Gasping for air, wheezing and cant swallow

[Lidigirl12003]

I had been dealing with my 3 year old Polish hen for three weeks, open mouth breathing, wheezing, trouble swallowing, mucus...but she had seemed otherwise ok... She had wanted to eat, was still laying an egg even though she had been inside the garage while we tried everything to help her. We continued to take her outside to have time in backyard as all the coops free range in the fields and she deeply missed the gang. I poured threw every post on here trying everything. Of course everything I read is upper respiratory. We did a week of amoxicillin and steroids, while running vaporizer and tried all my homeopathic and herbal respt. tricks and she worsened. We did ivermectin on the neck in case it was air sack mites. We did safeguard for gapeworm too. We switched meds to tiaguard for a week and still she worsened. My husband said we are at the three week point, time to let her go as she had gotten so week and could not eat or drink. I used droppers and spent every other hour doing medicated water and egg and smashed applesauce. My last effort I came on here again reading posts for hours....what could it be? I finally saw a small thread about Canker so immediately I opened her mouth and saw it was everywhere in her mouth and I assume stomach and esophagus. Yellow cheese like growths. Thank heaven I had pigeon meds for every ailment just in case and had bought 250 Metronidazole for sour crop to have on hand. It was also the treatment for Canker. It has taken five days to see any improvement, longer than I had hoped. She was totally dependent on the dropper for food and water all week. I literally thought she would be dead every morning. How she made it, I don't know. I realize everyone says she may be a carrier and I haven't had time to address the concern as one of our roosters just broke his leg ugg (he is healing fine, but two birds needing alot of care has taken all my attention for the moment.)
I felt I wanted to share my story to offer what we went through so maybe it could be of assistance. Today marks 4 weeks since this started and it has been a round the clock, draining event....something we never experienced. I now know gasping, wheezing, mucus and open mouth breathing doesn't always mean Upper Respiratory! I am totally guilt filled as I was totally ignorant about canker and trichomoniasis.
Lucy is now running around the backyard eating everything and anything...she was always a little piggy. Thank you to this site and everyone sharing experiences, I believe that post saved Lucy's life.

 

[alinas2010]

I had been dealing with my 3 year old Polish hen for three weeks, open mouth breathing, wheezing, trouble swallowing, mucus...but she had seemed otherwise ok... She had wanted to eat, was still laying an egg even though she had been inside the garage while we tried everything to help her. We continued to take her outside to have time in backyard as all the coops free range in the fields and she deeply missed the gang. I poured threw every post on here trying everything. Of course everything I read is upper respiratory. We did a week of amoxicillin and steroids, while running vaporizer and tried all my homeopathic and herbal respt. tricks and she worsened. We did ivermectin on the neck in case it was air sack mites. We did safeguard for gapeworm too. We switched meds to tiaguard for a week and still she worsened. My husband said we are at the three week point, time to let her go as she had gotten so week and could not eat or drink. I used droppers and spent every other hour doing medicated water and egg and smashed applesauce. My last effort I came on here again reading posts for hours....what could it be? I finally saw a small thread about Canker so immediately I opened her mouth and saw it was everywhere in her mouth and I assume stomach and esophagus. Yellow cheese like growths. Thank heaven I had pigeon meds for every ailment just in case and had bought 250 Metronidazole for sour crop to have on hand. It was also the treatment for Canker. It has taken five days to see any improvement, longer than I had hoped. She was totally dependent on the dropper for food and water all week. I literally thought she would be dead every morning. How she made it, I don't know. I realize everyone says she may be a carrier and I haven't had time to address the concern as one of our roosters just broke his leg ugg (he is healing fine, but two birds needing alot of care has taken all my attention for the moment.)
I felt I wanted to share my story to offer what we went through so maybe it could be of assistance. Today marks 4 weeks since this started and it has been a round the clock, draining event....something we never experienced. I now know gasping, wheezing, mucus and open mouth breathing doesn't always mean Upper Respiratory! I am totally guilt filled as I was totally ignorant about canker and trichomoniasis.
Lucy is now running around the backyard eating everything and anything...she was always a little piggy. Thank you to this site and everyone sharing experiences, I believe that post saved Lucy's life.

Thank you for sharing. First reading your post I was saddened to hear Lucy’s story and certain URI, also. Then when you said Trich it made sense! I will be sure to suggest that anytime someone else comes on with URI symptoms saying nothing else has worked. Great job helping her pull through. I hope your rooster gets well, also. Curious, does anyone else in your flock have canker symptoms or lesions?

 

[Eggcessive]

Thank you for posting about your experience, and thankful that you had the meds to treat canker. You may want to disinfect all of your waterers and feeders. Acidified copper sulfate is good for preventing canker spread to other chickens at a dosage of 1/4 tsp per gallon of water for 3 days each month. It also can be used longer to treat canker that won’t respond to anti-protozoal drugs. Be sure to only use it in a non-metal waterer. Here is where to find it:
https://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/acidified_copper_sulfate.html