Diseases spare no one; any animal can get sick and die if you don’t pay attention to the obvious symptoms in time and don’t provide the right help. Domestic chickens very often die because the owners did not pay attention to certain signs and did not help cure the disease. For example, diarrhea in chickens is a phenomenon that is quite difficult to immediately notice. Therefore, household utensils should be treated carefully. This article will discuss the most common diseases of chickens, their symptoms and suggest treatment options.

Main diseases of laying hens

It is necessary for everyone who breeds chickens or keeps them to obtain eggs to know about possible diseases of chickens. The main cause of the disease is improper maintenance or nutrition of chickens.

Infectious diseases

Colibacillosis

This is a disease not only of adult laying hens, but also of young animals. Main symptoms: lethargy, thirst and fever. The infection affects the respiratory tract, so when you pick up the chicken, you will clearly hear wheezing. And as you move, they will only intensify. Characteristic wheezing is clearly visible in young chickens, but in old chickens this cannot always be observed. Here you will need the help of a specialist.

If the diagnosis is established, then it is necessary to immediately proceed to treatment. To do this, it is enough to give penicillin. As veterinarians note, small an overdose of this medicine promotes the development of immunity to the disease.

Pasteurellosis

This disease takes the lives of chickens at 2-3 months. But most of all, adult birds die from it. Symptoms of the disease: lethargy, fever, thirst, the chicken practically does not move, and mucous fluid flows from the nasal openings, diarrhea, the chicken constantly ruffles and raises its feathers. The comb and earrings of such a chicken will darken and acquire a bluish tint. If this infection is not treated immediately, the mortality of the entire livestock is guaranteed.

This infection is treatable only in the first stage. They are given tetracycline 1-2% aqueous solution. Some veterinarians recommend using norsulfazole solution. These drugs are added to the feed 0.5 g at a time.

Salmonellosis

This disease manifests itself to a greater extent in young chickens, but there are cases of infection in adults as well. Characteristic symptoms include: lameness in one leg, conjunctevitis, increased tearing, and breathing problems. When it is no longer possible to save the bird, it simply falls on its side or back and dies. Leg diseases in chickens are not uncommon, so you need to monitor them very carefully.

If this happens to you, then immediately begin treating the remaining chickens. Them antibiotics can be given chloramphenicol, chlortetracycline or sulfonamide. Small doses of drugs are added to the feed and given to chickens for at least 10 days.

Newcastle disease

This disease does not choose between young or old birds. The disease progresses very quickly, most often the bird is simply declared dead. A sick bird constantly sleeps, does not eat anything and has a fever; fluid will come out of its beak, which will smell bad. The chicken has difficulty breathing, because its mouth is full of this mucus, and its beak is constantly open. The breathing of this bird is accompanied by croaking sounds. Just before death, the bird's comb and earrings turn blue.

Until now, veterinarians have not developed methods for treating this disease. Their only advice is to destroy all existing poultry populations. But if you take a chance and the chicken survives, then she will get immunity, but the offspring will be constantly susceptible to this disease.

Smallpox

This disease mainly affects young chickens. Specific growths called pockmarks appear on the skin of the bird. More often they are focused on the head or cloaca and if treatment is not started in a timely manner, the growths increase and unite with each other. At the first stages, the new growths are yellow, but over time they become dark brown.

After a few weeks, these pockmarks begin to bleed, harden, and fall off. Further, such formations appear in the animal’s mouth, the bird stops eating, and has difficulty breathing.

In order to avoid hardening of pockmarks, it is necessary treat the affected areas with any fat or glycerin. If you noticed in the later stages and the disease has affected the oral cavity, then you need to pour a small amount of 1% iodine into the beak. You can wash it with chamomile decoction. Such a bird must constantly have access to water.

This disease occurs in 70% of adult birds. Main symptoms: lethargy, decreased or complete lack of appetite. The chicken drinks a lot of water.

This infection is treated only with antibiotics, they are diluted with water and administered intramuscularly.

Tuberculosis

This infectious disease affects not only people, but also chickens. Not only the lungs are affected, but also all internal organs. The cause of the disease is unsanitary conditions in the chicken coop. The main symptoms of the disease are: severe thinness, pallor of the comb and earrings. This disease cannot be treated. Infected chickens must be destroyed, and clean and disinfect everything in the chicken coop.

Non-communicable diseases

Goiter atony

This disease is unique to laying hens. It is caused by unbalanced or untimely nutrition. If owners feed chickens with low quality ingredients, then they can accumulate in the crop and form an obstruction. It is easy to determine this disease; just try to touch the chicken’s crop; if it is hard and sagging for a long time, then the chicken is sick. The death of the chicken occurs suddenly and instantly, the goiter blocks the respiratory tract and the jugular vein.

