Hen with severe respiratory issues, sudden onset

[Jakemedic]

Hello! My hen “Chip” is suddenly sick. She is a Barnevelder who just had her year birthday the end of April.

She has a sudden onset of sneezing, coughing, inspiratory and expiratory wheezing. She is cyanotic around her face. The good news is she is not lethargic, eating and drinking. She did vomit x2. My bride said it was clear, no bile.

We have separated her from the flock this evening, providing her with a safe place with food and water. None of our other ladies have any problems yet, that we are aware of.

Here is a short video of her just before we put her into the chicken hospital. Being a retired paramedic, her respirations are not good, she has open beak and cyanosis around her face. Her wheezes are particularly troublesome. If Chip was a human, I’d administer a neb treatment. My bride wants to go to tractor supply and get antibiotics to both Chip and the other 11 birds.

I wanted to get advice. Let me know what you think. I just hope and pray that it isn’t anything super serious and that my other ladies will be okay.

Thanks for your help!

Jake

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Poor Girl!

Can you see if she has anything down her throat? Sounds like she's choking or has aspirated something.

If she spit up on her own that's o.k., but I would not vomit her, you risk aspiration - chickens do not have a gag reflex.

Antibiotics to help with aspiration pneumonia or this particular hen may be something to consider but treating the whole flock prophylactically for (??) would not be the route to take.

Not sure if you will even be able to find an ABX, just depends on where you live. Last year, most were pulled from shelves. A few things can be ordered online, but those are a bit scarce too.

 

[Jakemedic]

I just checked on her before laying down for the evening. She is laying down, resting. Her respiratory rate is still noisy and elevated. I did notice her not being as cyanotic as she was earlier, although I looked at her via flashlight which maybe alternating her color. Thank you, never thought of aspiration and didn’t realize chickens don’t have gag reflexes. I am going to check her crop in the morning to make sure it is emptying. I think, but not sure, she may have even laid an egg today. I feel horrible about her sudden illness. She is such a sweet girl, and I’m sure her sister missed her in the roost this evening. She was even “worming” with my wife earlier tonight when she noticed she was sneezing, which made us decide to quarantine. Her raspy respiratory really concerns me. Thank you for taking the time to respond! “Chip” and I appreciate it!

 

[Jakemedic]

Update this morning: she seems to be a bit “better” this morning. Her breathing is much more normal and her comb and waddle are normal color. Her voice still crackles, but she isn’t needing to stretch her neck and open her beak to exchange air. Her crop emptied over night. She is eating, although I can’t say if she is drinking.

My bride contacted our local feed store who does not sell antibiotics. They said to get in touch with our vet we use for our dogs. She did, and while they don’t care for chickens, they have someone they could call to get antibiotic for her. They didn’t recommend giving the rest of the flock anything unless symptomatic. They will call this afternoon when it is ready. Not sure how it will come. Cross that bridge when we get there. Thanks to @Wyorp Rock for chiming in. I’ll update this thread as appropriate with new information.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Glad to hear she's improving.

She may have been experiencing Stridor, but it's good that your vet was willing to call in some meds just in case.

 

[Jakemedic]

I just checked on her and she appears to be resting comfortably. I don’t hear her breathing hard. I spoke to someone who is knowledgeable about chickens in my area, and his first words was aspiration. Much like @Wyorp Rock suggested. Maybe she aspirated a gnat? Or maybe some other bug?

My wife called the vet and the meds were not in this afternoon. Hopefully tomorrow.

Good news is the rest of the ladies appear to be doing fine, besides missing Chip. They laid 9 eggs today. Needless to say, Chip didn’t lay one. Thanks for checking in.

 

[Jakemedic]

So just got off the phone with the vet. Still no amoxicillin, they are vapor locked on how long to avoid eggs and meat. Meanwhile, my chicken is in quarantine. She seems to be more upset than sick at this point. She still has a hoarseness about her, but isn’t gasping for air nor cyanotic around her crop or comb. She seems to be eating and drinking. Going to make her an egg and see how she does with that. I searched high and low and can’t find antibiotics for chickens locally or online. The vet said that the law changed last year and tightened up antibiotic usage with chickens. I’ll keep my comments regarding that to myself. Don’t want to get blocked for an opinion.

 

[AGeese]

So just got off the phone with the vet. Still no amoxicillin, they are vapor locked on how long to avoid eggs and meat. Meanwhile, my chicken is in quarantine. She seems to be more upset than sick at this point. She still has a hoarseness about her, but isn’t gasping for air nor cyanotic around her crop or comb. She seems to be eating and drinking. Going to make her an egg and see how she does with that. I searched high and low and can’t find antibiotics for chickens locally or online. The vet said that the law changed last year and tightened up antibiotic usage with chickens. I’ll keep my comments regarding that to myself. Don’t want to get blocked for an opinion.

If you need amoxicillin you might try enrofloxacin which you can order here:
https://jedds.com/products/enrofloxacin-10?_pos=1&_sid=ff2b85a61&_ss=r

Someone else here will need to assist with dosage.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

So just got off the phone with the vet. Still no amoxicillin, they are vapor locked on how long to avoid eggs and meat. Meanwhile, my chicken is in quarantine. She seems to be more upset than sick at this point. She still has a hoarseness about her, but isn’t gasping for air nor cyanotic around her crop or comb. She seems to be eating and drinking. Going to make her an egg and see how she does with that. I searched high and low and can’t find antibiotics for chickens locally or online. The vet said that the law changed last year and tightened up antibiotic usage with chickens. I’ll keep my comments regarding that to myself. Don’t want to get blocked for an opinion.

Yes, a lot of abx are not available anymore, there's new regulations...there's also appears to be a severe shortage of Amoxicillin (even for people it seems)...

Sounds like she's coming around o.k. not sure what happened with her. If she's doing o.k., then I'd consider putting her with the flock and see how it goes, you can always pull her back out as needed.

If you need amoxicillin you might try enrofloxacin which you can order here:
https://jedds.com/products/enrofloxacin-10?_pos=1&_sid=ff2b85a61&_ss=r

Someone else here will need to assist with dosage.

If they are vapor locked on amoxicillin, then wait until they research Baytril

 

[Jakemedic]

Thank you for your help! It was indeed very scary. My wife renamed her “Henny” today. I walked out to check on her and my wife was in the back yard with her “worming”. I had made her an egg with cyan pepper and oregano and had brought it out to make sure she ate. Well she ate the night crawlers my wife dug, them proceeded to eat the egg I made for her. She looked so happy to be free of the quarantine cage, was not coughing, nor wheezing. She had good color, and appeared fine.

So my bride and I decided to put her back with her ladies. They had been together since they were literally 2 days old. I picked her up and carried her to the driveway so she could see the coop and run. She seen her lady friends out (we were cleaning the run today) and I put her down and she ran down to a happy welcome, especially from her twin. It was really cool to see. They all squawked and then went dust bathing while we cleaned.

This may sound strange, but the gnats have been horrific this year. I wonder if they didn’t have something to do with her shortness of breath episode. We spent a few more hours out with them and she acted fine and helped spread out the hay when my wife put a bale in the run.

We will keep an eye out for any issues with her or the other girls. I am going to try and order some antibiotics from the site that @AGeese recommended. Just in case. Thanks to @Wyorp Rock for your advice. It was greatly appreciated!