycline can be used in the water, but may not help if she isn't drinking well.

 

[Denwendairy]

I agree with Eggcessive. Likely respiratory.
Mycoplasma can have all the symptoms you mention, including the soft shelled egg. Could be other respiratory diseases as well but symptomatically sounds like a possibility of Mycoplasma.
Best to talk to your vet or local poultry extentionist. They can help you sort through the testing process and establish what your best plan of action is.
We recently went through a Mycoplasma outbreak and I hope you don't go through the same heartbreak..if it turns out to be Mycoplasma, the birds may recover but are disease carriers for life. In times of stress they start shedding it again and reinfect other members of the flock. It can also be passed to the chicks via the egg.
My fingers are crossed that I am way off base here...wish you all the best.

 

[Eggcessive]

Here is a good link to read about the common poultry diseases and symptoms, including the respiratory diseases: http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ps044

 

[MichelleObenaus]

Thank you all! We started the Tylan 50 injectable yesterday. I have a few questions:

1) Just want to verify the dose is 1ml (not .1ml) 2x/day.

2) Are the eggs ok to consume, if she indeed lays one? Reading about Tylan in cattle, cattle who take this drug cannot be consumed by humans soon after ingesting the drug.

3) At this time, I am not giving Tylan to my other hens. I was going to wait and see if others contracted it. The feed store was non-committal if I should. Any advice here is great.

Thank you!
Michelle
PS, No, there is no discharge from her beak or nostrils. Her eyes look good too.

 

[Eggcessive]

The Tylan dosage is 1 ml if the chicken is over 5 pounds, 1/2 ml for under 5 pounds, and 1/4 ml for bantams or chicks. If given the Tylan orally, withdrawal time is 1 day for eggs, and 7 days if giving it by injection. As far as eating the meat, I would just do some research online. I don't eat my birds.