It is not difficult to treat this disease. It is enough to drop a few milliliters of vegetable oil into the goiter through a probe. Further, a light massage of the hardened goiter is performed and turn the chicken upside down, slowly removing all the contents. Veterinarians recommend pouring a solution of potassium permanganate into the goiter after this procedure.

Gastroenteritis

A chicken can get sick at any age. Due to poor nutrition, problems with the digestive tract begin, diarrhea and weakness appear.

Considering that these symptoms may be the cause of an infectious disease, it is better to invite a veterinarian for examination. If the diagnosis is confirmed, then it is enough to feed the chicken a balanced diet for several days.

Cloacite

The cause of the disease is also poor nutrition or violations of chicken keeping standards. But here the cloaca becomes inflamed. There have been cases where the cause of the disease may be problems with egg release.

Treatment involves washing the cloaca with manganese, preliminary cleaning of pus, and then lubricating the area with petroleum jelly, anesthesin and terramycin. To avoid this disease, experts recommend introducing natural greens into the food, carrots or root vegetables.

Keratoconjunctivitis

This disease affects chickens that are kept in barns where manure is poorly or rarely cleaned. From fresh litter ammonia vapors are released into the air, which cause inflammation of the eyes and bronchial tract. The main symptoms are: watery eyes, dirty and wet feathers, and yellow masses may collect on the eyelids.

For treatment, it is necessary to clean the barn well from chicken droppings and ventilate it well. Rinse your eyes with chamomile decoction.

Avitaminosis

This disease is more common in laying hens that are kept in cages. They do not eat natural food, only mixtures. Conjunctevitis, minimal body weight, weakness, and feather loss may be observed.

For treatment, it is necessary to balance the diet and introduce natural herbs into the diet.

Sharp objects in the stomach

A chicken is an unpredictable bird, especially if it is given free will. Chickens peck at any objects. Therefore, very often the cause of death is the presence of a sharp object in the stomach, which ruptures it.

The same can happen with a goiter; rough parts of grass and small bones can form a blockage in the goiter, which will lead to death.

The chicken can't lay an egg

Such situations often occur in young laying hens. She begins to scurry around the chicken coop, her crest turning bright red. It is necessary to help such a chicken or she will die. It is enough to do the following:

• heat a bucket of hot water and hold it over the steam for about half an hour, then lubricate the passage with Vaseline;
• if the chicken egg is too large and gets stuck in the cloaca when laid, then it can be pierced with a syringe, draw out the liquid and, pressing the shell a little, carefully remove it from the passage;
• If the egg begins to come out across, then the chicken is laid on its back and any oil or Vaseline is injected using a syringe, and then the egg is gently pushed out.

Eggs without shell

Carbon tetrachloride is used for treatment at a rate of 5 mg per animal.

Inflammation of the ovaries

The cause of the disease is a blow or a sharp fall from a height. The yolks that have started inside may develop and begin to rot. Obvious signs will be irregularly shaped eggs, two yolks in one shell, and a thin shell. Such a bird dies very often.

Frostbite of the extremities

In winter, during severe frosts, ridges often chicken legs get frostbitten and these parts subsequently die off. At the first symptoms of frostbite on the chicken’s legs, it is necessary to rub these areas with snow and lubricate them with iodine.

This disease is treated with the drug Flubenvet. 3g is enough. per 1 kilogram of feed. The course of treatment is 7 days. If diarrhea does not go away, you should immediately consult a specialist.

In order to get rid of them, It is necessary to regularly treat the chicken coop chlorophos solutions and karbofos emulsion. During processing, chickens should not be indoors and after - about 2-3 hours.

Be sure to change the perches and straw in the areas where they lay eggs.

Fight against feather eaters

This disease affects a large number of adult birds. If you do not provide timely assistance, the disease will only progress. Symptoms: difficulty breathing, white-yellow spots on the ridge. This disease cannot be treated. Such birds are killed.

Aspergillosis

This is a disease of the respiratory system. Symptoms: the bird sneezes, its beak turns blue. Treatment is only with copper sulfate, which is introduced into the diet.

Preventive measures to prevent disease

If you do not want to lose your bird, then periodically perform the following preventive measures:

• do not combine young and adult birds, this can cause the death of both;
• if the bird is sick, immediately move it to a separate room;
• if the chicken cannot be treated, it must be destroyed and burned;
• Be sure to treat the chicken coop with disinfectants at least once a month.

Provide your chickens with proper care and a balanced diet and most of the above diseases will not bother your bird. Diseases of chickens and their treatment are the most important topics for those who breed these birds.

Sometimes farmers notice wheezing breathing in chickens. This is the same pathology as in humans. More often this is a sign of a disease.

Timely treatment will help prevent death.

