the3bees
In the Brooder
- Jan 23, 2025
- 2
- 1
- 12
Long time lurker, first time poster - hi!
There are LOTS of threads/posts about singular episodes of respiratory disease but I’m struggling to find info for ongoing flare ups. And apologies in advance, this is a long post….
I’m finding it incredibly overwhelming and stressful dealing with frequent episodes of CRD. I can’t seem to catch a break. It’s making me so anxious and upset. I just want my girls to feel well and be as healthy as possible. Thankfully their episodes are quite mild. At the most, the symptoms they experience are: rapid/laboured breathing (especially when lying down - at night etc), some sneezing and eye bubbles. They don’t ever seem to be in immediate distress.
We very gratefully have avian vets nearby who have been helping us manage the CRD. Once the CRD diagnosis was established, they have been happy to prescribe antibiotics as needed. Obviously I want to reduce the episodes/flare ups so we aren’t reliant on medication as it will become less effective (and it’s expensive, and the chickens are traumatised by 2x medicating daily - too smart to hide in food now). We have been using doxycycline. One of my girls had a flare up a few weeks ago and their last one previously was in November (only two months in between
)
Background info: I'm a first time chicken owner. I have three ladies. They were all adopted from an animal shelter in July 2023. Beaker - Welsummer. Surrendered due to dog attack. Owner unable to afford surgery. Age unknown. We have recently discovered she may have arthritis and suspect she is much older than we thought. Has a suprelorin implant. At least 5yo I think. Betsy and Bertie - mixed breeds (may have some Sussex or Wyandotte in them). Both came from the same place. They were seized by animal control due to welfare issues (hoarding). Maybe 3 years old?
Betsy (3yo?, Sussex type x?) and Beaker (5yo?, Welsummer) are usually the two who get the flare ups most often. The vet suspects they picked up the disease in their previous lives and has noticed the girls each have some scarring from old infections - if I can remember off the top of my head - on the trachea, and Betsy potentially has some on an air sac. Betsy had a really bad flare up in June last year, I think it was triggered by moulting. She stopped eating and was hospitalised for a couple of nights. She had X-rays at the time and the vet noticed some unusual shading. For more info the next step was a CT scan but unfortunately it’s really expensive and as she recovered and wasn’t in distress, I didn’t feel it was something I needed to do urgently, although it would be nice if I could afford it!
I have been trying to minimise risk of flare ups as best I can. Regularly clean their coop - droppings cleaned daily, bedding changed fortnightly ~ use pine shavings (the type without dust) and hemp ~ and coop scrubbed at the same time. I would say the coop is well ventilated but I bring them inside on hot nights in summer when I see their breathing is impacted as they don’t cope well in the heat. They are free range but I do what I can to reduce wild birds in the yard (cleaning up food off ground / using a treadle feeder). And of course, try to reduce stress as much as possible.
As I said, it’s causing a great deal of anxiety. I adore my ladies and it would be devastating to lose them. I’m so stuck though. I can’t find much info on the constant chronic reoccurrences and feel like I’m on my own. The vets are unable to offer any other advice / treatment than antibiotics. I feel like it’s beyond any natural remedies as a preventative and I do keep VetRx on hand for mild symptoms but it doesn’t seem to do much for them.
As I was in the process of getting this post up, Betsy’s breathing has become quite laboured (which I assume is CRD related) but has no other respiratory symptoms. See links to videos below. She’s up and about, doing her chicken things, eating well etc but it’s very noticeable when she’s laying down. She is not open mouth breathing. She has just finished a two week course of doxy (2 weeks ago).
Videos of Betsy
1.
2.
I’ve asked the vets about their breathing before, showed videos and told it wasn’t something to be overly concerned by and the heavy breathing may be because the girls are a bit on the larger side.
I should also mention we are located in Melbourne, Australia. I’ve noticed we don’t have access to some medications / products that are often recommended in international groups.
Any advice or support would be much appreciated. Thank you
There are LOTS of threads/posts about singular episodes of respiratory disease but I’m struggling to find info for ongoing flare ups. And apologies in advance, this is a long post….
I’m finding it incredibly overwhelming and stressful dealing with frequent episodes of CRD. I can’t seem to catch a break. It’s making me so anxious and upset. I just want my girls to feel well and be as healthy as possible. Thankfully their episodes are quite mild. At the most, the symptoms they experience are: rapid/laboured breathing (especially when lying down - at night etc), some sneezing and eye bubbles. They don’t ever seem to be in immediate distress.
We very gratefully have avian vets nearby who have been helping us manage the CRD. Once the CRD diagnosis was established, they have been happy to prescribe antibiotics as needed. Obviously I want to reduce the episodes/flare ups so we aren’t reliant on medication as it will become less effective (and it’s expensive, and the chickens are traumatised by 2x medicating daily - too smart to hide in food now). We have been using doxycycline. One of my girls had a flare up a few weeks ago and their last one previously was in November (only two months in between
)Background info: I'm a first time chicken owner. I have three ladies. They were all adopted from an animal shelter in July 2023. Beaker - Welsummer. Surrendered due to dog attack. Owner unable to afford surgery. Age unknown. We have recently discovered she may have arthritis and suspect she is much older than we thought. Has a suprelorin implant. At least 5yo I think. Betsy and Bertie - mixed breeds (may have some Sussex or Wyandotte in them). Both came from the same place. They were seized by animal control due to welfare issues (hoarding). Maybe 3 years old?
Betsy (3yo?, Sussex type x?) and Beaker (5yo?, Welsummer) are usually the two who get the flare ups most often. The vet suspects they picked up the disease in their previous lives and has noticed the girls each have some scarring from old infections - if I can remember off the top of my head - on the trachea, and Betsy potentially has some on an air sac. Betsy had a really bad flare up in June last year, I think it was triggered by moulting. She stopped eating and was hospitalised for a couple of nights. She had X-rays at the time and the vet noticed some unusual shading. For more info the next step was a CT scan but unfortunately it’s really expensive and as she recovered and wasn’t in distress, I didn’t feel it was something I needed to do urgently, although it would be nice if I could afford it!
I have been trying to minimise risk of flare ups as best I can. Regularly clean their coop - droppings cleaned daily, bedding changed fortnightly ~ use pine shavings (the type without dust) and hemp ~ and coop scrubbed at the same time. I would say the coop is well ventilated but I bring them inside on hot nights in summer when I see their breathing is impacted as they don’t cope well in the heat. They are free range but I do what I can to reduce wild birds in the yard (cleaning up food off ground / using a treadle feeder). And of course, try to reduce stress as much as possible.
As I said, it’s causing a great deal of anxiety. I adore my ladies and it would be devastating to lose them. I’m so stuck though. I can’t find much info on the constant chronic reoccurrences and feel like I’m on my own. The vets are unable to offer any other advice / treatment than antibiotics. I feel like it’s beyond any natural remedies as a preventative and I do keep VetRx on hand for mild symptoms but it doesn’t seem to do much for them.
As I was in the process of getting this post up, Betsy’s breathing has become quite laboured (which I assume is CRD related) but has no other respiratory symptoms. See links to videos below. She’s up and about, doing her chicken things, eating well etc but it’s very noticeable when she’s laying down. She is not open mouth breathing. She has just finished a two week course of doxy (2 weeks ago).
Videos of Betsy
1.
I’ve asked the vets about their breathing before, showed videos and told it wasn’t something to be overly concerned by and the heavy breathing may be because the girls are a bit on the larger side.
I should also mention we are located in Melbourne, Australia. I’ve noticed we don’t have access to some medications / products that are often recommended in international groups.
Any advice or support would be much appreciated. Thank you
