possible chronic aspergillosis??

Spero

Hatching
8 Years
Jul 14, 2011
9
0
7
I have a 6 year old Golden Sea bright Bantam hen (Sketch). I noticed over the past week or so that her whole demeanor has changed. I know she is sick with something but im not sure exactly what. I noticed it after I changed out the bedding in the coop and put clean hay in it. She was breathing differently than normal. She took short quick breaths through her mouth; much like an asthmatic who cant take a good deep breath in. We had a drastic heat wave that lasted a few days with really high humidity, so I thought that maybe she was being really bothered by the heat at first. I put fresh ice water in five different areas where the chickens go the most. After a couple days, I noticed that she was getting kind of clingy and just wanted to be wherever I was instead of with the rest of the group and her activity level dropped down to almost nothing drastically, which is very unlike her as she is normally very active and doesn't want to be handled very much. I also noticed that she wasn't eating very much and she had some kind of lump in her throat. I brought her inside thinking maybe it was an impacted crop. I massaged it, gave her olive oil, water, scrambled egg with olive oil, and even some fruit smoothie. I kept her in for a couple days and didn't let her eat any solids. she picked at the fruit smoothie some but that was it. the lump got softer after not eating any solids and seemed to perk up quite a bits so I let her out with the others and she was ok for the rest of the day. Now, she is going downhill even more. she's not active, she eats very little, not even enough to expand her crop at all, I don't see her drink but I think she does because she doesn't seem to be dehydrated, she has lost weight from not eating enough, and when she breaths I can her what sounds like a 'click' in her lungs. the lump is still there and I think it is either her esophagus or her trachea that is bent outward and maybe that is hindering her breathing (judging by the anatomy pictures I have looked at). She walks kind of slow and doesn't go very far and seems slightly off balance. especially when I pet her while she is standing or when I put her down after picking her up. Her tail is not up like it normally would be, it is down and kind of limpy. She doesn't make any vocal noises either and she is normally very talkative and dominant. At one point she was even crowing. (I lost two roosters and now have one who is not very dominant in nature) Anyway, she holds her wings spread downwards as well sometimes. And I noticed that she is not roosting on the roof of the coop like she normally would, I have an old dog house with a peaked roof that was turned into he sleeping part of the coop, (last night and tonight) instead she stands on the ground underneath the coop hidden in the weeds. Like she is unable to get up there now. After reading up on the signs and symptoms of aspergillosis im thinking she may have chronic aspergillosis. Since vets who deal with poultry are so hard to find, I came here for some insight on possible home treatments that may help or other issues that I may be missing. I really, really love this chicken and am willing to do anything for her, she is like a child to me. Does anybody have any kind of advice as to what I can do to alleviate her ailments or at least make her more comfortable if she is beyond a cure. (I read that a lot of times signs for chronic aspergillosis don't show up until it is too late for saving). It is hard knowing she is sick and would absolutely kill me if she died :( If you need a video clip of how she looks and sounds I will try to upload one.
 

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