open mouthed breathing, coughing

[Pied Piper]

I saw a similar thread on here but symptoms are slightly different. My Jersey Giant (Josephine) has been mouth breathing for a while. A few days ago as I was letting them all out of the coop to free range I noticed a raspy breathing from her. Every now and then she makes the weirdest coughing sound. When near us, her usual clucking sounds hoarse. As far as I can tell she is eating fine. Her eyes are bright, no mucous and she gets around okay. Two days ago one of the White Rocks (Matilda) started with the same symptoms. You can hear them from a distance give a barking cough. Today, the other white rock (Bertha) is doing the same thing. There are two month old chicks in the same coop and they seem fine. The other five of various breeds show no symptoms. The only change has been that I noticed mites on the youngsters, so after two treatments with diatomaceous earth we treated with a permethrin dust.
Any thoughts on what I might be dealing with? Could it be a cold or allergies? If a reaction to the dust, would it take a week to show symptoms?
Of course I worry about avian flu, but haven't heard of any cases here in Connecticut.

 

[Eggcessive]

It's possible that your chickens might have a respiratory disease such as infectious bronchitis, but it can be hard to distinguish from other diseases such as a mild strain of MG without testing. IB is a virus, and sometimes it can be complicated with other respiratory diseases or E.coli. Antibiotics such as Tylan, oxytetracyxline, or Gallimycin won't help IB, but can help prevent those secondary infections.

 

[Pied Piper]

Thank you Eggcessive. Can I pick up those antibiotics at the local Agway? If they had bronchitis, would it spread through the whole flock? Is it typical that only a few are infected? Do they normally get over this on their own providing there is no secondary bacterial infection? What is MG?

 

[Eggcessive]

Most feed stores will carry those, and Tylan 50 injectable in the cattle section, can be given orally or as a shot. Powder oxytetracycline or Gallimycin can be given in the water. Infectious bronchitis typically infects most of the flock eventually, but it is less serious than other diseases. It can make your flock carriers for up to a year afterward. MG is mycoplasma gallisepticum, a chronic respiratory disease sometimes called CRD, that can make your flock carriers for life. It can be mild, or it can cause severe symptoms of coughing, wheezing, swollen foamy eyes or faces from sinus infection.

 

[Pied Piper]

Thank you for your help. I decided to watch them closely and see if they got better, worse, or didn't change. Only two girls were affected, and they seem to be recovered. An occasional barky cough, but nobody stopped eating or exhibited other signs. Thank you again.

 

[Eggcessive]

Thank you for your help. I decided to watch them closely and see if they got better, worse, or didn't change. Only two girls were affected, and they seem to be recovered. An occasional barky cough, but nobody stopped eating or exhibited other signs. Thank you again.

That is good to hear. It may be infectious bronchitis, a virus, and that can affect chicks a little more seriously than adults. It also makes the flock carriers for up to a year, so I would not hatch chicks or add any new birds until all are recovered. Watery whites or albumens of eggs, and wrinkled egg shells may be seen in hens having IB. Good luck.