Hen breathing with mouth open and gurgling!

[StripeyThing_1]

Hello all, please help, advice is always appreciated!

My FSL brown hen is acting very sick. She is 2 years old. Rescued as a baby from an industrial farm. Ever since she was a baby she kind of gurgled when she drank water. For the past week or so this has been getting a lot worse. Now when ever she eats, drinks, gets picked up or does a lot of physical activity she opens her mouth wide to breathe and gurgles. She sneezes sometimes though. When she isn’t breathing with her mouth open she has very heavy breathing that I can easily hear.

I know it’s not because of heat, we live in western Canada and the temperature is 7 degrees Celsius (or 44 degrees Fahrenheit). We have a heat lamp in the coop.

Last night after she had some food to eat she was adjusting her crop by moving back and forth and side to side. I checked her mouth for any smell, paste, blockages or saliva, nothing yet. Her crop is emptying at night and her abdomen isn’t swollen. I think she still lays eggs, but I’ll have to check.

I have her a piece of bread soaked in oil to wet her throat. Some chick starter as well as egg white was given for protein. I put her in a separate kennel this morning.

Sorry for the long thread, I wanted to share all the details,

Emy (Stripeything_1)

 

[Ourgosling22]

Hello all, please help, advice is always appreciated!

My FSL brown hen is acting very sick. She is 2 years old. Rescued as a baby from an industrial farm. Ever since she was a baby she kind of gurgled when she drank water. For the past week or so this has been getting a lot worse. Now when ever she eats, drinks, gets picked up or does a lot of physical activity she opens her mouth wide to breathe and gurgles. She sneezes sometimes though. When she isn’t breathing with her mouth open she has very heavy breathing that I can easily hear.

I know it’s not because of heat, we live in western Canada and the temperature is 7 degrees Celsius (or 44 degrees Fahrenheit). We have a heat lamp in the coop.

Last night after she had some food to eat she was adjusting her crop by moving back and forth and side to side. I checked her mouth for any smell, paste, blockages or saliva, nothing yet. Her crop is emptying at night and her abdomen isn’t swollen. I think she still lays eggs, but I’ll have to check.

I have her a piece of bread soaked in oil to wet her throat. Some chick starter as well as egg white was given for protein. I put her in a separate kennel this morning.

Sorry for the long thread, I wanted to share all the details,

Emy (Stripeything_1)

You may want to repost this where you can get more attention quicker. Not sure why you haven’t gotten a response yet.
I’m sorry I can’t give you any help. I have waterfowl and am mostly an amateur.

 

[nuthatched]

You may want to repost this where you can get more attention quicker. Not sure why you haven’t gotten a response yet.
I’m sorry I can’t give you any help. I have waterfowl and am mostly an amateur.

It's not a matter of where it's posted, it's a matter of the right people being on.
Unfortunately, the weekends can quickly bury threads. :[

 

[Ourgosling22]

It's not a matter of where it's posted, it's a matter of the right people being on.
Unfortunately, the weekends can quickly bury threads. :[

 

[Ourgosling22]

Ok was trying to figure out how to tag it but not familiar with the navigation on here.
There was one from Sunday and Monday that looked concerning with no responses yet-it’s on the new posts section under forum I believe.
Thanks anyway.

 

[StripeyThing_1]

I will try to post this again tonight to see if it gets more responses

 

[Coops Dad]

I have a flock of meat birds that eat gluttonously then drink... and they gurgle and leak. I find that if I take away the waterer for an hour after they eat (or if I restrict the amount they eat but leave the waterer), they don't percolate as much.

My adult female broad breasted white turkey will also gurgle after eating and drinking but she's a real piggy when she gets to the feeder.

 

[AidKD]

Sounds like it could be a respitory infection. I'm also currently dealing with that.

 

[MaeM]

Hello, I have a hen with tracheal stenosis (mostly due to a tumour) and her symptoms are super similar to your hen's.

I agree that this sounds like a respiratory infection but birds don't live long with those... and you say she always gurgled...

Anyway, if it's tracheal stenosis, there's not much to do. My hen lives with it, she has some limitations but the other option is a highly risky (and expensive) surgery.

Unless in your case the stenosis is due to, for example, aspergillosis patches in the airway. In that case, you could treat her with antifungal medication. But I wouldn't do this without the guide of a vet as that medication can easily become poisonous for the liver.