Labored breathing, mucus, not eating for 2 days.. please help!

[citychicks99]

I have two birds, a pullet and cockerel, both about 20 weeks old. A week and a half ago, my brother's gf brought over 3 new birds, I don't know how old or what breed, saying she was only going to leave them here for a few days to a few weeks... I knew I should have quarantined them or even said no, but we didn't have another coop to keep them.. I noticed one of them sneezes on a regular basis. My two existing birds seemed fine until I noticed the cockerel wasn't eating much yesterday. He normally hogs all the food and eats a lot.. but he only nibbled at some yesterday. This morning, he didn't eat anything at all, when everyone else was chowing down. He just drank some water and stayed in the corner. Even when I let them out for a bit, he didn't eat any greens. The new chickens also smelled really bad at first. I think they came from an unsanitary environment because since being here, they smell a lot better now. I also didn't know what to do about their bedding, because every time I put some in, one of the new birds would kick it all away. I tried to clean their coop a bit and put in a lot of new shavings, as much as I could to prevent it from being kicked away, and I noticed one was stuck to the cockerel's nose. I pulled it away and saw some snot. He was also breathing like he had a stuffed nose and his beak would gape open occasionally. I held him next to me and rubbed his throat a bit and he seemed to like that. He normally runs away but he let me check under his wings and I didn't see any mites. I did notice that every time I went in their coop I would feel kind of itchy and that didn't happen before. I saw a lot of small white dots on their backs though. When the cockerel came out this morning, I saw that his poop was watery and yellow. He also looks puffed up even though his crop doesn't seem full. Yesterday I saw bright green poop but I wasn't sure whose it was. My pullet isn't showing any symptoms. It looks like everybody else is eating and acting fine, even the one new chicken who keeps sneezing. Outside of bringing him to a vet, how should I care for my cockerel?

 

[citychicks99]

Does anybody have any idea? I have no clue as to what to do. I'm going to isolate him and see if he'll take some electrolytes. I really don't know what else to do... I normally give them fermented feed and he rejected that...

 

[citychicks99]

Here's a video of him. It sounds like he's snoring or popping popcorn. I tried to give him water with olive oil and water with Pedialyte but he didn't want any. He looks like he's really struggling with breathing. I don't think he's going to make it.

 

[Goosebaby]

It’s an upper respiratory illness but only a vet will be able to get a better an idea of what.
It could be bacterial or viral, my guess is it is contageous and that he got it from the new birds like you thought.
Mycoplasma or chronic respiratory disease is a common poultry disease, then there’s infectious bronchitis among many others.

I wish I could be of more help and I really hope your chooks feel better soon.

Maybe @Wyorp Rock can help better than I can?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Can you get some photos of the cockerel, his whole body, his face, inside his beak and his poop in some light some we can see him? Any odor coming from him now?
Is that an isolation cage or his housing?

You mention the new birds smelled bad - did you ever inspect them to see if they had mucous, coughing, swelling around the face/eyes?

How much ventilation is in the coop?

He may have respiratory illness from the new birds - hard to know which illness since there are several. Some are bacterial, others are viral.

If it's MG, then treating symptoms with an antibiotic like Tylosin/Tylan may be helpful.

Do check to make sure his crop is emptying completely overnight. Keep him hydrated and relatively warm.

 

[citychicks99]

Can you get some photos of the cockerel, his whole body, his face, inside his beak and his poop in some light some we can see him? Any odor coming from him now?
Is that an isolation cage or his housing?

You mention the new birds smelled bad - did you ever inspect them to see if they had mucous, coughing, swelling around the face/eyes?

How much ventilation is in the coop?

He may have respiratory illness from the new birds - hard to know which illness since there are several. Some are bacterial, others are viral.

If it's MG, then treating symptoms with an antibiotic like Tylosin/Tylan may be helpful.

Do check to make sure his crop is emptying completely overnight. Keep him hydrated and relatively warm.

