[sunshinemedic]

Hi all,

A bit of a newbie to this site and chicken keeping and would very much appreciate a bit of advice please.

We've got 3 hens; a Clader Ranger (Liz), A White Star (Natascha) and a Cloumbine (Ali) living in The Ritz (their coop) in our back garden. They arrived just over a month ago and have settled in nicely.

Liz, unfortunately has been coughing for a couple of weeks now and I can hear phlegm when she is eating. She seems to be running around ok eating and drinking well but seems to have slipped down the pecking order. Should I just let her be or is it time for the Vet and antibiotics?

Harold

[Jellyhead]

Sounds like she has a respiratory infection and probably needs antibiotics. I get them to put in the water here, or they give my an injection to give them,  but not sure what happens in the uk. Wish her better tho

[Foxy]

sounds like as Jellyhead suspects, that she does have a respiratory infection  by your description sounds like could have involved her air sacs too -really would advise a trip to the vet for antibiotics and would be pragmatic to treat your other birds too.
May be worth contacting your supplier and let them know your bird is poorly, they may be able to advise you what the problem vould be if they have had a recent outbreak of an infection.
Good luck with her!.
Ps:make sure you have disinfected henhouse and the bedding is straw and dust extacted wood shavings I only mention this as hay may exacerbate or cause breathing problems and dust extracted  wood shavings may help too -chooks dont have very sophisticated respiratory systems like us humans so tend to be susceptible to respiratory problems.

[honeysuckle farm]

I would take her to the vet as soon as you can.  It sounds a bit like Mycoplasmas which is basically a chicken cold -  The most common symptom with mycoplasma is show as as an airway infection, coughing, sneezing and blocked nasal passages that cause the chicken to shake its head to try and clear.

Often the chook will have it for a long period and you will not know sometimes called underlying Mycoplasmas.  It normally surfaces after a couple of weeks when the chook is moved to a new home.

The chook will appear to eat and drink normally and appart from the couging and sneezing appear quite healthy (chooks seem good at faking a healthy appearance so they don't become prone to preditors)   but they will often go down hill very quickly (often ain matter of hours once the disease takes hold) If your chook as any discharge from her nasal passage, it is more serious.

I would take the to a vet soon, it is better to treat a slighly ill chicken than a very ill chicken if that makes sense.  You will find that there is very little licenced antibiotics for use in the UK, but most vets with experience of poultry will offer something like Baytrill or something similar.  If they are laying remember to seek advice about the eggs - normally they can not be eating during or after the chook is taking the medicine.

If you can try to isolate the infected bird and throughly clean out the hen house.

Hope the above isn't too scary.  I know how you feel I have had a few sick chooks.  It is better to get to the vets asap, even if it is just for peace of mind.

[sunshinemedic]

Thanks for the replies, all. I'll get Liz to the Vet for some antibiotics ASAP. A bit of a job finding vets that do chickens here.. they only seem to know about cats and dogs??

[sunshinemedic]

Day 3 of antibiotics and the is coughing less now. No phlegm type sounds either. Fingers crossed...

[Jellyhead]

Aaaah good news. So pleased