Hen is Coughing, Shaking Her Head & Has Odd Stools

[John Ellison]

CONTEXT
I'm a first time chicken owner. About three weeks ago, we bought a batch of six hens from a reputable poultry farm. We've got three hybrids and three purebreds.

PROBLEM
7–10 days ago, our Rhode Island Red hen started coughing a bit. It seems to get worse in cold weather. See a video of her coughing below:

Right away I did some searching, added apple cider vinegar to their water (plastic dispenser), chopped up some garlic fed it to them each morning for a few days and hoped for the best

The day before yesterday I noticed her stools were really odd compared to the other hens. I have attached photos below. Also, I noticed that when she poops its very watery with a brown sort of liquid that comes out. You can see the wetness beneath her tail feathers in the photo below.

We took these photos and videos to a local farm shop and the lady said she probably has just picked up a cold from the stress of the move. None of the other hens seem to be affected.

CONSIDERATIONS
The chicken is still eating and drinking water. She's mostly herself but when we first got her she was very vocal: making lots of noise every time we entered the coop and having lots of energy. She seemed to be the leader of the lot.

Now every time she tries to sqwuak she ends up coughing and just this morning her coughing started getting worse—becoming raspy and almost sounding like she's crying out for help when she coughs.

The lady at the farm store sold us some Verm-X and I gave it to the hens in the right proportions for the last three days in a row as a worm preventative.

QUESTION
What do I do? Do I need to take her to a vet? Is this a cold? A respiratory infection? Worms? What's going on here and how can I help get this chicken back to health?

 

[Abriana]

@KikisGirls knows a lot about worms, and for respiratory issues, give her some VetRx. It will come with instructions on how to use it. You can buy it on a website called Jeffers, or at Southern States.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Hi @John Ellison Welcome To BYC

If you have a vet that can perform some testing of worms and a gram stain that would be a good idea.

Do you notice any mucous from the nostrils or watery/bubbly eyes?

It sounds like she is sneezing in the video. Chickens don't get colds, they get respiratory diseases. Infectious Bronchitis, Mycoplasma, ILT and Coryza are some of the most common. Dry dusty bedding/feed and molds can also cause respiratory distress.

Antibiotics can help with any secondary infections, but won't cure respiratory disease. You can try something like injectable Tylan50 if her symptoms worsen. Dosage is 1cc or ml per 5lbs of weight, given 2x a day. This can be administered by injection in the breast muscle 1/4" deep alternating sides or given orally.

Provide her with poultry vitamins in her water and see that she is eating well.

 

[John Ellison]

Thanks @Abriana and @Wyorp Rock for the help and the warm welcome. I will see if I can get her to a vet today. I haven't noticed any mucous from the nostrils and her eyes seem okay.

I've kept their coops very clean and have used high quality bedding and feed, all fresh...

I will see if I can get some poultry vitamins as well. Thank you very much for the help and the input. Your advice is much appreciated!

 

[John Ellison]

Just a quick update for those of you that helped out with this. I did some further research after hearing your input and decided to buy a product here in the UK called Respite (for respiratory illnesses).

My understanding is its the UK version of VetRx with some added stuff specifically for respiratory issues.

She's much better today, making healthy and happy noises like she used to and is now only sneezing a little bit every now and then. Not often like she did before.

She does still have diarrhea which worries me a bit but it seems like her general trajectory is improving...

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I'm glad to hear she is improving

You may want to see if you vet will perform a fecal float on fresh poop samples to rule out worms as the cause of her loose stool.