Skinny, audible nasal breathing, in nesting box more than normal.

[jodievaughan]

My layer hen Pepper is a few years old. All the hens free range and are only kept indoors at night. Pepper is still as alert as usual and eating and drinking normally, but I noticed she has been sitting in the nesting box for longer than usual since yesterday, and I also noticed her vent was prolapsing when pooing and then returning back to normal once she was done. So I took her into the shed to check her over. I can't feel any blockages and her back end is clean. There are no external parasites, no signs of canker, no discolouration anywhere. But it's very very quiet inside the shed, and that's when I noticed that her breathing is audible. She isn't gaping her beak at all, she's breathing at a normal pace and the sound is quiet, but it's there. I noticed some debris in her nostrils so I cleared that out, but that didn't fix it. She's a naturally slim breed, but from checking her over I can feel she's lost some weight too and is unhealthily skinny.

They haven't been wormed yet this year. My plan is to add Nettex poultry power drops to her feed, get some Flubendazole and try to fatten her up. Does anybody have any ideas about what might be going on? And could anyone suggest ways of making her gain weight? That's something I've never needed to do before so I'm not sure how. They're already fed a small amount of corn. I'd appreciate any help!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

When is the last time she laid an egg?

I would deworm and see how it goes.
See that she's eating her normal nutritionally balanced poultry feed. I would not add a lot of "extras" like corn to fatten her up, you don't want fat on laying hens. If you wish, you can offer some extra protein like egg, fish or meat a few times a week to give her a boost.