Wheezing Pullet - Ideas, Please!

[kipper]

One of our 5 month old Marans pullets began wheezing this evening. It is an almost "singing" sound each time she inhales and exhales. My husband heard her sneeze a few times, but I watched her for about 15 minutes and witnessed no sneezing. No mucus or loose poo noticed.

She is on the roost currently, puffed up, her roomates are milling around getting their bedtime snacks and settling in. It is 38 degrees Farenheit outside, possibly a little warmer in the chicken house and no drafts but good ventillation. It shouldn't get below freezing tonight. The pine shavings were changed two days ago.

I have a few questions:

-Should be bring her into the garage or our house, or just leave her in the chicken house?

-How contagious are colds/respiratory illnesses in chickens?

-What is effective to treat this sort of thing, and can I get it at the feed store?

We have only had chickens about 18 months, but I have past experience with parrots and I know this doesn't sound good. We are worried and would appreciate any advice.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I am not very familiar with respiratory illness in chickens, but I think one is called CRD why not google search respiratory infections and see if that helps you. she should be kept seperate from the others till you are certain she is well. Not sure what would work as far as meds. hopefully if I give ya a bump someone will be able to help. If you bring her in try to keep her from getting over heated maybe put her in the coolest place in the house but not cold, she'll need support to fight this, baby vits.w/o iron or electrolytes in her water,

 

[heather112588]

I have had some experience with chicken respiratory problems. I was new to raising chickens this past year and had gotten 5 rir chicks; around 2 months old they started sneezing and weezing. First, it was just 1 or two ...I wasn't alarmed at first bc it was just occasional. When it started catching on (4 birds), then i worried. I read up and there is medicine you can buy at the feed store...i don't have the name right now (will get back to you with it) but it clears up respiratory infections, colds and any other minor infections. It retails for $7.95 and comes in a small (maybe 2-3 ounce) red bottle. It is a liquid that is mixed in with their drinking water.

If the sneezing has gotten worse, then yes i would separate her. By the time i had found out about the medicine, it was too late for one of my girls (weezing, then lack of coordination and energy, then she died). I had separated her the day prior. The others got better instantley with the medicine...and 5 months later there has not been so much as one cough or weeze.

 

[heather112588]

It is called "vetRX"

-put the vetrx in all the water for the whole flock as they have been exposed from the effected birds drinking from the same waterer
-also do put the vetrx on the heads, under the wings of the sick birds for respiratory disease

 

[tryxichicks]

Definitely separate her. It could be a thousand things, aspergillosis, gapeworms, pneumonia, etc. hopefully just a cold!

 

[kipper]

So here is the update on my hen:

We watched her for a while, she was active but loudly breathing, we talked it over and decided to leave her with the other birds overnight. The next morning she was much quieter and eager to beg for treats along with the others. By the end of the day her breathing was normal.

My husband and I discussed what might have caused her to sound so loud, and we suspect that she may have had something caught in her airway. Our feed store switched to a different brand of shavings, and there was a lot of sawdust in it. He had changed the shavings the day before. So we think that may have been what happened.

Thank you for your ideas, hopefully we will not have illness among our birds!

 

[Miss Lydia]

Thank you for letting us know and thankful it all came out so well....