• In case of colds and bronchial diseases, it is necessary to check the housing conditions once again: the house must be dry, without drafts and heated evenly over the entire area.
• Overcrowding of birds beyond the housing standards is unacceptable.
• The water should be fresh, and the diet should contain the necessary microelements and vitamins.
• When it gets colder and the risk of colds increases, young animals should be given a nettle decoction to drink - this is an effective folk method.
• It is recommended to treat the chicken coop with smoke bombs.
• A sick bird must be immediately removed from the flock; it must be locked in a separate enclosure and the chicken coop must be disinfected with iodine- and chlorine-containing preparations.
• You need to immediately start strengthening the bird’s immunity by adding vitamins and microelements to the drinking water.

• When chickens sneeze, powder their nose with streptocide. Do not forget that there may be harmless explanations for a sneeze: bedding made of small shavings, which, when it gets into the nose, causes irritation, or the bird may simply be choking, or snoring in its sleep.
• If the symptoms are limited only to the respiratory system, bronchodilators will help: mucaltin, licorice root, broncholithin.
• You can crush one quarter of a ciprofloxacin tablet, shake it in water and pour it down your throat. Effective for throat diseases lysobact.

Wheezing and coughing are signs of many diseases that are not easy for a farmer to identify: it could be a virus, infection, and even tuberculosis or worms.

If the disease is unclear, the sick animal is taken to a veterinarian, who conducts laboratory tests to determine the pathogen and recommends what to do next. Examination of fresh chicken corpses helps in diagnosis.

Treatment with antibiotics

When treating colds and bronchial diseases, antibiotics are indispensable. Antibiotics should be started immediately if the following signs appear in chickens:

• eyes are red;
• wheezing, sneezing and coughing appeared;
• white discharge began to appear from the beak;
• gurgling sounds are heard when breathing;
• the bird became inactive and lost interest in food.

• The duration of antibiotic therapy is 5 days. Baytril, streptomycin, erythromycin, oxytetracycline, spiramycin and lincomycin are mainly used.
• Mycoplasmosis is perfectly treated with Tiamulin, and to restore reproductive abilities, Typosin is used.
• If only one bird in a flock gets sick, the entire flock is treated. When adding antibacterial drugs to feed for treating livestock, add 200 g of the drug per ton of feed.
• Sick chickens are subjected to intensive antibiotic therapy, for which the drug is diluted with water according to the instructions and instilled from a pipette into the beak.
• The use of antibiotics also depends on the breed of chickens. For example, broiler chickens are given the broad-spectrum antibiotic Enrofloxacin or Baytril (for prevention) from the third day of life, simply by adding it to the water. Even if one chicken from the flock gets sick, all birds are treated with antibiotics. After antibiotic therapy, you should not eat poultry meat or eggs for two weeks.

Cold

Colds are the most common in chickens. The main cause of the disease: violation of living conditions, hypothermia, drafts. The following symptoms indicate the development of a cold:

• the chicken has heavy breathing;
• she breathes with her mouth open;
• chickens sneeze and may wheeze;
• snot appears from the nose, a runny nose begins;
• coughing begins.

Colds should be treated as early as possible. Otherwise, it may be aggravated by serious bronchial complications.

Laryngotracheitis

Infectious laryngotracheitis is a respiratory disease characterized by inflammation of the mucous membranes of the trachea, nasal cavity, conjunctiva and accompanied by heavy breathing, wheezing, and cough. The incubation period lasts from a couple of days to a month.

The first symptoms may appear within 3-7 days. In the acute course of the disease, individual individuals are first infected, and after a week the entire chicken coop is infected. A sick chicken has:

• lethargy and general depression;
• loss of appetite;
• inactivity;
• the presence of whistling and croaking sounds in the larynx;
• breathing through an open beak;
• the bird may begin to cough up blood;
• due to swelling of the larynx, the bird may experience attacks of suffocation or the bird shakes its head, when it begins to choke, its neck stretches;
• the rooster loses its voice;
• Your head may begin to swell.

If chickens are not treated, they begin to go blind. Mortality in the acute form of laryngotracheitis reaches 60%.

Infectious bronchitis

Infectious bronchitis is a new disease that can cause the death of entire livestock. It can easily be confused with a cold, but if treatment does not result in recovery, then infectious bronchitis should be suspected.

The causative agent of the disease is coronavirus, persistent in the environment, which can survive on bird feathers for several weeks, and on eggs it can survive up to 10 days. Chickens under 30 days of age are most susceptible to pathology.

The source of infection is not only sick chickens, but also those who have recovered from the disease and are carriers for more than three months. The spreader of the infection can be the person working in the poultry house, and even the equipment.

Contribute to the spread of the virus: bedding and general drinking bowls contaminated with the secretions of a sick bird.

The symptoms of the disease are as follows:

• chickens wheeze: the nasopharynx fills with mucus, a whistling sound is heard when inhaling;
• begin to sneeze;
• the chicks begin to stretch their necks to inhale;
• conjunctivitis develops;
• then cough.

