sneezing and nasal discharge - should I worry? UPDATE: FULL RECOVERY!!

[eggsrcool]

Your not a bad chicken mum, bring her in just as Msbear said.

 

[laverne34]

My chickens had these same symptoms and I ended up losing a 2 of them. I treated the whole flock with antibiotics and they recovered very quickly. It was a respitory infection of some sort.

 

[technodoll]

You guys were right, Dr Brown is an absolutely lovely man - on a Sunday night he took the time to reply, I'm so impressed!

Unfortunately as I am in Canada and the laws/ medications here are different than those in the USA, his advice was to bring my girl to a vet and then depending on diagnosis & prescriptions (if any), he could help me from there.

DH canceled his work meeting tomorrow morning so I could have the car to go to the vet

I got a pet carrier this afternoon so I'm all set, providing Antoinette makes it through the night...

We debated bringing her into the house but decided against it as it would stress her too much, she is used to her flock and to her routine so to bring her to a strange and barren environment, in a small crate (with 4 dogs on the other side of the bathroom door) would probably not be beneficial.

As long as the coop stays above freezing and she sleeps well, relief should be on the way tomorrow...

She better not die on me, I'll never, ever forgive myself.

I

her.

 

[speckledhen]

That's good that you got Doc! Let us know what happens with your girl, okay?

 

[Wild Chicken]

I'm glad you got ahold of him!! He is by far the most knowledgeable concerning poultry.....

Hopefully you will have answers tomorrow, and here's to praying that she makes it through the night

.

Thanks for the pm too.....keep me updated Erin!!

Oh....and what a great hubbie you have!!!

 

[eggsrcool]

Thank you soo much for the good update! Glad you were able to get hold of somebody.

eggsrcool

 

[PoultryPedia]

Ideas:

To help her stay warm at night, can you set up a heat lamp near her in the coop?
For some short-term help, you can also fill a sock with uncooked white rice and microwave it a couple minutes to heat it up. If she's in a nest or crate, you can put it close to her for her to snuggle against. It stays warm pretty long.

Try not to leave food out overnight for the chickens, so the rats won't have much to eat (They usually come mostly at night).

Also, if you are using food bowls or pans, the rats will poop and wet on the food, which can pass on disease or other problems to the chickens. Instead, put the feed in rabbit-pellet-style feeders; then rodents may still eat food, but won't climb on top of the food and contaminate it.
Feeders also have a rim around the edge that keeps chickens from being able to scoop food on the floor. Food spilled on the floor, by default, becomes available to rodents overnight. It also becomes contaminated not only by rodents, but also by chicken poop and likely mold.

Chicken troubles can be so very hard on your heart, and hard to diagnose and solve sometimes. Very sorry you are having troubles with your dear one!

 

[technodoll]

Update:

I had to call 8 vets to find one who would dispense some antibiotics for my hen, still wouldn't see her but I told him her symptoms over the phone and then went to pick up a pouch of Neo-Chlor (it was only a one-hour drive!): http://www.drugs.com/vet/neo-chlor-can.html

I asked WHY nobody wanted to treat chickens and he said it's because most people won't pay as the meds cost more than the value of the bird.

Sooo sad

I brought my girl into the house after letting her free-range a bit with the flock, she had even laid her egg in the wee hours of the morning - she's so calm, I thought she would be stressed out but she seems fine. We have a spare bathroom with heated tile flooring, and I have a large pet carrier with fresh wood shavings in it for her to hide in if she wants. She drank her medicated water and ate a bit of food and hopefully there will be an improvement soon...

She is still sneezing every 20 seconds or so and I can hear a bit of wheezing now and again. She spends her time standing on one leg with her head tucked into her body now, could she be cold? she still chats and her eyes are clear, she's alert - all good signs I hope!

Oh and I picked up replacement bulbs for the heating lamp (of course it burnt out last night) and some rat & mouse poison pellets which I will set out tonight outside the coop - very rats are eating the bait and not setting off the traps!

Yep, it's business time...

 

[PoultryPedia]

It's always heartwarming to read BYC threads of people really caring about their chickens. Bless you in your efforts!

 

[technodoll]

That's why we're all here, isn't it?

Chickens rock!