Hen lost her voice... Quick help please

[MichelleT]

UPDATE 2: today QP was definitely sounding better. She's still hoarse, but not as much. When I kneeled down to talk to her she gave me quite a few low volume clucks- like she normally does - then a few whisper clucks.

But then later she started gaping- stretching her neck out and opening her mouth. This is new behavior. Before she just had the lost voice.
Good sign (voice returning) + bad sign (gaping) = ???

 

[MrsBrooke]

UPDATE 2: today QP was definitely sounding better. She's still hoarse, but not as much. When I kneeled down to talk to her she gave me quite a few low volume clucks- like she normally does - then a few whisper clucks.

But then later she started gaping- stretching her neck out and opening her mouth. This is new behavior. Before she just had the lost voice.
Good sign (voice returning) + bad sign (gaping) = ???

Do you think there is a way you could get a short video of her behavior and clucking? A video is worth 1,000 words.

MrsB

 

[MichelleT]

She is no longer doing the gaping thing but ai'll see what I can capture tomorrow. Thank you so much for all your patient help. :yiipchick

 

[torilovessmiles]

Hi there, you have a lot of help but I had a hen make a similar sound to what you're describing, and it sounds like chicken wheezing. I had no idea what she was doing at first, until I put my ear to her chest and listened to her lungs, and I could hear the wheezing. Does it sound sort of like a high-pitched "honk" rather that a sound a chicken should make? My chicken would do that periodically, then it would subside and she would cluck normally for a bit. Its pretty much the same as when we get respiratory infections, we have moments when we can't breathe and moments that we're kind of okay!
Mine turned out to be a simple respiratory infection, cleared up by broad-spectrum antibiotics to the whole flock. Phew, dodged a bullet with that one. A vid would definitely help to determine what the sound means!
Hope your girl is okay

 

[PertyGertie]

Well? How is Queen?

 

[MichelleT]

Sorry for the delayed response, PertyGertie. The flock (with the exception of the feather-picker) is well. Queen Peach is GREAT! Her voice is back and she talks with us every day... I really think she knows her name - is this even possible?

Anyway, Carolina (our bare-necked gal, and probable feather-picker) is gaping - pretty badly today - and her voice now sounds like Peachie's did a few months ago. Ugh! Looks like another round, as I can't find ANYTHING else that could be a problem for them. And with our weather, they are eating more worms than they did when we brought them home (dry fall into winter).

I hope we can get this under control, but I understand that if this is indeed gapeworm, it is extremely difficult to get rid of.

 

[PertyGertie]

Yes, of course they can know their names. They're smart creatures and with a little bit of time and consistency they can be taught many things. Oh yeah and an endless supply of mealworms helps too!

I know gapeworm is rare but have read capillary worms can be a culprit as well. Those aren't visible either. Safeguard goat wormer is effective. Jim (dawg53) is a good source of worming information.

 

[MichelleT]

Funny you should confirm my suspicions about the girls knowing their names... This morning all but Carolina were visible from our deck. (The deck overlooks the coop/run/chicken yard and we often let them run 'free' in the yard while we go about our business, checking on them from time to time...) So I called her name to see if she'd come out from under the deck (their favorite outside spot... lots of free dirt space to dust bathe

) or if she was perhaps in the coop, laying the first egg of the day. As in response, a voice from under the deck, consistent but quiet (she is the one who is losing her voice) clucking could be heard. The more I said her name, the more she clucked. She wasn't stuck or anything... just responding to my voice. So sweet...


As for worming, I got lots of help from Casportpony (sp?) when we went through the ordeal the first time. I really wanted to go the au natural route and not pre-treat for worms, but I'm realizing that our hens' complete access to worms at almost all times is going to make a regular worming necessary, most likely. Round one worked really well... about 3 months ago. Now Carolina is gaping and losing her voice, just like Queen Peach and Marquis did a few months ago. I fear that this will be an ongoing battle for us. :-(

 

[PertyGertie]

Have you had a fecal test done? If you're dealing with capillary worms then you're always going to have a problem with them. It's in your dirt. It would be nice to pinpoint what exactly is the culprit of stealing your girl's voices.

 

[MichelleT]

No, but that makes sense. There isn't a single vet w/in an hour of me that treats/diagnoses birds, so it will be a major effort to do it. But in the long run, I know it's worth it.

Last night we had squishy crops (ugh!) and I made another post about that this morning (because otherwise they are behaving normally). I'm hoping that after a year (especially our year) I will be more adept at avoiding problems rather than trying to solve them one after the other. (We have had these gals for almost 10 months now. )