In older chickens, disorders occur in the reproductive system. In this age group the following phenomena can be noted:

• the formation of the egg is disrupted (the shell becomes discolored, becomes thinner and softens, growths and bumps appear on it);
• egg laying deteriorates. When a laying hen walks, it lowers its wings and drags its feet.

Only three days are enough for the infection to spread. The virus is airborne and is active within a kilometer radius. Sick chickens die in 35%.

Bronchopneumonia

More often, bronchopneumonia is the result of an untreated cold. Bronchopneumonia is a dangerous complex disease that causes the death of birds.

Causes of the disease:

• staphylococcal or pneumococcal infections of the upper respiratory tract, gradually spreading to the underlying segments;
• adverse effects of dampness or drafts;
• complication of bronchitis.

More often 2- and 3-week-old young animals suffer from bronchopneumonia.

Main symptoms:

• the sick chicken's breathing becomes heavy, she breathes with an open beak;
• moist rales are heard;
• chickens begin to sneeze, cough and runny nose appear;
• sick chickens become lethargic, inactive, and cannot eat or drink;
• They sit separately, disheveled.

Already on the second day, livestock mortality may begin.

Mycoplasmosis

Mycoplasmosis is an infectious disease that affects chickens and is the result of excessive dampness in the poultry house and poor ventilation.

Microorganisms Mycoplasma gallisepticum and Mycoplasma synoviae affect the respiratory organs and eyes. Typically, the disease affects young animals with weakened immune systems.

The disease is transmitted:

• from mother to offspring;
• through water in drinking bowls;
• by air.

Chickens become infected extremely quickly due to the fact that the latent period of the disease can reach three weeks. If hens and chickens sneeze, in order to preserve the livestock, it is necessary to immediately isolate the sick.

The pathogen enters the mucous membranes, depresses the respiratory and reproductive organs, and affects the immune system. Young animals are most susceptible to death as a result of this disease.

The virus can even infect an egg, so infected eggs and eggs from a sick mother should be destroyed immediately. A particular danger of mycoplasmosis is that any other bird can become infected from chickens: ducks, turkeys.

Colibacillosis

Colibacillosis often affects young animals under 2 weeks of age. The duration of the incubation period is 3 days. In the acute form, the bird’s body temperature rises by one and a half to two degrees, thirst appears, the sick bird loses appetite, then loses weight and becomes weaker. At first she suffers from constipation, after a while diarrhea begins. Death is inevitable from intoxication and resulting sepsis. If treatment is ineffective, the acute form quickly becomes chronic.

Symptoms increase gradually. Vivid signs of the disease are:

• diarrhea;
• change in appearance - the bird sits disheveled and with dirty feathers;
• strong thirst;
• due to lack of appetite, the individual loses weight;
• after a couple of weeks shortness of breath and cough appear;
• chickens wheeze heavily and sneeze frequently;
• a squealing and crunching sound is heard in the sternum;
• the bird turns its head unnaturally.

Even if a sick chicken was cured, its development stops.

Aspergellosis

Aspergellosis is caused by the fungus Aspergillus, which attacks the respiratory system. Aspergella is transmitted through feed grains: excessive dampness promotes its proliferation.

Symptoms:

• dyspnea;
• heavy breathing with dry wheezing;
• the birds always look tired and sleepy.

In the acute course of the disease, mortality reaches 80%. Regular checking of feed grain, treating the grain storage area with antifungal agents, regular cleaning of the chicken coop and replacing the bedding will help avoid an outbreak.

Aspergellosis is treated with antifungal medications and adding copper sulfate to water and food for several days.

General symptoms

Many diseases in birds begin with wheezing.

• The breathing of a sick bird is very different from that of a healthy bird: whistling and squealing can be heard. Mucus accumulates in the bird's respiratory tract, causing uncharacteristic sounds when breathing.

These first signs indicate the onset of colds, bronchial or other diseases.

As soon as a chicken begins to wheeze or sneeze, it must immediately be isolated from the livestock and the cause of the disease must be determined in order to prescribe effective treatment. Otherwise, one bird can infect everyone in the coop.

Unfortunately, when your pets in the chicken coop start to get sick, this is fraught with considerable losses and a fairly spoiled mood. No farmer is immune from sudden diseases and epidemics, no matter how carefully you monitor the health of your chickens. A separate category of bird diseases includes wheezing and difficulty breathing in chickens, which, unfortunately, occurs quite often. What to do and how to treat: chickens wheeze, cough or sneeze - read our article!

Causes of wheezing

Wheezing is a sound that is not typical for the breathing of a healthy bird, but occurs as a result of a number of diseases. Very often, wheezing, coughing, sneezing, difficulty breathing, whistling, and squealing are the result of bronchial or cold diseases. Therefore, wheezing is an important symptom that should never be ignored. So that you can understand why your chickens are wheezing or coughing, what diseases cause the bird to breathe through its mouth, with difficulty, heavily or intermittently, and what to do in such cases, we will describe the symptoms of possible diseases below.