Here are some pictures of him and his poop. I wasn't able to open his beak. His poop looks bright green and I think I saw a worm. I was actually going to deworm them this weekend. @Wyorp Rock I believe I've read you mentioning that for Fenbendazole, it would be 1/4 cc per pound, so if he weighs 4 lbs it would be 1 cc dosed into the mouth? And this would be for 3 days? Can I treat the rest of them by putting it in their water?

I didn't smell any odor when I checked him. I think I did notice some mucus on the new birds and sneezing.

Yes, that's his isolation cage. Their coop gets pretty good ventilation and they spend most of their time in their run if it isn't raining.

I've been keeping him inside.

I gave him some water with electrolytes which he drank but he still won't eat anything. I can deworm him but what should I feed him? This lady I found on YouTube said she would give her chickens egg yolk via syringe with electrolytes, vitamins, and probiotics if they aren't eating. I might resort to that.

 

[citychicks99]

So I had no idea what to do but since I saw the bright green poop this morning and what looked larvae, my instinct told me to focus on deworming. So I gave him 1ml of Fenbendazole this morning and will give it to him for 5 days. This lady on YouTube would give her chickens antimonium crudum if she heard crud in their throat so I gave him some of that too but I think it's mostly the worm issue since I read that it can affect their breathing and give them a runny nose, like what he has. I'll put some Fenbendazole in the rest of the flock's water tomorrow. He still isn't eating so I'm just feeding him raw egg yolk mixed with poultry cell with a syringe and feeding him that throughout the day until he finishes the yolk. I'm also giving him a 1:1 ratio of electrolytes and water. I'm not sure how long to give him this for.. I believe it's 5 days, I'll look it up. I hope he can hold up for the Fenbendazole to kick in and start eating his feed soon.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

've read you mentioning that for Fenbendazole, it would be 1/4 cc per pound, so if he weighs 4 lbs it would be 1 cc dosed into the mouth? And this would be for 3 days? Can I treat the rest of them by putting it in their water?

So I gave him 1ml of Fenbendazole this morning and will give it to him for 5 days.

I think it's mostly the worm issue since I read that it can affect their breathing and give them a runny nose, like what he has. I'll put some Fenbendazole in the rest of the flock's water tomorrow.

You are correct that Fenbendazole (Safeguard) is dosed by weight. So if he's 4 pounds, that is 1ml once a day for 5 days in a row.

So...if Fenbendazole is dosed by weight...why would you put it in the flock's water? How would you know what they are getting?
Just asking
Safeguard settles out of water - if you are wanting to deworm your flock, then go out early each morning and dose each bird.

It's possible that if a bird has Gapeworm that they will have respiratory symptoms - gaping, struggling to breath, not eating/drinking. They would be rasping loudly and coughing violently trying to dislodge worms in their trachea. Though, gapeworm is fairly rare and mainly found in warmer tropical climates.

I don't know anything about Antimonium Crudum so hopefully you have done your research and vetted out that the dosing and treatment is a good choice.

 

[citychicks99]

You are correct that Fenbendazole (Safeguard) is dosed by weight. So if he's 4 pounds, that is 1ml once a day for 5 days in a row.

So...if Fenbendazole is dosed by weight...why would you put it in the flock's water? How would you know what they are getting?
Just asking
Safeguard settles out of water - if you are wanting to deworm your flock, then go out early each morning and dose each bird.

It's possible that if a bird has Gapeworm that they will have respiratory symptoms - gaping, struggling to breath, not eating/drinking. They would be rasping loudly and coughing violently trying to dislodge worms in their trachea. Though, gapeworm is fairly rare and mainly found in warmer tropical climates.

I don't know anything about Antimonium Crudum so hopefully you have done your research and vetted out that the dosing and treatment is a good choice.

That sounds exactly like what he has. I didn't realize it was rare. I'm definitely not in a warm tropical climate.

 

[Goosebaby]

That sounds exactly like what he has. I didn't realize it was rare. I'm definitely not in a warm tropical climate.

As areas become warmer parasites can move to new areas. So it’s possible.