Hi everyone, one of my adult hens is making a whistling/wheezing sound each time she breathes in and out. She is eating and drinking fine but her breathing sounds so loud. A couple of weeks ago I put my 14 baby chicks + 4 ducklings in with the big hens so I'm not sure if it's something they've transmitted. My local farm supply says she may have pnuemonia ( which shocked me as we have 80's in the day and high 40's at night) or a respiratory infection and they recommended 1 TBLS. terramyicin per gallon for 1 week. Please let me know if this is the correct treatment and.... do you think I should treat my whole flock as a preventative measure? thank you-- Lila

IT would be best to isolate your wheezing hen and treat her separately. Personally, I don't believe in medicating for something like this just in case. We had a rooster come down with a respiratory infection in the winter and successfully treated him with lincomyicin very short order. Lincomyicin has terramyicin in it.
It seems like most of these problems come on not because of a certain temperature, but when temperatures change. This is a form of stress that often results in medical problems of various kinds. Make sure your housing is dry, draft-free, and clean.
You might also consider keeping your little ones and ducks separate, since their feed and water needs are so different. Mixing them probably increased the stress for Mom hen, and also changed the microbial content of her water and air, and perhaps feed. Hope this helps.

Ive got a sick hen too.. this is my first time here so forgive me if Im putting this in the wrong place! My hen is dragging her butt on the ground. She may have an egg stuck but IM not sure. The poor thing is waddling around like a duck. Please give me some advice to help her! She is a Rhode Island Red.. I dont want her to die! You can email me at moonray78@hotmail.com

There have been a number of discussions on eggbound birds. Use the key word search on the left and look over some of these discussions. There may be some helpful ideas there. Good luck.