Colds

Very often, wheezing indicates the presence of colds in chickens; this is the most harmless and harmless thing that can happen to your birds. A cold is a disease of chickens caused by hypothermia of the bird's body. When you have a cold, inflammation of the upper respiratory tract occurs, the mucous membranes become swollen and inflamed, making breathing difficult. The bird may begin to breathe through its mouth, and mucous discharge may appear that resembles a runny nose. If the cold is not treated, chickens may begin to sneeze and develop a cough.

In principle, if you do nothing about a cold, your chickens will not die, but for fear of complications of this disease, it is strongly recommended to treat it. First of all, before making a diagnosis on your own or with the help of a veterinarian, a bird with wheezing or coughing should be removed so that it does not infect its co-workers.

Infectious bronchitis

It is an acute infectious disease. Characteristic signs are tracheal wheezing, sneezing, difficulty breathing, mucous discharge from the nasopharynx, and chickens cough. Sometimes the disease affects the kidneys and greatly affects the egg production of chickens, causing it to decrease. Infection in the lungs of small chickens in most cases leads to their death. The incubation period of the disease is 18-36 hours, it is usually spread through the air, and it is believed that the virus can travel a distance of more than 1 km. In a more severe form, the disease occurs in chickens; in adult chickens, it often causes inflammation of the oviduct and a drop in productivity, and requires urgent treatment.

Bronchopneumonia

Bronchopneumonia, or otherwise pneumonia, is a serious and dangerous disease. As a rule, young individuals aged 15-20 days are affected by it; it is rare in adult livestock. Your young animals are at risk if they were exposed to hypothermia, were exposed to unfavorable climatic conditions (rain, snow, wind, draft), and then were placed in improper housing conditions. With bronchopneumonia, the bronchi are first affected, and then the lung tissue and pleura (the film that lines the inner surface of the lungs); due to irritation of the respiratory tract, chickens cough.

In addition to the fact that a sick bird breathes rapidly, moist wheezing is observed, rhinitis, coughing, sneezing, decreased activity, and loss of appetite may appear. If the lung tissue is also affected, then the birds simply sit ruffled, often unable to do anything and breathe very heavily, usually through their mouths. If this disease is not treated, then within 2-3 days the young animals may begin to die. Not only the above symptoms help to diagnose bronchopneumonia, but also an analysis of the conditions of detention.

Mycoplasmosis

Mycoplasmosis is an infectious disease that occurs in many species of farm birds and animals, manifesting itself in the form of acute and chronic damage to the respiratory system. The disease is transmitted transovarially, that is, from an infected mother to her offspring, as well as through water or by airborne droplets during sneezing or coughing. Mycoplasmosis spreads quite quickly from sick individuals to healthy ones, and a duck with mycoplasmosis can infect a chicken, turkey chicken, and so on. Therefore, it is important to diagnose this disease as quickly as possible and isolate individuals affected by mycoplasma.

The causative agent of mycoplasmosis easily penetrates the mucous membranes of the bird, affecting not only the respiratory system, but also the reproductive system, as well as the organs of the immune system, which causes general depletion of the bird’s body. Young chickens are especially susceptible to mycoplasmosis, which is sometimes affected while still in the egg from a sick mother chicken. Therefore, it is extremely important to prevent contaminated eggs from entering your incubator. Mycoplasmosis is characterized by coughing, wheezing, sneezing, the bird breathes through its mouth, and the mucous membranes of the respiratory tract are severely inflamed. Significant amounts of exudate can accumulate in the nasal sinus.

Sometimes the affected bird experiences diarrhea, which leads to weakness and general deterioration of the condition. The course of mycoplasmosis has 4 stages. At the first stage of the disease - latent, which lasts from 12 to 21 days, symptoms do not appear and it is impossible to externally distinguish an infected chicken from a healthy one. At the second stage, 5-10% of birds infected with mycoplasmosis exhibit certain symptoms, for example, chickens cough. Further, at the third stage, the organism affected by mycoplasma actively secretes antibodies, and at the fourth stage it becomes a carrier of mycoplasmosis.

Many farmers assessing the condition and health of their livestock rely on the rooster. They are the first to begin to suffer from wheezing, coughing or runny nose, which makes it possible to quickly respond to the occurrence of a disease. Only a veterinarian can diagnose mycoplasmosis by examining the culture of exudates. A modern method, the polymerase chain reaction, also helps to quickly make a correct diagnosis.

Colibacillosis

Colibacillosis is an acute disease characteristic of young animals aged 3-14 days. There are acute and chronic forms of the disease. The incubation period for the acute form is short and lasts, as a rule, from several hours to 2-3 days. At the same time, body temperature rises by 1.5-2 degrees, thirst increases and appetite disappears. Defecation, slow at first, intensifies in the end and the bird dies from sepsis and intoxication.

