loud crying sound with each breath in 4 year old hen

[Carolyn252]

Big Delaware hen with what I'm guessing is an upper respiratory infection. No discharge seen from nose or eyes, but does "cough" and does a sharp head shake occasionally as though trying to clear her airway.
She's eating and drinking as usual and her poop looks normal.

From what I'm reading here, I wish I had some VetRx on hand to give to her, but I don't. These are the meds that I DO have; can someone tell me which to use and how to give it to her?

I can put stuff in heated dog bowl that all eight hens drink from and/or, I can dose the sick hen with an eyedropper directly into her mouth.

I have Doc Brown's first aid kit of bottles of meds but don't know which of them might be appropriate: Probiotic powder, Sulfadimethoxine Oral Solution 12.5%, and Oxytetracycline powder.

I also have these items, which I bought from a pet shop or from some online source: Bird Cycline capsules of 250mg tetracycline hydrochloride (the bottle has an expiration date of 4/2012);

and I have a sealed packet containing 10 g of Duramycin-10 Tetracycline Hydrochloride soluble antibiotic powder with instructions to use a dose of 400-800 mg per gallon of drinking water per day for CRD AIR SAC DISEASE and to use half that concentration (200 to 400 mg per gallon of water) for INFECTIOUS SYNOVITIS.

I looked up the conversion tables on the web and see that 10 g equals 10,000 mg, so here's enough in the packet for 25 doses of 400 mg. [10,000 divided by 400 equals 25]. I suppose I could "eyeball" a 25th of the packet to roughly get a 400 mg dose out of the packet. What do you recommend?

By the way, I myself am allergic to Sulfa drugs; will I trigger an allergic response if I handle the Sulfadimethoxine Solution to dose the hen?

 

[Eggcessive]

Vet RX is only a combination of herbal oils such as oregano, pine oil, camphor, and rosemary in alcohol and corn oil--nothing that will cure a respiratory disease such as MG, infectious bronchitis, coryza, or ILT. Oxytetracycline would be a little more powerful than Duramycin. I would use the maximum dosage 2 1/2 tablespoonsful per gallon of water, but only if you are using the brand below. Here is a good link to read about respiratory diseases, which are many times chronic and can make carriers of the flock: http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ps044

 

[Carolyn252]

Vet RX is only a combination of herbal oils such as oregano, pine oil, camphor, and rosemary in alcohol and corn oil--nothing that will cure a respiratory disease such as MG, infectious bronchitis, coryza, or ILT. Oxytetracycline would be a little more powerful than Duramycin. I would use the maximum dosage 2 1/2 tablespoonsful per gallon of water, but only if you are using the brand below. Here is a good link to read about respiratory diseases, which are many times chronic and can make carriers of the flock: http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ps044

 

[Carolyn252]

So far, so good. After she'd gone to sleep in the coop outside, I brought the big white Delaware in from the cold and kept her overnight in a small pet carrier. I set up a cool mist vaporizer filled with water with Oxine added to it. Placed the vaporizer near the carrier and tented a cloth over them and misted the hen that way for an hour that evening and then again at 7am the next morning. I waited another hour, to make sure that she was dry from the misting, and brought her back out to the coop for the day. Her breathing was already so much better. Only an occasional barking or crying kind of noise. I removed all water bowls from the coop except for the one heated dog bowl (it was about 10 degrees Fahrenheit out there, a very cold winter day). Into the bowl I poured a solution of two quarts of water and one teaspoon of Oxytetracycline powder. Got the powder from the First State's Vet Supply's Doc Brown's First Aid Kit that I bought last year and kept in readiness in case I ever needed any of that stuff.

Every day since then, I've emptied and replenished the dog bowl with a fresh solution of the antibiotic-laced water and all eight hens have been drinking it. They all seems perfectly fine; eating and drinking and pooping is normal. The big white Delaware seems completely recovered. She's as bright and perky as ever, and her breathing is silent; no more weird noises inhaling or exhaling.

I will discontinue the medicated water after seven days. I've been tossing the eggs since the day I started the medicated water and plan on tossing the eggs for AT LEAST 21 days after the last day of medicated drinking water. Might even toss eggs for an additional week after that. HERE'S MY QUESTION: What's the consensus on the safety of using the eggs for human consumption after that? (I don't sell eggs, we use them for our family's meals.) I've read about 50 or 60 old BYC postings on the topic and opinions vary. What's the current thinking on this? Safe to eat them, or not?