Need advice for sick chicken

[tanabil]

Hi. I'm a first time chicken mama so please forgive my inexperience. I have 23 hens and 1 rooster. Five days ago when I went out to feed for dinner I found one of my hens (8 month old Rhode Island Red) gasping for air. She was perfectly fine that morning. I took her to the nearest vet and the vet said she had a fever (her temp was 104 and she said normal was 99...Is this correct??) She didn't think she could be saved but gave her 3 doses of Baytril to be given over a 3 day period if she survived. She did survive and is doing much better. She is eating and drinking and acting normally but still has a wheeze. My questions are:

How do I treat her from this point since she still has a wheeze? Should I keep her inside longer? I'm concerned about her becoming accustomed to the warm house and not being able to handle the cold when I put her back out. Should I move her from the house to garage or will that make her wheezing worse and will she be colder without other chickens to snuggle with?

How long should I keep her separated from the flock? I want to protect the rest of my flock but don't want to keep her apart any longer than necessary. She seems very bored and misses the others. Our rooster Andre has been crowing outside the window of the room she is in and she clucks back at him in such a sad way.

Thank you in advance. I've tried to call the vet but she hasn't returned my calls. I've tried asking family members with chickens and they think I'm ridiculous for not just culling her. We have chickens for eggs but they are also pets and we love them all.

 

[Eggcessive]

More than likely the others have already been exposed to her, so you could try giving her supervised visits or place her in a cage with food and water inside the coop to make sure they don't attack her. I think many use Baytril for 5 days, so you could check with your vet about getting more. Chickens temperatures tend to run high, so 103 is not that high. Temperatures have a lot to do with when they have last eaten, and can range from 101 to 107. There are many diffeent respiratory diseases in chickens, such as Mycoplasma or MG, infectious bronchitis, ILT, coryza, and others. Without testing it can be hard to know which one you are seeing. There is a good article about respiratory diseases and symptoms if you Google "common poultry diseases," and look for the University of FL site.

 

[tanabil]

Thank you! So you think it would be okay to put her back out in a cage now or should or do I need to wait until she isn't wheezing?
Another question...how long after antibiotics is it safe to consume eggs? She isn't laying right now, I assume because she is ill but if she does begin laying I wonder how long we should wait.

 

[Eggcessive]

Does she have any nasal or eye drainage? If not, I would put her back because she probably was sick when she was with them earlier, and since she has been on antibiotics I would not keep her separated longer. It can be difficult to bring her back into the flock after being gone too long. She also will be more comfortable and probably eat better.

 

[tanabil]

Thank you for your reply. No nasal or eye drainage, just a bit of a wheeze. I think it is supposed to warm up a bit the next couple of days so it would probably be a good time to put her back out.