Hen having breathing trouble, any advice appreciated asap :-o

[JCE123]

Hi! My friend's hen has been acting lethargic since yesterday morning or maybe the night before. She is now breathing with her mouth open and gurgling sounds can be heard. We have tylan 50 and Corid on hand. Should we try one of those? Both? Something else? She used some VetRx on her yesterday, but has seen no improvement.

 

[JCE123]

Ok, it's over, the poor girl died. It turned out to be an impacted crop. She had been drinking water, then vomiting it up a bit, so we tried to make her bring up whatever was in her crop, but I guess it had been like this for more like 3-4 days and she was very weak. So when we turned her upside down, she did bring up some stuff, but then was unable to clear her throat and suffocated. We only had her upside down for 1-2 seconds, gave her a few minutes break and tried again, did that 3 times. The last time she could not clear it.
We're both really sad, these birds are loved pets.
Im going to go sit with my girls for a while now.

 

[casportpony]

Sorry for you loss... was she breathing through her mouth and gurgling before you tried to vomit her?

-Kathy

 

[JCE123]

Yup

 

[casportpony]

Yup

Was her crop hard or squishy?

-Kathy

 

[JCE123]

Large but not hard. And squishy. She had not eaten in a full day at least.

 

[casportpony]

Large but not hard. And squishy. She had not eaten in a full day at least.

Many things can cause that, usually it happens when the dying process starts, but it can be from disease or infection, too. Impacted crops are usually hard, not squishy.

-Kathy

 

[casportpony]

Forgot to say that open mouth breathing and gurgling can also be a sign that the dying process had started... I doubt there was anything you could have done to save her.

-Kathy

 

[JCE123]

Thank you Kathy. And we thought getting chickens would be so much fun and be so easy! I feel like we should have taken a class or something. ****

 

[SugarPlum]

Thank you Kathy. And we thought getting chickens would be so much fun and be so easy! I feel like we should have taken a class or something. ****

JCE123, I know how you feel and sorry that you & your friend lost a hen. Chickens are fun and amazing, and like any animal take commitment on our part to learn about their health. Quite frankly I just take my cats to the vet. Luckily for me my neighbor Jack has had chickens before and knows quite a bit. He also takes the approach to cull them, and I get so attached I want to do everything to save them.

Maybe we could convince some of the BYC experts like Kathy to put together a First Aid & educational class online for beginners and intermediate chicken owners?
They are so experienced and knowledgeable I learn a lot reading their recommendations and I'm very grateful for their time to help us out.