Raspy Breath, Aspirated?

[Izzy Bug]

Hello, I’m new to chicken keeping and need your help!!

I purchased a 13 month old Salmon Faverolle on Friday the 15th along with 4 other 12-14 month birds. I’ve had her for exactly one week. The man I got her from brought her to me hanging upside down by her feet. While he had her upside down, I saw opaque creamy fluid pour from her beak. It looked like a lot of liquid. That worried me and I asked the man about it. He said it was normal and happened from having her upside down too long.

The next day I noticed her occasionally shaking her head and making a weird snuffly/coughing sound. She acted super shy/docile as to be expected for her breed and did not leave the coop for most of the day. She finally left the coop in the evening and I noticed her gobbling up the crumble I had out.

The following Monday She stopped going in the coop at night with the other birds. I picked her up and put her on the roost. Same thing happened the following night, but I also noticed her breath sounded a little raspier. Instead of putting her in the coop, I put her in a crate with hay for bedding and brought her to the house with me. At this point, I thought she might be sick and thought it would be best to separate her from the rest of the flock. I inspected her that night. Her eyes seemed clear and there was no discharge from her nostrils. I did notice a red mite in her vent area. Her crop was full. Again, I think she had been staying in the coop most of the day, then coming out in the evenings and scarfing crumbles down.

This week her breathing seems to be getting worse and she’s keeping her beak opened a bit. Her eyes and nostrils still seem clear. She’s still drinking water, but I noticed the past two mornings that her crop has remained full. This has me really worried. I took her food away and have been giving her water with ACV, crushed garlic and oregano. I don’t think she’s pooping much and what does come out is very explosive, very green and watery. You can literally hear it squirt out of her poor little body. I thought I noticed her poop the days before was more solid, mostly normal in color but with a little mushy stringy orangish pink thing in it.

I’m extremely worried that she has multiple issues going on: Aspiration (with possible pneumonia), mites, blocked crop, and possibly Coccidiosis as well (the guy I got her from said that might be why her poop originally had orange/pink stuff in it). Oh, and she’s currently molting too and has no tail feathers! I’m not sure how to treat her and what I should treat first. I am afraid of stressing her out and making things worse. I’ve removed food for the day and have been massaging her crop in hopes that it will go down on it’s own. I also picked up some VetRx in hopes that will help her breath better, and Poultry Nutri-Drench in case I have to keep withholding food. The guy I got her from recommended low dose of antibiotics, but I’m afraid of messing up her gut flora with the impact led crop.

The guy said I could bring her back, but I wouldn’t dare. I think that would be a death sentence for her. She’s a sweet girl and I want to try and help her. I really love this breed and want a Salmon Faverolle in my flock.

I would greatly appreciate any advice and guidance you can give me.

Attaching a pictures of her and her recent poop.

And Here’s a link to two videos of her breathing:

https://share.icloud.com/photos/01yKo2UT8V7kCaPbitS8zRSdQ#Goshen

https://share.icloud.com/photos/0-KoUxuDbZmkjcdCZ1pyoCK9w#Goshen

 

[azygous]

Odds. Odds come into play when circumstances seem not up to par with the norm. Your odds are poor that these chickens are healthy and have no underlying disease. By virtue of the way that man handled the chickens we can assume the chances go up that he also is careless with the care and biosecurity of his chicken business.

The red bug is likely a louse. Check over all the chickens in the vent area for more crawling things. Mites generally do not live on chickens. Lice, however, do. This is yet another sign that the man likely cares improperly for his chickens. You may need to dust them all with permethrin poultry dust.

The raspy breathing, if it was an after effect of being held upside down and aspirating a bit of fluid, shouldn't last longer than half a day. It should have cleared up on its own. More likely, the hen has a respiratory illness, and it may need treatment with an antibiotic. Tylan is the usual med for this. If this is a respiratory disease, all the chickens have been exposed to it and you can expect it periodically to keep cropping up when the chickens face stress.

What all of this portends is the possibility of a serious avian disease such as avian leucosis or Marek's being imported to your premises. There is no cure or treatment if you end up with symptomatic chickens. All you can hope for is that this man's sloppy management practices doesn't include these deadly and heart breaking diseases.

I understand not wanting to send these chickens back to him, and you are correct that he wouldn't be likely to treat them, but would cull them. Or worse, sell them to some other unsuspecting customer who wants ready-to-go chickens.

