Sick chicken / Unknown on what she has

[Soupp]

About a week ago we got a hen (rhoda) from a friend that lives new us. After a day, we noticed she was gasping so we immediately put her in the house and started to give her tylan50. At first we thought the gasping was from gapeworms, but she is still kicking after a week. She’s also eating and drinking on her own. After some research we believed she might have egg peritonitis. So we checked to see if she had any unusual bumps that could be a sign of this, but she appears as normal as our other hens physically. We are giving her another antibiotic via injection into her breast but even after a week she is still gasping desperately for air. When I put my hand underneath her, I can feel her lungs trying to get as much air as possible. She also doesn’t sprint away like the others but she still makes a faint attempt of not being carried. If you put her somewhere, she will just sit there and wait a couple of minutes before slowly walking around. Her gasping is off and on, but when she does gasp her head goes up and then back down. She also occasionally makes a larger gasp and it sounds as if she’s attempting to crow. She is eating and drinking, but not as much as she should be. She’s also part game chicken so she is smaller than average.

Note: my family are new chicken owners so we aren’t experienced in treating sick chickens. We would take her to the vet but my parents are low on money as they’ve spent it on college/bills.

 

[azygous]

What is your location? That can help us find clues. Climate can be responsible for a number of issues.

First, it may just be clogged nares causing her breathing issue. Check those beak holes. You should be able to see in one all the way through to the other and see daylight. Unclogging nares is tricky. A Q-tip with much of the cotton removed and saturated in mineral oil can be a useful tool.

What does her poop look like? Egg peritonitis will cause poop to be very smelly and a yellow brown in color and very soupy.

 

[Soupp]

What is your location? That can help us find clues. Climate can be responsible for a number of issues.

First, it may just be clogged nares causing her breathing issue. Check those beak holes. You should be able to see in one all the way through to the other and see daylight. Unclogging nares is tricky. A Q-tip with much of the cotton removed and saturated in mineral oil can be a useful tool.

What does her poop look like? Egg peritonitis will cause poop to be very smelly and a yellow brown in color and very soupy.

I live in north texas in the country, and from what I’ve seen her poop is either normal or yellow and runny.

 

[azygous]

Did you check her nares? Can you post a pic of her poop? Try to get it on a contrasting background so it's easy to see.

Due to your location, it doubtful the hen as coccidiosis. Worms are still a possibility, though. It's cheap and easy to worm her. Get some Safeguard at any feed store. It's gentle and works on most species of worms.

If you are using Safeguard the dose is .23 ml per pound of bird weight, two doses 10 days apart for roundworm. (For some other types of worms other than roundworm you would do that dose 5 days in a row). If using Valbazen the dose is .5 ml for a 6 lb bird, two doses 10 days apart. The math for dosing Valbazen is "weight in lbs / 2.2 X 20mg / 113.6". That will treat everything except tapeworm.

 

[Soupp]

Did you check her nares? Can you post a pic of her poop? Try to get it on a contrasting background so it's easy to see.

Due to your location, it doubtful the hen as coccidiosis. Worms are still a possibility, though. It's cheap and easy to worm her. Get some Safeguard at any feed store. It's gentle and works on most species of worms.

If you are using Safeguard the dose is .23 ml per pound of bird weight, two doses 10 days apart for roundworm. (For some other types of worms other than roundworm you would do that dose 5 days in a row). If using Valbazen the dose is .5 ml for a 6 lb bird, two doses 10 days apart. The math for dosing Valbazen is "weight in lbs / 2.2 X 20mg / 113.6". That will treat everything except tapeworm.

Yeah I took a look at her nares, looks like there’s some type of fluid in them. Here’s the poop pics though

Edit: she’s acting normal now and hasn’t gasped all morning and afternoon. When I went to grab her as well she ran as fast as she could. She also isn’t sitting around for a long period of time

 

[Soupp]

Here’s a more recent picture of her (other one was taken 1-2 days ago)

 

[azygous]

The poop appears to be within range of normal. Her stance is good, alert, bright-eyed.

Perhaps her breathing was a stress reflex. Chickens appear to pant, hold beak open, and breath hard when handled by an unfamiliar person.

I recommend going ahead an worming her so you know you aren't introducing intestinal worms into your flock.

 

[Soupp]

The poop appears to be within range of normal. Her stance is good, alert, bright-eyed.

Perhaps her breathing was a stress reflex. Chickens appear to pant, hold beak open, and breath hard when handled by an unfamiliar person.

I recommend going ahead an worming her so you know you aren't introducing intestinal worms into your flock.

She was breathing harder while in the enclosure she’s in now, but when I took her out it wasn’t as bad.

 

[azygous]

It's probably stress, then.

Has she been introduced to you other chickens? That will be another source of stress. Here's another article I wrote that might help with the integration. https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/introducing-a-single-hen-to-an-existing-flock.71997/