Should I take her to a vet or wait if it stops?

[enozym]

I have one pet chicken, she's about 6 years old. Her flock mate of the same age died 6 months ago from an ovary infection.

When I went to put her in her coop last night I noticed she was opening her beak and gasping for air. I cleaned her nose with wet cotton buds (no idea what else to do) and she did actually seem a little better surprisingly.

But this morning her clucking didn't wake me up like normal, and she is still gasping. Not as badly as last night, but she's still opening her beak a little and her breathing seems labored.

She has also been sneezing, and I think coughing.
She's still hungry. Walking round pecking. No eye discharge. No nose discharge (her nose is still pretty clogged with dirt though). Comb is a good colour. And she's laid 4 days in row (which is unusual for her at her age).

She had a lot of scraps yesterday, and her crop was very very full. (My parents have been overfeeding her on the christmas vege scraps.) And she still had some food in her crop this morning so I havn't given her her chicken feed yet.

As she's a pet, and I've had her so long, and my other chicken died so recently, my first instinct is PANIC take her to vet. But I think I might be over reacting.

Could her nose just be blocked? Or could it be caused by her eating too much?

 

[theoldchick]

You can always call the vet for information.

At six years old, she's an old gal and could be suffering from a number of things. With aged pets you have to be wary of giving OTC meds because the dosage may not be correct. The very least you can do is keep her warm and dry with all her treats within easy reach.

 

[enozym]

thank you, I think I'll keep watching her and maybe ring the vet in a couple of hours and see what they say.
I'm a bit worried if I wait and see how she goes the vet will be closed tomorrow.
She seems better, but I let her chase some food and she started opening her beak a bit to breathe again. She's still sneezing, and interestingly she was opening her mouth wide repeatedly for a little while like she does sometimes when I think she's something caught in her throat.

It's summer here, so I'm not too worried about her being cold, but it's not hot enough to cause her to pant.

She almost bit my fingers off to get some pellets, and is drinking water, so at least her appetite is still good.

 

[enozym]

My closest bird vet was closed over the holiday period, but I found another bird vet half an hour away that was thankfully open. And got an appointment for this morning.

He said she seems to have an upper respiratory infection. Gave her an injection, flushed out her nasal cavity with saline and gave me some antibiotic tablets to keep giving to her.
She seems a little happier after having her nose cleared, so I'm hoping this is a good sign.

But I quite forgot to mention to the vet I seem to be coming down with a cold as well since yesterday. Sore throat, sore ears and eyes. I know everyone worries out about bird flu transferring between birds and humans, should I be worried at all I might have caught something from her? Or worried I could pass my cold to her, specially if she's weak?

 

[froggiesheins]

As far as I know human / chicken disease transmission is zero... Not to worry...

 

[theoldchick]

Wash your hands before and after handling her. There are some avian diseases transmissible to humans but they are usually self limiting in a healthy person. However a person whose immune system is lacking due to age, disease, or certain medicines should use the precaution of gloves and a mask.

Good luck with her!

 

[enozym]

Thank you both very much, that puts my mind at ease. And I'll make sure not to forget to wash up before & after handling her as well.
XD I had to handle her for a fair while this morning. She usually loves being held, but she sure doesn't like her tablets! But I think I might be getting the hang of getting her to take them.

 

[theoldchick]

If she has a good appetite you can crush each dose to a fine powder and put it in a small amount of scrambled eggs or her favorite food. When I was treating a peacock I sprayed a small amount of scratch feed (what would be eaten very quickly) with canola oil and mixed the medicine with it. The peacock ate the treated feed with no problem. The canola oil makes the powder stick to the seeds and not fall to the bottom of the bowl.

 

[casportpony]

Thank you both very much, that puts my mind at ease. And I'll make sure not to forget to wash up before & after handling her as well.
XD I had to handle her for a fair while this morning. She usually loves being held, but she sure doesn't like her tablets! But I think I might be getting the hang of getting her to take them.

Just keep working at it, it's much easier than giving pills to cats or dogs.

 

[enozym]

Help?
I've taken her back to the vet 2 days ago and he said she wasn't responding as fast as he'd like and gave her 5 more anitibiotics and flushed her nose again.

This morning she didn't wake me up again. I gave her some food, and suddenly, she was gurgling and had a wheesing rattle. I gave her water and fed her more and worried. And she coughed and seemed to get a bit better but still short of breath. I gave her her tablet and watched her and she seemed okay.

But just now this afternoon, a sprinkled some water mist from the hose (it's summer) and I think she ate a bit of pea straw that's on the garden, and suddenly she was gurgling again. Again food water, coughing and she's only gurgling a little bit now. But she's still wheezing and opening her beak.

She's on my lap, I have a torch, and she's very calm.

Does anyone know how to check or clear a chicken's airways? Diagrams? anything? please