Is this a respiratory illness or something else?

[AngelinaThePekin8]

1) What type of bird , age and weight (does the chicken seem or feel lighter or thinner than the others.)
Seven of eleven chickens are about 5-7 years old, three of them are about 1-3 years old. I have eight ducks two cayuga drakes they are the only drakes I have. one female cayuga, two pekin ducks two blue swedish and a khaki Campbell There isn't much change in their weight. Some of the old hens are thinner.

2) What is the behavior, exactly.
Normal
3) How long has the bird been exhibiting symptoms?
For a about a week now maybe longer.
Yesterday and today the 6-8 year old female cayuga duck has been sounding hoarse, kind of like she has laryngitis.

4) Are other birds exhibiting the same symptoms?
Most of them have the same symptoms, if exhibiting much at all. I know they all seem too have a bit of congestion or something to that effect

5) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma.
No
6) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation.
Not enough ventilation I believe. And cold windy weather.

7) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all.
They have recently been put on an all flock pellet feed and cracked corn. And they all have been drinking normal

8) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc.
Normal

9) What has been the treatment you have administered so far?
I put ACV in their water about two days ago and a few days before that. I put nutridrench in their water today. And plan on using vetRx too help treat whatever is going on with the whole flock.

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?
I want to treat this myself, I don't know of any avian vets near me.

11) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help.
I don't have pictures currently, I will take pictures if needed, or if something pops up

12) Describe the housing/bedding in use
I don't currently know the dimensions of the coop of the ventilation, I know that there isn't enough ventilation though. There hasn't been any bedding, I put some wood shavings in there yesterday.

All right I think that covers it all, I don't think it is too serious whatever is happening but I don't like seeing them be uncomfortable and don't want it too possibly be something worse or get worse. Thank you in advance for any advise given. I am mostly worried about two chickens who seem to be a little more sick? then the others. One of the blue swedish also has a deformed bill so I am a little more concerned about her. Rose is the one with the messed up bill.

 

[All4Eggz]

@Eggcessive @Wyorp Rock @azygous @R2elk or @Weeg might be able to help.

Good luck!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I'm sorry, I don't know much about ducks.
Hopefully others may chime in with some suggestions.

@shawluvsbirds @Miss Lydia

 

[shawluvsbirds]

Ducks actually need a little bit more ventilation than chickens. So if you know you don't have enough ventilation that would be a good thing to remedy as soon as possible. And if they haven't had any bedding down for them then there's been nothing to absorb moisture on the ground either.
I keep a thick layer of pine shavings and straw in my duck houses in winter time and I get in there and spot clean and stir it all up every few days and top with fresh bedding if necessary.
I don't really know anything about treating respiratory illnesses but I would definitely fix what you know is wrong.

 

[shawluvsbirds]

Post some pictures of your Coop setup and we can try to help you figure out where it might be best to add ventilation.

 

[AngelinaThePekin8]

Ducks actually need a little bit more ventilation than chickens. So if you know you don't have enough ventilation that would be a good thing to remedy as soon as possible. And if they haven't had any bedding down for them then there's been nothing to absorb moisture on the ground either.
I keep a thick layer of pine shavings and straw in my duck houses in winter time and I get in there and spot clean and stir it all up every few days and top with fresh bedding if necessary.
I don't really know anything about treating respiratory illnesses but I would definitely fix what you know is wrong.

Yeah, I have been working on it, I know that for the size of the coop and the amount of birds that are in it, there is definitely not enough ventilation. I put wood shavings in there every now and then, but I didn't want the wood shavings to cause issues it self, not that it would but I wasn't to sure, because the nesting boxes let small amounts of snow blow in on really windy snowing nights. I have been airing out the coop whenever I can. The smell isn't so bad since i put the shavings in. And I made sure to get a decent layer in there, I still need to put more in there. But it covers the coop floor. And something worth mentioning is that the coop was designed to house four chickens, not eleven chickens and eight ducks. It's all we have right now though. But I am really trying to better everything about the coop, and the land surrounding it.
Thanks for the advise

 

[AngelinaThePekin8]

Post some pictures of your Coop setup and we can try to help you figure out where it might be best to add ventilation.

yeah, I was going to get some pictures tomorrow. These ones will have to do for now though.

This photo is from last year, that other roost in the back has since been removed. And in this picture there was thirteen chickens and 9 ducks being housed in it. I can't find any photos right now that show the ventilation. But tomorrow I will definitely work on getting some good photos of the coop and even some of the chickens and ducks.

 

[AngelinaThePekin8]

I'm sorry, I don't know much about ducks.
Hopefully others may chime in with some suggestions.

@shawluvsbirds @Miss Lydia

Thank you!

 

[shawluvsbirds]

yeah, I was going to get some pictures tomorrow. These ones will have to do for now though.View attachment 3018007
This photo is from last year, that other roost in the back has since been removed. And in this picture there was thirteen chickens and 9 ducks being housed in it. I can't find any photos right now that show the ventilation. But tomorrow I will definitely work on getting some good photos of the coop and even some of the chickens and ducks.

That's definitely way too small for the amount of birds you have in there. It doesn't look very tall either. You need some kind of ventilation of high where they won't be sitting in a draft. Birds have sensitive respiratory systems.
Not only do you have ammonia and moisture building up in there but also dust.
I've not had a problem with pine shavings, but I do like to use a mixture of the shavings and straw to help keep it fluffier because ducks pack everything down. With you having chickens in there too they might keep it stirred up for you. But again with that small of a space in that many birds you're going to need to be cleaning it frequently.

 

[AngelinaThePekin8]

That's definitely way too small for the amount of birds you have in there. It doesn't look very tall either. You need some kind of ventilation of high where they won't be sitting in a draft. Birds have sensitive respiratory systems.
Not only do you have ammonia and moisture building up in there but also dust.
I've not had a problem with pine shavings, but I do like to use a mixture of the shavings and straw to help keep it fluffier because ducks pack everything down. With you having chickens in there too they might keep it stirred up for you. But again with that small of a space in that many birds you're going to need to be cleaning it frequently.

Thank you all for the responses, the coop was built by a someone else for their four chickens which we took in and they were in town so it wasn't so windy there. I was cleaning it about once every month or something like that. I only realized in the last few months that a lot of the management practices I have/had that I thought were alright really weren't enough, but that is why I am here on BYC to help my chickens and ducks have good lives. I think that when I work on cleaning the coop out more and put shavings in it Angelina, my three year old pekin will be able to recover from bumble foot better. And it will make all the other ducks and chickens happy I am sure.