Wheezing hen...is this a problem?

[willowbranchfarm]

Yeah that's far enough and yes treatment is Tylan 50 give 1/4 cc orally for five days. I have read several dosages but this one seems to be average.

 

[JerseyGiantfolk]

The medicine won't fully treat the bird, it will reduce symptoms. They will still be carriers. Sorry about the situation.

 

[jed1154]

Carriers of what?? Its not a gape worm.

 

[cafarmgirl]

Carriers of what?? Its not a gape worm.

When chickens contract a respiratory disease you can often get them over it but they will remain a carrier of whatever they have and can pass it on to new birds. If you do a Google search on poultry respiratory disease you can get an idea of what you are dealing with. Very difficult to diagnose exactly what it is unless you have labs done on a live bird or necropsy on a dead bird.

 

[jed1154]

Well isn't that disappointing.

 

[pellyRdGirl]

Does anyone keep something around to put your chicken down to keep them from suffering?

 

[jed1154]

.22LR is what I keep around.

 

[pellyRdGirl]

That's really sad to hear. It almost appears that treating for worms is more successful then the respiratory. This is my first experience with this. We've done chickens now going on 5 yrs...have lost a hen occasionally from old age (?) maybe, hawks, fox, dog,one got ran over, but nothing like this. Everyone else is healthy, no distress, good color, normal high energy, running, eating, etc. I use ACV in their water, they are free range and have a lot of ground access. So we're supposing that since this last rooster is a 3rd generation, that perhaps he was just not a good one and might have spread a weak gene to the rest. We have GLW and were told to add a SLW to the flock to help keep the breed strong. We will cull out this spring the ones not laying, keep and tag the layers and buy SLW eggs for the ones that are sitting for the spring and keep one or two good SLW roosters. I'm looking forward to opening another chapter. Incidentally, I read that Flubenvet is the only wormer that is successful in treating Gapeworm. You know I always say, Mistakes made are lessons learned. I'm still learning, sometimes lessons are derived from the school of hard knocks! Hate when you give it your all, you put all your energy into something you beleive is the right thing, only to have it taken away from you anyway. But I do/have/ taken knowledge and experience from this ordeal.

 

[willowbranchfarm]

My friend has a chicken that had respiratory issues and after treating her she was fine and none of the others have ever gotten sick.

 

[JerseyGiantfolk]

Sometimes a bird will be infected, but will never show signs until they are stressed and/or cold.