Chicken gasping for air weak in the legs

[eljeanes]

I have a young chicken, not fully grown yet, a spitzhauben who is gasping for air. It's been a few days. I first noticed she was limping and seemed weak in one leg. She's been the same for about four days now, nothing has changed. She can eat and drink. I did not see signs of gape worm when I looked down her throat with a flashlight. I have seen merecks before, it moved very fast through a bird in quarantine years ago, a few days and it was gone. I am not sure what to do. Any ideas? The birds freerange but no others are having any problems.

 

[Eggcessive]

Sorry that you didn't get a reply earlier. Sometimes nobody is online or it is late at night in certain time zones. Whenever you don't get answers, just post again. Mareks can last at least 7 years in the environment, maybe less, maybe more. I'm not an expert on Mareks and haven't treated it, but I do know that Mareks can be have transient symptoms of paralysis that go away, but then tumors can occur. Gasping can be a sign of infectious laryngotracheitis or ILT one of the viral respiratory diseases, but it also can be a sign of aspergillosis, a fungal infection caused by mold in the environment. Aspergillosis can sometimes cause neurological symptoms if it is a long term or chronic infection. There is no treatment for aspergillosisi except to remove the source of mold, and no cure for Mareks. If you lose her, I would suggest getting a necropsy by your state vet to find the cause. I can't believe you have only posted 12 times in 6 years on BYC. That has to be a record, LOL. Here is a link for your state vet if you are in the US, and a link for aspergillosis: http://agr.wa.gov/FoodAnimal/AnimalHealth/statevets.aspx
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/animal_health/animal_dis_spec/poultry/participants.shtml
http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?A=3241&

 

[dawg53]

Gapeworm are rare in chickens and you wont see them using a flashlight looking down a birds throat. Since your bird can eat and drink, it's not gapeworm.
I doubt your bird has Infectious Laryngotracheitis (ILT) since you didn't mention if bloody mucus was coughed up or slung around by the bird shaking its head.
I agree with Eggcessive that it could be a fungal problem.

 

[eljeanes]

Two more birds with the same symptoms. I have used The wormer suggested, antibiotics, electrolytes, nothing. Now two are weak and gasping. They free range, there is no mold anywhere that I can find. They gasp, stumble, then a few days later they die.

 

[eljeanes]

Nothing bloody, just silent gasping then they get weak even though they are eating and drinking. Looking at your posts, I see you have a record too, for most posts. Two more are down gasping barely can move.

 

[eljeanes]

Looks like a fungal infection in birds can be treated with Lamasil. I could get a couple of types of liquid antifungal from my vet or get some at the drug store that should break down the granuloma plug. I'll get it tomorrow and give it a try. I've tried everything else. Birds are free range, eating clean feed, in a clean coop during the night. I just can't figure out how they got it if that's what it is. First bird died two weeks ago, then the second one started up five days ago with the gasping and is now weak then the third bird started two days ago....

 

[dawg53]

You might have a reoccurrence of Marek's, I'm not sure, I've never dealt with it. I'll ask some other people who are familiar with Marek's to take a look at this thread.

 

[seminolewind]

I agree with the info Eggcessive has posted. I've had 6-8 week olds start slow gasping and "appeared" to have a broken leg. But it wasn't a broken leg. They had Marek's.

Aspergillosis or Marek's, are 2 really good possibilities, but you'll need a necropsy to find out which one or another illness they may have. I don't think that Aspergillosis affects a few birds at the same time. It's usually one at a time. Several with symptoms at one time would seem more like Marek's.

 

[Nambroth]

Two more birds with the same symptoms. I have used The wormer suggested, antibiotics, electrolytes, nothing. Now two are weak and gasping. They free range, there is no mold anywhere that I can find. They gasp, stumble, then a few days later they die.

I've read all your posts, and if they were my birds I would be very suspicious of Marek's and/or Aspergillosis. If your birds are showing symptoms of visceral Marek's, it can be pretty quick; it is essentially lymphoma, and can be very aggressive in some bird's systems. The gasping may be due to lesions on the nerves controlling breathing, and/or tumor growth on organs such as the heart and/or lungs. I experienced these same symptoms in my Marek's confirmed rooster before he died. It took less than a week.

Aspergillosis can be a bit more tricky. Mold in the feed is a sure problem, but some people never see, smell, or detect mold and yet they have Aspergillosis in their flock. The Aflatoxins that cause it are microscopic, and in a bird with a compromised immune system (or a bird that is just susceptible) it does not take much. Corn is notorious for having aflatoxin contamination. Small amounts are often dealt with by healthy birds with no problem, but then you get a bird or several birds that are not as strong, or have weakened immune systems, or secondary problems... and bam!! They develop problems. That said, Aspergillosis is generally (not always, but generally) more long term, where the bird has intermittent problems over a period of weeks or months, unless they ate a large volume of the aflatoxins. In the case of ingesting a large amount of the toxins that cause aspergillosis, the disease may progress more rapidly.

Please note that all of the above are generalizations. Sometimes disease moves faster or slower than expected. There are just so many variables when it comes to chicken health!

Either way, if it were me, I would be most suspicious of Marek's, or a large amount of mold in the feed that all the sick ones got into at once.

If you lose another, see if you can send for necropsy... it will give you some better answers, and will help you to deal with your flock in the future.