wheezing chicken

[Layniep3]

I have two chickens that i have been treating with SMZ for chronic diarrhea. They have been treated for several days with no improvement but still have a few more days left. They are eating, drinking, and acting perfectly fine, however today one of them has started wheezing when she breathes. She is still acting fine but I have absolutely no idea what to do to help. I'm wondering if she might have aspirated some of the liquid antibiotic when I treated her last night since she fussed a little when I gave it to her.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Possibly she may have aspirated if you are giving oral meds.

I'd check to make sure her crop is emptying overnight, just to be sure that's not the reason for the wheezing.

A few other common causes of wheezing are respiratory disease, poor ventilation, organ failure/dysfunction.

 

[dawg53]

For the diarrhea in addition to the SMZ, give them plain boiled white rice (cooled) to eat out of a bowl for a couple of days. The rice looks like maggots to them and they should scoff it up. It will settle their innards and you should see improvement.

 

[Layniep3]

Possibly she may have aspirated if you are giving oral meds.

I'd check to make sure her crop is emptying overnight, just to be sure that's not the reason for the wheezing.

A few other common causes of wheezing are respiratory disease, poor ventilation, organ failure/dysfunction.

They free range all day and their coop is airy, so ventilation shouldn’t be an issue. I fed her a piece of bread soaked in olive oil and massaged her crop and she seems to be doing better.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Glad to hear she's doing a little better!