Respiratory issue

twagoner

Songster
6 Years
Nov 2, 2016
39
53
114
My one young red hen is shaking her head a lot and has discharge coming out of one eye. Any idea what it is? Is it contagious to other hens? What medicine does she need? She isn’t laying any eggs. Thx!
 
My one young red hen is shaking her head a lot and has discharge coming out of one eye. Any idea what it is? Is it contagious to other hens? What medicine does she need? She isn’t laying any eggs. Thx!
Can you post some photos?
Where are you located in the world?
Is the discharge pus or is the eye bubbly?
Any infection in the ears, coughing, sneezing, etc.?
How long have you had her?
How old is she?
What's your housing like?

Have you flushed the eye really well with saline and removed any pus and/or debris just to make sure the cause is not something stuck in the eye instead of respiratory disease?

If it's respiratory disease, then yes, she would be considered contagious. The others have already been exposed, so it would be up to you whether to leave her with them or separate her out. If she's not getting picked on and is eating/drinking well on her own then leaving her with the others may be the thing to do - that's really up to you.

Antibiotics can treat symptoms of bacteria like disease like Mycoplasma, if that's what she has. Getting some testing to find out exactly what you are dealing with is your best course of action. There are viral diseases like Infectious Bronchitis that chickens can have and antibiotics will not treat those. With most all diseases that are respiratory, the chickens are considered carriers for life, even if they have not become symptomatic - exposure is enough to consider them carriers. Most folks that have respiratory disease keep a closed flock - that means no selling/giving away hatching eggs, chicks, chickens, etc. They also don't show birds. If new birds are brought in, then there is a risk those may become sick too.

Tylosin is used to treat Mycoplasma, you would need to order that online.
 
I agree that pictures of the affected eye and the chicken might be helpful. Bubbles or drainage in one eye, swelling around an eye, along with head shaking and other respiratory symptoms may be signs of mycoplasma gallisepticum (MG.) Tylosin 1 tsp per gallon of water for 3-5 days is the treatment for MG. https://www.jedds.com/shop/tylan-soluble-100-g/
Testing would be very good to get a diagnosis to differentiate from severalmother respiratory diseases. If you are only seeing a watery eye, and no eye bubbles or swelling, that could be a sign of a virus called infectious bronchitis, especially if the chicken is sneezing often.
 

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