- Dec 1, 2012
- 34
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We had a bad lice epidemic this winter, so when my girls started getting patchy (patches of lost feathers) and dropping in egg production), I began to think it was lice. They've been dusted, coop cleaned, but still only a few eggs a day, and I'm beginning to think there's another culprit here.
I had a girl with heavy ascetics fluid in her abdomen, and when I turned her onto her back to drain her, she promptly began to loose consciousness and thrash. Ten minutes later, her comb was blue and she was dead. I noticed my now deceased chicken had liquid diarrhea down her backside, almost greenish- two days later, another girl had the diarrhea trail and was wheezing. treated her with tetracycline, she seemed good- also trimmed her butt feathers, as it wasn't healthy to have all the poop-stricken, diarrhea feathers hanging there.
Now it's a few weeks later- I'm still only getting a few eggs a day, and this time- two of my girls are wheezing. One of them was the one I previously treated- I can tell because her butt is bear- she's the one I trimmed and treated earlier. They're not really gasping, but there breathing isn't normal at all. Almost like they're moaning when they exhale- "hwah...hwah....". When I hold them still and listen to their lungs, they sound crackly and watery. Each girl is inactive, one may have some watery eyes, but their combs are all right.
This can;t be a coincidence, though- One bird dies, others are stricken with similar symptoms. The chicken I had who died was probably in respiratory distress already, and turning her on her back in an attempt to drain the ascetics probably put pressure on her lungs and made her unable to breathe.
I KNOW it's respiratory- the symptoms are all there. But what do I do? I'm not sure what disease I'm treating, and there are so many possible ones.... I also know it's not gapeworm- I've checked their throats, both are clean, just wheezy with crackly breathing. Any suggestions?
I had a girl with heavy ascetics fluid in her abdomen, and when I turned her onto her back to drain her, she promptly began to loose consciousness and thrash. Ten minutes later, her comb was blue and she was dead. I noticed my now deceased chicken had liquid diarrhea down her backside, almost greenish- two days later, another girl had the diarrhea trail and was wheezing. treated her with tetracycline, she seemed good- also trimmed her butt feathers, as it wasn't healthy to have all the poop-stricken, diarrhea feathers hanging there.
Now it's a few weeks later- I'm still only getting a few eggs a day, and this time- two of my girls are wheezing. One of them was the one I previously treated- I can tell because her butt is bear- she's the one I trimmed and treated earlier. They're not really gasping, but there breathing isn't normal at all. Almost like they're moaning when they exhale- "hwah...hwah....". When I hold them still and listen to their lungs, they sound crackly and watery. Each girl is inactive, one may have some watery eyes, but their combs are all right.
This can;t be a coincidence, though- One bird dies, others are stricken with similar symptoms. The chicken I had who died was probably in respiratory distress already, and turning her on her back in an attempt to drain the ascetics probably put pressure on her lungs and made her unable to breathe.
I KNOW it's respiratory- the symptoms are all there. But what do I do? I'm not sure what disease I'm treating, and there are so many possible ones.... I also know it's not gapeworm- I've checked their throats, both are clean, just wheezy with crackly breathing. Any suggestions?
