[manian]

ok
we brought some chickens and one cockeral from chelford 2 weeks ago.
last thursday, came home from work and OH said that one looked like she was choking
quick look down her throat- nothing abnormal seen, but she was still gasping.
no runny nose etc, she looked distressed  and I listened to her chest and she soounded chesty Deep in right bases; so contacted our vet and took her down (6pm so just in time!!!)
She also couldn't see anything but we gave her some antibiotics and put her into intensive care unit (AKA kitchen)
Remarkedly she survived and is now called Costa (as in cost a  lot)
Today the cockeral is gurgly- came from a different breeder but same market

any ideas am wondering if they have worms - the ones that live in throat??
Mx

[jaykay]

Could be gapeworm. Personally I'd be worming new chooks onto my patch anyway.

[manian]

would you see the gapeworm in their throat
Mx

[little blue]

gape worm is as it says - they make a gaping action with their necks & open and close the beak.
Sound like Costa, and her fella have a respiratory problem ...
CRD?
Mycoplasmosis?
IB?

:/

[in the hills]

Yes, sounds like a respiratory infection. They can be brought in with new stock or carried by wild birds. I would isolate from any existing stock and they will probably need antibiotics.

Hope it clears up.

[manian]

All isolated and thank goodness kept away from our main flock.

Costa all tucked up in kitchen still
getting antibiotics for the others
Mx

[chrismahon]

Never ever heard of a confirmed case of gapeworm although it has been suggested frequently. Most likely IB or Myco as little Blue says. Both have initially the same symptoms but Myco goes on to get bubbly eyes when sneezing. IB will be the immunisation strain caught from innoculated hybrids which shed the virus and symptoms reappear when stressed (like at an Auction or travelling) and it can travel 1500 metres down wind. Cockerel will have caught it as well, possibly off the immunised hens. Keep them stress free as possible and worm them with Flubenvet anyway as Jaykay suggests, as a worm burden will weaken their resistance to viral infection. Tonic would be good, although we use 0.5mL Cod Liver Oil with multivitamins per Kg bodyweight as a quick pick up.

[manian]

well had antibiotics for 10 days
Costa better but still chesty at times happy and eating-but still in kitchen and garden. she had 7 days antibiotics.

all the rest of the newbies had 5 days antibiotics and the other new warren group became chesty and they had 5/7 worth.
Jim the cockeral seems ok, as do the warrens.
we went away for the day on sat and my SIL fed etc,
let them out on sunday and one of the flavorelles has very sticky eyes!!!!! she isn't drinking or eating, (i'm topping her up and trying to feed her)
today  one of my bluebells (2yrs) free ranger has a sniffly nose and sticky eye, and also one of the bluebell chickens (new) has started....
anything else i should/can do


OH wants to cull them all and has been in a bad mood since they came ill!!!! what a waste, won't be buying at market again!!!

[miniaturesabound]

How sad for you and what a lot of extra work and upset.

There are some informative pages on respiratary diseases in the poultrykeeper.com which might help. At least you could make an informed judgment on whether to cull or not.

I hope you start to see some improvement soon.

[chrismahon]

Sounds like immunisation strain of ILT and if so, like ours, they will be poorly for a week and then recover. ILT comes with a characteristic stench from the nasal discharge and puffy eyes with small discharge. There is a complete loss of appetite because the throat is too raw to eat dry food. Fortunately ours did drink unassisted.

I wouldn't cull at this stage as they should recover. Our cases were spread out with both ILT and IB so the total duration was 3 weeks over 14 hens and a cockerel. They all had 5 days of Synulox -very expensive!