4 reasons your bird might have trouble breathing
There are other reasons a bird may have respiratory problems that are not caused by a virus or bacteria.
CANKER (ROUP)
This is caused by a protozoan parasite and more frequently affects pigeons. It can be passed on to poultry from infected water and causes lesions in the mouth and throat.
ASPERGILLUS
This can affect chicks developing within the egg. Fungus spores, commonly found in wet and mouldy hay or straw, can enter through the pores of the shell and grow inside a warm, developing embryo. Affected chicks will hatch but will start gasping in the first couple of weeks of life. They may also have swollen eyes, cheesy matter in the corner of their eyes, diarrhoea, twisted necks and convulsions. They will often die. If you perform a necropsy, the lungs will appear a greyish-yellow colour.
Older affected hens will also gasp and wheeze.
In humans, it is known as farmers’ lung. It can affect anyone working in dusty areas where mouldy hay or floor litter contains the aspergillus spores. Always use a sprayer to mist down the walls, roof and floor of a coop before you clean it out (to prevent dust flying into the air) and wear a dust mask.
ORGANOPHOSPHATES
These are chemicals used in insecticides, and they have a narrow safety margin when it comes to poultry and other animals.
One common symptom of toxicity in poultry is respiratory distress – shortness of breath and gasping, discharge from the
nose – but it is often misdiagnosed as an illness, not poisoning. The first symptoms to appear include drooling, tiny pupils, diarrhoea, twitching of limbs and eyes, then breathing problems and collapse. In livestock, the most common symptom is severe depression. In pets, it’s severe depression, then seizures and collapse.
Symptoms may be mild, depending on the dose. They can be apparent within minutes, but may take up to two days to show.
AMMONIA
High levels of ammonia – a gas produced in wet manure – can cause conjunctivitis and ‘ammonia blindness’ which presents as weeping, sore eyes. This can be a problem when birds are confined in a coop and the floor litter becomes wet due to condensation or spillage from drinkers.
The smell of ammonia is distressing to a bird as their sense of smell is far more sensitive than that of humans. If you get a whiff of ammonia, it’s time to clean out the coop, and adjust management techniques to ensure it stays dry.