sick chicken laboured breathing help!

[Mb4rx]

Hi experts!

I have a 22wk old exchequer leghorn hen who I've noticed was just a bit out of sorts 2 days ago. She's the bottom of the pecking order so always the last in the fight for scratch etc so the fact she was not the most active wasn't out of the ordinary. the second thing I saw was after she'd jumped up onto a bench her head was down and I saw white clear liquid pour out of her mouth, I have seen other chickens do this after drinking too much so didn't worry too much but started watching her very closely after that.

What I've noticed is she's not eating much, not drinking a lot, not dust bathing, and preferring to stand rather than forage.
When I go to pick her up she's still energetic enough to run away from me so that seems a good sign but being held is very stressful for her.
There doesn't seem to be any signs of respiratory illness - no nasal/eye discharge, no rattling.
She's been wormed - no signs of gape worm in her throat.
She tends to prefer to stand rather than sit, but will sit when the other hens have an afternoon sleeps.
She's sometimes little fluffed up but her big leghorn tail is upright, if anything sometimes appearing to be a little out to the side.
She had a bit of diarrhoea-watery white poo but then after some of her favourite yoghurt/oats mix her poo was formed and looking normal.
She hasn't started laying yet so I don't think she's egg bound and I cant feel any unusual lump in her abdomen.
I've given her electrolytes with the dropper which she happily drinks and I even saw her drinking from the main water bowl which is also an electrolyte mix.
When I first examined her her crop was I thought flat which I assumed was due to lack of food. On second inspection I've found what I believe to be a very hard lump to the right of her chest bone which I'm guessing is an impacted crop. Its hard as a rock and about half the size of a golf ball. I tried the olive oil treatment but getting that mass to move is seemingly impossible.

I'm giving her a yoghurt/grit/ACV mix tonight with more olive oil and massage to see if that helps.

I started giving her some antibiotics a day ago just because I have no idea what this is, but I've stopped that now and am focused on this crop. I've done a bit of research and her symptoms seem to be consistent with impacted crop but I'm really concerned because in the last 12 hrs her breathing has become really laboured and she tends to face her head/beak upward stargazing style. All her other symptoms haven't deteriorated, she eats a bit, drinks, gets around with the others but is just not right.


I'm in Australia, it's winter and she's in a warm coop, I'm taking a chance with this and the rest of my girls by not isolating her as the stress of isolation and being handled is immense for her.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!! Am I on the right track or have I overlooked something?
Should I keep up the antibiotics?

Help!!

 

[GitaBooks]

Sorry it took so long to respond.

I'm not an expert when it comes to chicken diseases, but I agree, impacted crop could be the problem. It may be something toxic stuck in her crop or something metal which is causing the chronic symptoms. Keep up the massaging, vitamins, electrolytes, warmth, ect. Keep her away from the others so she can rest. Is there any chance you could get a vet to do surgery on her crop?

I hope she gets better soon.

 

[Mb4rx]

Hi thanks for your reply!

This morning her crop was relatively back to normal but she still had a small rock hard lump there and her breathing was still strained. I watched her on the IP cameras all night and she was really struggling to breath and while she went up to roost with the others she never really settled. I decided to take her to the vet before they're closed over the weekend and also my vet has a pretty good knowledge of chicken ailments.

So, she's not egg bound, no impacted or sour crop, no respiratory illness, no wheezing/coughing/discharge or rattles - Phew.
The vet said her lungs are clear but she wasn't able to get/hear the same volume from her right lung (where the hard mass is) than from the left. So we looked at the mass which on close inspection appears to be a wound, we aspirated it and under a microscope she has a bacterial infection! Although she has been wormed the vet said she could possibly still have gape worm although she has a clear throat and is not typically gaping we cant overlook that possibility so she had Ivomectin to be safe.

So they seem to be the only explanations we have right now. As for how she got the small chest wound I'll never know. The vet said that however the wound was caused she may have even punctured the lung!?

An injection of a long acting antibiotic with a repeat in 5 days is the course of treatment with a follow up Ivomectin dose in 3 days & fingers crossed she improves soon!!

Will update again soon. Thanks!

 

[GitaBooks]

Vets are awesome.

I'm glad she seems to be on the mend.

 

[Mb4rx]

Just an update...

It's been a week and my chicken hasn't improved. Her breathing is still very laboured and lethargy is playing a big part in her ability to get around. She's still eating and drinking and pooping but eating and drinking is difficult as this requires her airway to be shut off while she does this and then the recovery from the action takes a lot of open mouthed breathing. So she's not eating much but is still interested and picks at various treats/food/greens etc that are offered. Her comb and wattles are starting to change color, deep red/blue - hoping its just due to lack of oxygen rather than starting to succumb to whatever this is.

She struggles to sit down, almost like the weight of her tiny frame is crushing her lungs, so she breathes harder while sitting and then it's like she's having an asthma attack when she stands back up. Poor thing is struggling. I took a poop sample to the vet to be analysed to rule out all the nasty things and the results came back with no signs of worms, including gape worm which was one of my concerns with the serious respiratory distress. So that's good as far as my other girls go. But we still don't know what it is.

I'm about to look into the effects of damaged/injured air sacs and lungs to see if that's what the problem could be. Has anyone has experience with that?

She has no signs of other respiratory illness, still no discharge, rattles/rales wheezing, coughing or sneezing etc.

I gave her the second shot of antibiotic today so we'll see how that goes, if a bacterial infection is even the problem?

I'm just hoping she starts to pick up soon because surely her little heart can't keep her body going like this much longer

Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[GitaBooks]

I'm sorry to hear that. I'm not sure what to do.

 

[Mb4rx]

Thanks for replying. I'm not sure either.
Just a waiting game now.