Coccidiosis is always a risk when new chickens move onto soil they are not used to. Coccidia where they lived prior to coming to your place can be a different species, and the species in your soil has the potential of overwhelming them because they haven't had time to build resistance.

But be ready with Corid in case you start seeing symptoms of coccidiosis. This would include diarrhea, sometimes, but not always, blood in the stools, lethargy, depression and unkempt and fluffed feathers. Treat the entire flock and do another round a week after finishing the first round. The mixing proportions are two teaspoons liquid Corid to one gallon of water.

 

[Izzy Bug]

Odds. Odds come into play when circumstances seem not up to par with the norm. Your odds are poor that these chickens are healthy and have no underlying disease. By virtue of the way that man handled the chickens we can assume the chances go up that he also is careless with the care and biosecurity of his chicken business.

The red bug is likely a louse. Check over all the chickens in the vent area for more crawling things. Mites generally do not live on chickens. Lice, however, do. This is yet another sign that the man likely cares improperly for his chickens. You may need to dust them all with permethrin poultry dust.

The raspy breathing, if it was an after effect of being held upside down and aspirating a bit of fluid, shouldn't last longer than half a day. It should have cleared up on its own. More likely, the hen has a respiratory illness, and it may need treatment with an antibiotic. Tylan is the usual med for this. If this is a respiratory disease, all the chickens have been exposed to it and you can expect it periodically to keep cropping up when the chickens face stress.

What all of this portends is the possibility of a serious avian disease such as avian leucosis or Marek's being imported to your premises. There is no cure or treatment if you end up with symptomatic chickens. All you can hope for is that this man's sloppy management practices doesn't include these deadly and heart breaking diseases.

I understand not wanting to send these chickens back to him, and you are correct that he wouldn't be likely to treat them, but would cull them. Or worse, sell them to some other unsuspecting customer who wants ready-to-go chickens.

Coccidiosis is always a risk when new chickens move onto soil they are not used to. Coccidia where they lived prior to coming to your place can be a different species, and the species in your soil has the potential of overwhelming them because they haven't had time to build resistance.

But be ready with Corid in case you start seeing symptoms of coccidiosis. This would include diarrhea, sometimes, but not always, blood in the stools, lethargy, depression and unkempt and fluffed feathers. Treat the entire flock and do another round a week after finishing the first round. The mixing proportions are two teaspoons liquid Corid to one gallon of water.

Thank you so much for the response. I greatly appreciate it! I feel so bad for her. Do you know where I can get the antibiotic online without prescription? Tractor Supply is out and all of the vets in my area refuse to help. Right now her eyes and nostrils are still clear. Is that normal for a respiratory illness? When I informed the man of her condition, he thought she might have aspirated pneumonia from breathing in the fluid. I can’t find much information online on how to treat that, other than people saying it’s a death sentence.

Yeah, sadly I think these chickens were living in poor conditions. the two silkies I got were filthy and looked like they had been pecked at. I really want to give theses sweet birds a better life and hope I can get them in good shape.

Thanks again for responding.

 

[azygous]

Yes, you can get Tylan here. https://www.valleyvet.com/ct_detail.html?pgguid=30E07BC1-7B6A-11D5-A192-00B0D0204AE5

For chickens, we dispense with the injections. Using an oral syringe, give around .5ml for an average size hen or .1ml per pound of body weight twice a day for five days. You will need a needle syringe to extract the dose from the vial, but simply pull the needle off and use the syringe orally.

If she does have pneumonia, there's nothing to be done for it. But chances of that are less than her having an ordinary respiratory infection. If she holds her own and doesn't enter a rapid decline, she should recover just fine.

 

[Izzy Bug]

Yes, you can get Tylan here. https://www.valleyvet.com/ct_detail.html?pgguid=30E07BC1-7B6A-11D5-A192-00B0D0204AE5

For chickens, we dispense with the injections. Using an oral syringe, give around .5ml for an average size hen or .1ml per pound of body weight twice a day for five days. You will need a needle syringe to extract the dose from the vial, but simply pull the needle off and use the syringe orally.

If she does have pneumonia, there's nothing to be done for it. But chances of that are less than her having an ordinary respiratory infection. If she holds her own and doesn't enter a rapid decline, she should recover just fine.

You give me hope and have been a great help. Thank you!!