Medical advise needed quickly

[newchickowner]

I just came from visiting my friend's house and her roo isn't doing very well. She just bought them two weeks ago. I saw them on the first day they arrived and everyone seemed very healthy. However, today when I went out to see her chickens her roo was acting as if he had something in his throat. So I caught him and he was gurgling when he breathed. I could really hear it after I chased him down and got my hands on him because he exurted energy. I opened his mouth and looked inside, I did not see anything, it just seems that he has some fluid in his lungs or something. His eyes and nasal passages were clear and not runny nor was there any mucus.

What should she do? I told her about vitamins and antibiotics that she can get at the feed store in powder form and she can isolate him and put it in apple sauce or yogurt, but is there anything else she should do?

Thanks guys! I've learned a lot since I'm been a member of this website and I truely appreciate any advise given!

 

[Chicken Boo]

Go to the index, then frequently asked questions. Scroll down to "CROP problems (sour? impacted?)" and see if anything there looks useful.

Good luck.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Maybe Rimshoes medical Page will help with a diagnosis. It's hard to properly treat if you don't know what you are treating.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=15239

You are practicing good biosecurity with your flock, I trust. You don't want to be a carrier.

Good Luck!

 

[jjthink]

If he eating and drinking well? How is his poop? These things will help determine seriousness at this stage. She may have to isolate him to figure this out, which may well stress him. Rescue Remedy - drop or two in water - can be tried for stress.

It is possible that he just got something stuck and has cleared his throat by now but if not, he may have caught something from her other birds, something they are carriers of, unless she got them all at once from the same source and they have been with each other for quite some time. Respiratory issues can be very serious, indeed deadly if not quickly addressed. And it's just awful for the poor birds to have to endure breathing difficulties so getting him to a vet very quickly is the best bet. He may be sick from the stress of the recent move and hopefully will get better with time and good care.

If the situation has not resolved, any home remedies (folks may come along with some ideas) and/or vet should be done very very imminently - she should not delay with this type of problem. Thanks for trying to help her help him.

JJ

 

[newchickowner]

Oh yes, I guess I should have stated these things..........she's never had chickens on her property before and she's lived on the same ranch for 20 years. They were all bought at the same location and were all housed together for quite some time at that location. I do not know how accurate that is though since it's second hand info. So they have not been introduced to or with any other birds of any kind and have only been with thier own flock (she has 5 hens to go with her roo). I also checked his crop and it was normal. She said that she had some severe storms in the last two weeks in her location, but she has a nice coop that can be totally enclosed and she said that when it was raining she shut everything up. His crop was pretty full of food (and like I said normal so he ate his normal breakfast) and I wasn't there long enough to watch him for long to see if he was eating or drinking normally so I told her to keep a close eye on him and go ahead and start a log of his activities. That way when the vet calls her back she can give a more accurate description of his behavior.

She also said that she's put a call into the vet in the last 10 minutes and is waiting for a return call so she can talk to him personally. I have no idea if he works on birds at all, but I'm hoping for her sake he will or does.

Oh, and all the other birds act and sound just fine.