The chronic form of the disease is usually a continuation of the acute form. If the infected chicken received timely help and managed to avoid death, then at first it may seem healthy. However, there is a risk of reinfection after a few days. Symptoms will appear gradually, with increasing severity. The first signs are diarrhea, thirst, lack of appetite, and decreased activity. The appearance of the young deteriorates, the feathers become dirty and disheveled, and weight is quickly lost.

Approximately on the 15-20th day of the disease, attacks of suffocation and shortness of breath appear, the bird’s breathing is greatly complicated, and it coughs. We can say that she is breathing intermittently, and at the same time, in addition to wheezing, crunching and squealing is sometimes heard in the sternum, as if it is very difficult for the bird to take every breath. Sometimes attacks of paralysis, convulsions are possible, the chicken's head turns unnaturally. It is not uncommon for chickens to die after such attacks. If the bird can be cured, it will develop poorly in the future and lag behind its relatives in growth.

When diagnosing and treating this dangerous disease, diseases such as pullorosis, pasteurellosis, and toxic dyspepsia should be excluded. Also keep in mind that colibacillosis is typical exclusively for young animals at an early age. Wheezing, coughing and difficulty breathing here are symptoms of a chronic form of the disease.

Treatment methods

When diagnosing any disease, it is very important to make the diagnosis on time and provide proper treatment, without waiting until the birds begin to die. For the diseases discussed today, the symptoms of which are wheezing and all sorts of difficulty breathing, treatment methods may vary. For example, if your chickens have colds, sneezing and coughing, we recommend treating them as follows.

• Additionally, insulate their habitat, provide protection from drafts and dampness, and do not allow the temperature in the chicken coop to drop below 15C.
• Instead of water, pour nettle decoction into the drinking bowl.
• You can do inhalations with special medications or essential oils; if you need to treat a large population, special smoke bombs are used.

If infectious bronchitis is detected, disinfectants such as aluminum iodide, chloroturpentine, Lugol's solution or glutex in the form of aerosol sprays are used. What to do if you find out that your birds are suffering from bronchopneumonia? It is also necessary to pay attention to the conditions of their detention. After all, the cause of this unpleasant disease lies in hypothermia. But these are all preventive measures; if the disease has already struck, antibiotic therapy must be carried out.

Treatment with antibiotics

In case of mycoplasma infection, antibiotics such as streptomycin, chlortetracycline, oxytetracycline, spiramycin, erythromycin, thiomycin and lincomycin are used. The dosage of the drugs is 200 g per 1 ton of feed, the treatment period is 5 days. Tiamulin is used to treat mycoplasmosis in young animals, and the drug typozin is used to restore egg production in sick laying hens. With its help, you can give injections at a dosage of 3-5 mg per 1 kg of live weight.

Antibiotic treatment is also carried out for colibacillosis. The drugs that are used for this diagnosis are biomycin, syntomycin and terramycin. The course of treatment should be at least 5 days; if necessary, repeated treatment with these drugs can be done. Remember that meat or eggs from chickens treated with antibiotics are not suitable for human consumption for at least two weeks. If you notice wheezing and coughing in a specific individual in the chicken coop, the first thing to do is to separate the “suspect” from the other chickens or chickens.

Conditionally healthy livestock must be closely monitored. Try to improve the maintenance and diet of the remaining chickens, increase the amount of vitamins and minerals in their menu. It would be a good idea to disinfect the chicken coop, especially if the chickens are dying en masse, in which case you are already dealing with an epidemic.

Video “What hoarse sounds a chicken can make”

We invite you to see, and most importantly listen, what uncharacteristic sounds a chicken can make when breathing when it is sick.

Among domestic large and small poultry farms, the lion's share belongs to farms and private farmsteads where chickens are bred and raised. Seasonal growth of meat and good productivity of egg-bearing breeds are what can be attributed to the asset of this direction. The liability is susceptibility to many diseases, among which the leading ones are colds and infectious diseases of the respiratory system. The diseases have different etiologies, but are manifested by common symptoms: heavy breathing, wheezing, sneezing, coughing. An accurate diagnosis is necessary for proper treatment. And if on large farms there is a staff position of a veterinarian, then with a small number of livestock, frequent requests for help from a specialist can bring the farm to the brink of bankruptcy. But even theoretical knowledge of the main signs and symptoms of common diseases among chickens will help a novice poultry farmer avoid serious problems.

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  Diseases with symptoms of respiratory damage

  If the owner of the farm finds that the chickens are wheezing and coughing, this may be the result of a common cold after hypothermia, but there is also reason to suspect that the symptoms are caused by a dangerous infection that threatens the well-being of the entire flock. It could be:

  • respiratory mycoplasmosis;
  • infectious bronchitis;
  • bronchopneumonia;
  • hemophilosis;
  • laryngotracheitis;
  • bird flu.

