wheezing, attempting to clear lungs, what can I do???!!!

[spook]

I have a 1 yr old Ameraucana mix hen with raspy breathing, wheezing and attempting to clear her lungs with a cough with no luck.
She will sit down under the grape vines where its cool (warm day) comes out for food, and sat on the ground beside me and her eyes dropped asleep. Easy to stir, but not interested in a whole lot. I gave her cold water, a few grains of Aspirin and dipped bread into it so to give her fluids.
I may have to catch her and confine her but I am afraid it would be to stressful.
I do not feel that she has a temp, no nasel, mouth discharge, appears to have a reduced red comb, yet I find my girls to go from light red to a dark red colors.
Anyone have any suggestions? Thank you in advance.

 

[needmorechickens!]

My roo has CRD and today the vet told me to keep him inside for a few days in the cool air to help him breathe easier. The cool air might help yours as well?

The vet cleaned his nose out and got gobs of nasty stuff out and gave him a shot of antibiotic.

Someone had mentioned that it is possible to flush their sinuses with saline, but i don't know how to do that.

I hope she is feeling better soon.
~Rebecca

 

[d.k]

* Just in case it is contagious, I would isolate her. That way you can also observe her for any other symtoms as well. A little humidity may help her breathing, and I would dose her with vits as well. No-iron infant's Poly-Vi-Sol, 3 drops for one week, then taper of by a drop a week. Note any other symtoms or changes and re-post for us, okay?

 

[spook]

Thank you so much for your response, I appreciate them. I did have DH pick up some Terramycin today, I will go out at this point and mix it up for her, see if this helps.
Thanks again and I will keep you posted.

 

[lilchick]

I would keep her isolated also.

A cool basement and air conditioning would help her.

A shot of antibiotics too.

Check her mouth and throat for yellow sores.. sometimes when they cough and shake their head as if to dislodge something it is sores in there throat... It is contagious ..

 

[spook]

Unfortunately I do not have a place at this time to quarentine her, only have a 4x8 hen house with 5 birds in it. I gave her asprin in the water, then later I gave her some terramycin 1/2 tsp to a quart of water.
My sneaky way to give medicine is to dip a slice of bread into the liquid and feed it to them. I am doing the whole flock at this point, excluding the chicks that are in the "in-law apartment" aka isolation pen.
After the asprin, we found she wasn't as sleepy and interested in food.
I do not feel as though she has a fever, the humidity and heat are not to bad here in Maine today, not enough to turn the AC on.
Opened her mouth, smelled, it was not sour or rancid, no smell, no redness in her throat, looked down a ways (interesting, never looked down a chickens throat) her crop felt soft, not empty, but not hard.
Her comb is a bit more red this evening after both asprin(earlier) and T-mycin, she even asked to get out of the pen and graze around the clover and eat rocks! So I feel better about her, still a bit hoarse when 'singing' but not just on breathing like earlier. (they don't get to go out of their 1/4 acre pen, she asked and I figured it wouldn't hurt)
Thank you BYCers, you helped give me strength and knowledge, Frieda thanks you too!

 

[d.k]

* Interesting that the aspirin helped. That would seem to indicate that she has some kind of pain or maybe low-grade fever or infection. Do you know if she's had any trauma recently? Have you checked carefully for any sign of even small wounds?? Has she been wormed recently?? Anemia (usually caused by parasites) can sometimes be painful.

 

[spook]

Honestly, until recently (hide my head in shame) I have never De-wormed any of my poultry before. Sooo, now I need to learn what to do about worming.
She is still coughing, when she preens her check she makes a wawawawawa sound. I did put the Terramycin in the water dish for all of the girls.
The only trauma that Frieda had to my knowledge would be eating to fast! If I have a container of chick starter mash out for my Bantam babies, she will hop the fence and pig it down and then cough like she was today.
Also, we feed them as treats wheat seeds and she has been especially hungry acting, they all have been increasingly greedy when getting food or treats, jumping and grabbing it.
I would be glad to know what your opinions are (besides me being a bad chicken owner!) She is my girl in the avitar and also seems half baked...also walks on her knuckles. Still wonder if she has something in her lungs, cannot afford to take her to the vets at this time.
Interesting, I wonder if its the rubber bowl that I picked up for the hen house. I wanted that so in the winter I could pop the ice out, but DH changed the water today (I changed it this morning and cleaned it) he said it was slimy and algae growing! A bit soon I'd think.
Thank you again !

 

[d.k]

*Ok, a couple more possibles from that info. She may be sucking up/breathing a lot more feed dust from the chick feed that she wouldn't get eating her own food. I'd trim her wings to keep her from hopping the fence. Good idea just in case she is contagious, too. Keep her away from the chicks. Now what do you mean by "walking on her knuckles"?? Are her toes curled under??

 

[spook]

Yes her toes are curled. The chicks are protected now, but they are all in the same house. I need to do research on worming them all. I have one hen that in spring, she walks around the yard while mouth breathing, wow, I have never had such things before, goes to show you all in due time!