# coughing bird



## samuri_spartan (Aug 26, 2007)

i went outside today to do the daily feeding and such, and i heard a deep cough. I stood still as the birds watched me attentivly waiting for food as i waited to hear it again. It turned out to be my little modena hen. It was a deep cough. What do you think it is? And what can i give her since she is feeding babies?

Thanks in advance,

Chris


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## maryjane (Jul 15, 2006)

Hopefully someone will be along to tell you about the cough; I'm not familiar with it so I'm no help there. How old are the babies? Can you bring her in for the night and put her on a heating pad (set on low with a towel over it)? If dad is sitting on the babies for the night as they do, that would be ideal. Warmth is most important when they're ill. Keep checking for advice from someone who knows more about coughing.


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

maryjane said:


> Hopefully someone will be along to tell you about the cough; I'm not familiar with it so I'm no help there. How old are the babies? Can you bring her in for the night and put her on a heating pad (set on low with a towel over it)? If dad is sitting on the babies for the night as they do, that would be ideal. Warmth is most important when they're ill. Keep checking for advice from someone who knows more about coughing.


Maryjane, the Moms are the ones who sit on the nest during the night. I don't know that I've ever heard my birds cough. Could be just something stuck in her throat? I'd make sure to watch her today to see if it continues.


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## Pidgey (May 20, 2005)

Well, those can be serious because it's a lot easier for a bird to literally die of a glob of phlegm in their tracheas (airway down through the neck) than it is for us. Can't be sure that's what it is but it's a possibility. In such a case, the bird would probably benefit the most from a nebulized treatment of Gentamicin (0.5 ml) and saline (9 ml). That's where your vet sets up an aquarium-like box with an air pump blowing through a nebulizer with that stuff in it, which injects a fog of the medicine into the box that the bird is put in. The bird gets to breathe the stuff in for a half-hour and so directly medicates the lungs, air sacs and airways, as well as humidifying any phlegm in there and breaking it up so that the bird can effectively cough (expectorate) it up.

Pidgey


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## Pidgey (May 20, 2005)

I'll repost this from an old thread:



Pidgey said:


> It's a simple process, really. The patient goes in a clear tank like an aquarium with a couple of holes in the side (but they don't have to be). The exact same plastic nebulizer that's used on us is plugged into one of the holes and there is a small compressor to pump air through (kinda' like a supersized aquarium air pump). It essentially bubbles up through the medicine/saline mixture in the nebulizer and makes the fog that gets blown into the tank with the patient. The nebulizer portion can be gotten cheap or even for nothing if you know someone working at a hospital where they throw away used ones all the time although you'd still need to construct the box and get a compressor. There are portable, tabletop ones like this:
> 
> http://www.portablenebs.com/
> 
> ...


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## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

Hi Chris,

Have you opened her beak and checked to see if there is any mucous in her throat? Does she have any other symptons?


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## Pidgey (May 20, 2005)

They can cough for a lot of reasons including air sac mites, worms, canker, breathed in something, bacterial infections and viral infections... I think I got most of 'em. Anyway, you might think about isolating the bird and watching her real close. How old are the babies?

Pidgey


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## Whitefeather (Sep 2, 2002)

Do you have access to an avian vet, Chris?

Cindy


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## samuri_spartan (Aug 26, 2007)

My friend mark thrasher lives 50mi north of me and he is has an avian vet up there. The babies are 4 days old, i think. I am heading outside to check on her now.


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## maryjane (Jul 15, 2006)

Lovebirds said:


> Maryjane, the Moms are the ones who sit on the nest during the night. I don't know that I've ever heard my birds cough. Could be just something stuck in her throat? I'd make sure to watch her today to see if it continues.


Of course I knew that, I don't know what I was thinking last night, I was very tired.  Dad's only do day duty.....and a few of my dads only do a few hours at that! Sorry for any confusion.


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## Aefroze (Apr 5, 2008)

Hi, one of my pigeons too has a cough. He has had it since it was a 2 week old, or that's when I first noticed.

Now he is a couple of months old and eats and flies well. Just a little cough sometimes. I didn't treat him, but if someone can suggest, I will.

Aefroze


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## khawaja kashif (Aug 15, 2010)

its respiratory problem give them doxycycilline+tylosin powder ,add 1 gram in 1 liter of drinking water and give them 2 pigeons.and add 1 small piece of ginger 1 cup of water and boiled them.give 5cc to ur sick pigeon.


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