trouble breathing, hissing, please help!

[msdenham]

Hi, our 1 year old blue wyandotte is in trouble. She seems to have difficulty breathing, hissing instead of clucking, losing weight, and now losing neck feathers. We think the hissing is her breathing, not intentional. Theres no sneezing, or discharge, and I've seen her eating, but still seems thin. We checked her for gape worm described in another thread by swabbing her throat with a q-tip and found nothing, but unsure of our method. Everyone else in the coop is great. We need some ideas! We're in an urban area so I don't think there's a vet option. They're in plenty of shade and have plenty of food and water. Please help!

 

[Eggcessive]

Look inside her beak and down her throat as much as possible for any yellow or gray material that shouldn't be there. You may have done this when you swabbed her for gapeworm. Is she gaping at all? You could go ahead and start her on an antibiotic for respiratory disease if you don't see anything in her throat that might resemble wet fowl pox or canker lesions. Oxytetracycline in the water or Tylan50 injectible which can be given by mouth or as a shot 1 ml daily for 3-5 days.

 

[msdenham]

Thank you, we will try it!