  This is the list of diseases, the symptoms of which include difficulty breathing, sneezing, coughing, and discharge of a viscous mucous mass from the nose (runny nose). It is not only possible, but also necessary to distinguish them by other accompanying symptoms. Timely diagnosis will help determine treatment and other measures for the sick bird.

  

  Respiratory mycoplasmosis

  The causative agent of the disease is a microorganism that occupies an intermediate position between a virus and a bacterium. Spread through infected birds:

  • by airborne droplets;
  • common drinking bowls and feeders;
  • droppings and litter;
  • equipment for cleaning premises and walking areas.

  It can remain latent in the host’s body for a long time (from several days to a month). Outbreaks of the disease are observed after or during prolonged stressful situations:

  • temperature violation;
  • poor quality nutrition with a lack of vitamins and minerals;
  • weakening of the bird’s body associated with other diseases;
  • decreased immunity.

  Most often, young animals are affected, at the age of 2-4 months. The bird loses its appetite. Purulent discharge appears from the nasal openings. The chicken opens its beak when it breathes, sneezes, shakes its head and stretches its neck. The reaction to external stimuli decreases sharply. Fatal outcome due to general intoxication ranges from five to forty percent of the brood.

  

  The disease should be treated with a three-day course of antibiotics (Streptomycin, Erythromycin). In the next week, Furazolidone is added to the feed.

  

  Infectious bronchitis

  The cause of the disease is a microvirus transmitted from bird to bird through common feeders and drinkers, the contents of the litter and aerogenously. It primarily affects chickens and young animals. In chickens infected with infectious bronchitis:

  • vitality decreases sharply;
  • interest in food decreases;
  • shortness of breath and discharge from the nasal openings appears;
  • conjunctivitis develops.

  Chicks under the age of one month often die. The mortality rate reaches 30%. In adult birds, inflammation of the mucous membranes of the eyes, rhinitis, and shortness of breath are noted. Egg production decreases sharply. Treatment is carried out using a broad-spectrum antiviral drug Virkon S and Lugol's solution.

  

  Bronchopneumonia

  In its pure form, this disease is considered non-infectious. The disease is associated with seasonal weather changes. Cold rain and night frosts are only a small part of the factors that cause inflammation of the respiratory tract. Young chickens are more susceptible to the disease. Symptoms of bronchopneumonia:

  • loss of appetite;
  • dyspnea;
  • conjunctivitis;
  • wheezing and cough;
  • weight loss.

  

  The disease creates fertile ground for the penetration and development of infection. Treatment and prevention involve adding antibiotics (Penicillin) to the feed.

  Laryngotracheitis

  The causative agent of the disease belongs to the group of herpes viruses. The virus enters the chicken's body through the respiratory tract from an infected individual. The acute form of the disease is accompanied by:

  • sluggish reaction to external stimuli;
  • refusal of food;
  • difficulty breathing.

  The chicken is looking for a secluded place where it sits with its beak open and eyes closed. The mortality rate from laryngotracheitis is very high, up to 50%. The egg production of a bird that has recovered sharply drops by 20-30%. No special therapeutic agents have been developed. The physical condition of the bird at the time of infection plays a major role. A strong immune system suppresses the development of the virus.

  Bird flu

  One of the most dangerous avian diseases. It poses a serious threat not only to chickens, but also to humans. The virus is carried by migratory waterfowl, which are immune to it. Domestic geese and ducks become infected through water bodies and bring the disease to the common poultry farm. The disease spreads through feces and through the air, through the breathing and coughing of sick birds. The incubation period of bird flu is no more than a day. Symptoms appear immediately, the disease is severe:

  1. 1. The chicken stops feeding and drinks a lot of water.
  2. 2. The bird's plumage takes on an unkempt, disheveled appearance.
  3. 3. The sick individual loses activity, retires, and tries to sleep.
  4. 4. Movements are uncertain. Frequent manifestations of convulsive stretching.
  5. 5. The mucous masses flowing from the nasal openings dry out and make breathing difficult. The bird is breathing heavily. A hoarse cough appears.
  6. 6. High temperature rises.
  7. 7. A sick chicken defecates liquid greenish mucus with bloody spots.
  8. 8. A harbinger of death agony is the blueness of the comb and earrings.

  

  There are no effective drugs against bird flu. To avoid the spread of infection, all livestock in which the disease was detected and products (eggs, meat) obtained in the previous week are destroyed.

Raising chickens is a labor-intensive process. It is rare to achieve 100% survival rate of a livestock.

Diseases are often the cause of bird death, so it is necessary to constantly monitor their condition. Proper maintenance, adequate nutrition and disease prevention are the three pillars on which the health of birds depends.

