Wheezing Chicken

[TroyBlackburn]

I have looked inside it's mouth and haven't seen anything. At this point we're a minimum of 2 to 3 days into this, perhaps more as I was out of town until Friday. Still no symptoms other than the wheezing and no symptoms with any other chickens. The wheezing is better at times, worse at others. I had been out of town for a few weeks and candidly the coop had gotten much dirtier than normal. It's been cleaned since I got back. I'm giving the entire flock nutri-drench. I think I'm going to continue to monitor and ride it out for now. If she gets worse or I see symptoms in other chickens, then I'll go the antibiotic route. However for now and with no other symptoms in the flock, it seems there are enough other possibilities other than a respiratory disease that I'm hesitant to start antibiotics or to cull.

 

[TroyBlackburn]

Update - no new symptoms, however she is not eating as much as I had thought, her crop is almost completely empty. She's still up and about. I've added some apple cider vinager to her water (along with some nutri-drench). Still no symptoms among any of the other chickens.

 

[TroyBlackburn]

Update...

First the positive: Still no signs of illness in any of the other 28 chickens or the 3 ducks and no other additional symptoms in the effected chicken.

The negative: She is either not eating or eating and drinking so little that I can't tell by feeling her crop. It started out the day close to empty and has just been getting emptier as the day goes on.

What I'm doing at this point: I'm using one of those disposable injectors that comes with injectable marinades (without the needle of course) to give her water and I've started grinding up feed to almost a dust in an old coffee grinder, mixing it with enough water to create a slightly thin paste and then using the injector to put food in her mouth. She fights me a bit at times and other times takes it and swallows as if she's hungry and wants it. I suspect it's possible that she's not eating in part that it may be hard to swallow the feed.

As always, any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[BantamLover21]

Update...

First the positive: Still no signs of illness in any of the other 28 chickens or the 3 ducks and no other additional symptoms in the effected chicken.

The negative: She is either not eating or eating and drinking so little that I can't tell by feeling her crop. It started out the day close to empty and has just been getting emptier as the day goes on.

What I'm doing at this point: I'm using one of those disposable injectors that comes with injectable marinades (without the needle of course) to give her water and I've started grinding up feed to almost a dust in an old coffee grinder, mixing it with enough water to create a slightly thin paste and then using the injector to put food in her mouth. She fights me a bit at times and other times takes it and swallows as if she's hungry and wants it. I suspect it's possible that she's not eating in part that it may be hard to swallow the feed.

As always, any suggestions would be appreciated.

Sounds like you are doing everything you can. Just keep giving her food; she needs nourishment! If possible, you should get some poultry vitamins and mix those in with the feed paste as well.

 

[TroyBlackburn]

Sounds like you are doing everything you can. Just keep giving her food; she needs nourishment! If possible, you should get some poultry vitamins and mix those in with the feed paste as well. 

Great idea! I already have some poultry vitamins that I am putting in the water, but putting them in the feed paste is a even better idea. Thank You!

 

[TroyBlackburn]

Final Update;

She died about a half an hour ago. I had gone to the store to pick up some yogurt and some mint (for a vapor to help with congestion) and my girlfriend texted me and the chicken had passed.

As with many things, there's an upside and a downside.

The Upside: She's no longer suffering and if it was a respiratory disease and by some chance none of the rest of the flock have been exposed or caught it, I don't have to worry about her having recovered, but carrying it and introducing it to the rest of the flock.

The Downside: She Died!

Thank you all for your input. I appreciate it!

 

[BantamLover21]

Final Update;

She died about a half an hour ago. I had gone to the store to pick up some yogurt and some mint (for a vapor to help with congestion) and my girlfriend texted me and the chicken had passed.

As with many things, there's an upside and a downside.

The Upside: She's no longer suffering and if it was a respiratory disease and by some chance none of the rest of the flock have been exposed or caught it, I don't have to worry about her having recovered, but carrying it and introducing it to the rest of the flock.

The Downside: She Died!

Thank you all for your input. I appreciate it!

I'm sorry for your loss.

The disease/problem (whatever it was) might have become too strong for her system to handle, or she might have become too weak from not eating enough. I'd continue to monitor the rest of your flock for any symptoms, but I'm beginning to think that whatever was wrong with her wasn't contagious.

 

[cafarmgirl]

If it was a respiratory disease she may very well have died from pneumonia. They will often show very little in the way of symptoms other then being lethargic and not wanting to eat/drink. I had a rooster who was just a little off, wheezing just a bit, not eating. Took him to the vet who listened to his lungs, he had pneumonia. Antibiotic's cleared him right up. Chickens can usually recover from a respiratory disease if they are on antibiotic's. If they do not have antibiotic's they often die from pneumonia or secondary bacterial infections rather then the disease itself.

I would watch the rest of your flock extremely closely, just in case this was a respiratory disease. Sometimes it can take a while to incubate and you may not see symptoms until a week down the road. If you see any signs of anything start the affected birds on antibiotics until they clear up.

 

[TroyBlackburn]

Day 7 since I first discovered the one chicken wheezing after I returned from being out of town for an extended period. Still no symptoms of anything wrong with any of the other chickens.