need help diagnosing 14 week old pullet

[affacat]

Name: Acorn.

symptoms:

runny nose
possibly slight chest congestion
makes a strange 'burpy' noise every once in awhile that might be a cough? like 'kwumpf'. short little sound.

we took her inside starting two days ago to be warmer. she's on Sulmet. We have access to Duramycin... perhaps we should switch to this?

the day we took her inside, she seemed extremely lethargic. i gave her eyedropper drops of electrolyte/sugar water all day, and she seems MUCH better... but now has that cough-like sound going on. her runny nose hasn't gone away after 2 days on sulmet, and the cough sound only just started in force tonight.

Please advise. She's an absolute sweetheart.

 

[dawg53]

Continue with the sulmet til completion, then wait a few days before you treat her with the duramycin. During those few days, Give her scrambled egg mixed with buttermilk only, to help rebuild her strength and immune system after the sulmet treatment.

 

[terryg]

Chickens are susceptible to many respiratory ailments. Isolating her in a warm, quiet place is the right first step. Without an expensive lab test, you'll never know exactly what bug she has. Usually one of the basic, off-she-shelf antibiotics will do the job. Make sure you follow the package directions and dose for the full time. It can be hard to figure out the right dosage as most medicines are designed for flocks of hundreds. I use a digital scale.
Sometimes a virus is the culprit, and of course antibiotics won't work, although they do help with secondary infections.
I have a short FAQ about care for respiratory care here:
http://www.hencam.com/henblog/respiratory-diseases/
And I have more about a recent bout with respiratory disease on my blog:
http://www.hencam.com/henblog/2011/05/not-mycoplasma/
(which I did fork over the $ and have lab tests, so it's very interesting!)

Good luck. Many chickens recover from respiratory ailments.

 

[affacat]

Thanks, guys/gals.

This morning she is sounding a little better - haven't heard any of the coughing sounds in the hour or so that I've been awake. She is currently in her little box cheeping up a storm and trying to jump out of it at every opportunity. I have a lid fashioned out of wire cookie cooling racks.... last night my wife baked cookies and went crazy trying to find the cooling racks. Oops. I think I need to find a bigger box and a different lid.

The past few days, she has been eating her regular food, plus the occasional slice of apple and plain yogurt. The morning she was first brought inside was pretty chilly - only about 40 degrees - we gave her some warm oatmeal which she absolutely loved. We'll switch her to scrambled eggs momentarily. We don't have any buttermilk; is it OK to use some diluted plain yogurt mixed in with the scrambled eggs?

She had 2.25 days of Sulmet; the bottle says to treat 2 days for Coryza. I guess we should give her untreated water today and start up the duramycin tomorrow morning? Any recommendations on 7 vs. 10 vs. 14 days of treatment with that?

Thanks again for the suggestions!

 

[affacat]

does that sound about right?

 

[affacat]

she passed today. i don't know why, we thought she was leaps and bounds better and was past the rough patch.

lost an absolute sweetheart today. far too young.

rest in peace, acorn. know that you were loved.

 

[dawg53]

Sorry you lost Acorn. She mustve been overwhelmed by whatever she had.