The vast majority of bird diseases begin with the appearance of wheezing. Then a cough appears, the birds begin to sneeze and continue to wheeze more and more heavily. All these signs indicate colds or other types of bronchial diseases developing in the bird’s body. Under no circumstances should such symptoms be ignored. The first step is to diagnose the disease and determine the cause of its occurrence.

Cold

Colds are the most common disease in birds, especially those with weakened immune systems. The main cause of its occurrence is hypothermia. When the respiratory tract becomes inflamed, swelling of the mucous membrane occurs, as a result of which the bird begins to breathe heavily through its mouth, wheeze and sneeze frequently.

After a while, mucous snot appears and a cough begins. Birds that have a cold must be isolated from healthy ones and must be treated. An untreated cold can cause complications.

Laryngotracheitis

Diarrhea in chickens can be caused by many reasons. Read how to rid birds of diarrhea.

Treatment of diseases

If the chicken begins to sneeze frequently, has difficulty breathing, or develops wheezing and mucous discharge, it is necessary to take it to the veterinarian to diagnose the disease. Wheezing and coughing are generally symptoms of most avian diseases, which are quite difficult to immediately determine by eye: it could be an infection, a virus, or even.

If the bird starts to get sick, then you need to check and bring the place where it is kept into compliance with the standards: a cold chicken coop needs to be insulated, a wet one needs to be dried, a roof must be built over the enclosure and a drainage groove must be made to remove moisture around the perimeter. You can protect your livestock from illnesses only by providing the birds with comfortable living conditions.

Take care to maintain a comfortable temperature in the chicken coop: reducing the temperature below 15 degrees is unacceptable. It is imperative to disinfect the chicken coop, for example, with chlorine turpentine, Lugol’s solution, aluminum iodide, etc.

If the chickens sneeze but feel fine, then the disease is in its early stages. You can get by with preventive methods: replace the water in the sippy cups with a decoction of nettles, introduce fortified supplements into the diet. Sneezing chickens will benefit from powdering their nose with streptocide. By the way, there are also more harmless causes of chicken sneezing - for example, bedding made of small shavings that gets into their nose and causes irritation.

Experts prescribe anti-inflammatory medications or bronchodilators to sick birds. If the form of the disease is severe, you won’t be able to get rid of it with anti-inflammatory drugs alone - a full course is prescribed. When taking any medications, chickens must receive vitamins in their diet, mainly A and E. Vitamins can be mixed with small feed.

If the chicken wheezes and coughs and the symptoms do not spread beyond the respiratory system, the drug tromexine or tillosine tartrate helps well. You can treat a bird with licorice root, mucaltin, broncholithin - you just need to accurately calculate the dosage. There are such treatment methods tested by farmers:

• crush a quarter of a ciprofloxacin tablet, dilute the powder in water and administer it into the throat with a syringe. Give 2 times a day for 4-5 days. Be sure to include vitamin A in your diet;
• Give half a tablet of chloramphenicol 2 times a day for 5 to 10 days. The duration of treatment depends on the condition of the bird, but not less than 5 days. Along with the tablet, you need to give a few drops of trivit or tetramag.

If the chickens wheeze and die, you need to react as quickly as possible:

• Buy doxycycline at the pharmacy and place one capsule in the mouth of each sick chicken at night. Be sure to immediately give more water. The course of treatment is at least 7 days. During this entire period, you should not eat eggs from chickens whose shells turn yellow. After treatment, eggs should not be eaten for another week;
• For 3 days in a row, every morning, give one fourth of a tetracycline tablet (without additives) to young chickens, half a tablet to adults. Stuff it into the mouth of every sick chicken.

Some more tips for treating chickens:

1. Antibiotics are used to treat colibacillosis: terramycin or biomycin should be mixed with food at a rate of 100 mg per 1 kg. At the same time, sulfadimezin aerosol is used and multivitamins are added to the diet.
2. To treat mycoplasmosis in chickens that are not severely emaciated (severely emaciated ones must be destroyed), the antibiotics oxytetracycline or chlortetracycline 0.4 g per 1 kg of feed are added to the feed for 7 days. Then take a 3-day break and repeat the course of treatment. It can be treated with other drugs: streptomycin, erythromycin, chloramphenicol, etc.
3. To treat laryngotracheitis, you can use tromexine, which alleviates the course of the disease. The drug is given in dissolved form (per 1 liter of water - 2 g on the first day, and 1 g per liter on the next day). The medicine is given until complete recovery, at least 5 days.
4. A good antibiotic for infectious diseases (for example, infectious laryngotracheitis) is Baytril for birds. Baytril helps against a large number of infectious diseases and respiratory diseases. Baytril is added to water for colds, 10% of the drug, 1 g per 1 liter.

Some traditional methods of treatment

You can note some traditional methods of treating chickens and chickens, which are used for sneezing, coughing and wheezing in birds.