19 week old hen snotty nose and bad breath HELP!!!

[trottreacle]

Hello all,

I have a 19 week old Campine hen she is such a sweet friendly little girl. I got her, and another hen to help introduce her to my already established flock. They have started to come together, although, it has obviously been a bit stressful for them moving to a whole new home.

I also had some trouble the other night where she was bullied out of the house literally as the door closed and she scurried off into the garden. I looked high and low all night, I didn't go to bed because I was so worried a fox would get her so I just stayed up and kept looking for her. I could not find her, but in the morning when it got light she appeared from within the bush she had hidden in all night. This was also a freakishly cold night, winter is on the way but this was a DRAMATIC drop in temperature. Far too cold in my opinion for a hen, let alone a young one to not be snuggled up in the hen house.

This was a couple of nights ago, and tonight I picked her up when she went to bed as she had a feather and debris stuck to her beak. As I pulled the feather off, I pulled some coagulated snot away and could see she had a snotty nose. This was accompanied by a stink. Like, bad dog breath. Her crop didn't feel overly hard, certainly firm but could be manipulated, she was still happy eating, and I saw her poop and it looked completely normal.

I bought her in just to further inspect her and her nose was clear, but I could dab tissue into her nostrils and clear liquid snot was soaking onto the tissue.

Hey eyes look clean too. Didn't seem to have any problems with breathing, when I was holding her she did do the motion of swallowing so not sure if that's just the snotty build up that she's just swallowing as we would if we had a cold.

Only other things to note, it has got cold but it has been raining basically non stop.

Not sure what to do, as I said it has been a stressful time and she did spend a night wild roosting, it's been cold and wet so wondering if this is a little cold.... should I be worried..... what should I do? Please help I love her so much I really want to do best by her.

 

[Eggcessive]

How long has she been there? What does her crop feel like early morning before she eats or drinks? It should be empty and flat. Can you look inside her beak to see her tongue, walls of the beak, and the roof of her mouth? Is there any yellow or white material that shouldn’t be there? Chickens will make swallowing motions when mucus is draining from the sinuses into the beak. A bad odor could be from sour crop, a respiratory disease called coryza, or canker, a protozoan disease carried by pigeons and wild birds. That causes foul smelling yellow material inside the beak and throat.

 

[trottreacle]

I only just noticed today. I also just realised that unfortunately I think they have been eating some mouldy food. I went away for a few days and had someone look after the flock and when I returned today, their feeder was full of very wet, old looking food which was compacted in the feeder. It was disgusting. Obviously this is a worry, and I noticed another hen had a foamy yellow poop.

 

[trottreacle]

How long has she been there? What does her crop feel like early morning before she eats or drinks? It should be empty and flat. Can you look inside her beak to see her tongue, walls of the beak, and the roof of her mouth? Is there any yellow or white material that shouldn’t be there? Chickens will make swallowing motions when mucus is draining from the sinuses into the beak. A bad odor could be from sour crop, a respiratory disease called coryza, or canker, a protozoan disease carried by pigeons and wild birds. That causes foul smelling yellow material inside the beak and throat.

I only just noticed today. I also just realised that unfortunately I think they have been eating some mouldy food. I went away for a few days and had someone look after the flock and when I returned today, their feeder was full of very wet, old looking food which was compacted in the feeder. It was disgusting. Obviously this is a worry, and I noticed another hen had a foamy yellow poop. She is in bed now as I wanted her to have a good warm sleep but I will check those over symptoms tomorrow see if I can see anything. It has been extremely wet and cold as well. I'm unsure if I should try a corid treatment or do probiotics and ACV in water for tomorrow

 

[Eggcessive]

What part of the world are you in? Did the chicken setter know anything about chickens? Mold is very dangerous and can cause them to become very sick. I would wash out the feeders and remove any remains off the ground. Corid or ACV probably won’t help much, but I would try to get her drinking. Corid only treats coccidiosis which is more common in young chickens 3-10 weeks old. Probiotics might be a better treatment for mold poisoning. Symptoms of that are lethargy, diarrhea sometimes with blood, standing around puffed up, and no appetite. Let us know what her crop feels like in the early morning. The

 

[Debbie292d]

I only just noticed today. I also just realised that unfortunately I think they have been eating some mouldy food. I went away for a few days and had someone look after the flock and when I returned today, their feeder was full of very wet, old looking food which was compacted in the feeder. It was disgusting. Obviously this is a worry, and I noticed another hen had a foamy yellow poop. She is in bed now as I wanted her to have a good warm sleep but I will check those over symptoms tomorrow see if I can see anything. It has been extremely wet and cold as well. I'm unsure if I should try a corid treatment or do probiotics and ACV in water for tomorrow

ACV (1 tblsp per gallon of water) I used to use as a probiotic but then I learned you should only give them that no more than twice a week. It can cause other issues if given too strong or too much. Well, phooey on that! I asked my show breeder what she uses and have used Hydro-Hen ever since. Many similar powders like that go in their water and provide electrolytes as well.

Yogurt is good too, about a tblsp of that, and Greek is the best kind. Some will say get sugar-free. I buy what's on sale.

 

[trottreacle]

What part of the world are you in? Did the chicken setter know anything about chickens? Mold is very dangerous and can cause them to become very sick. I would wash out the feeders and remove any remains off the ground. Corid or ACV probably won’t help much, but I would try to get her drinking. Corid only treats coccidiosis which is more common in young chickens 3-10 weeks old. Probiotics might be a better treatment for mold poisoning. Symptoms of that are lethargy, diarrhea sometimes with blood, standing around puffed up, and no appetite. Let us know what her crop feels like in the early morning. The

I gave them clear instructions and I was annoyed when I returned back today to find the food all gross and compacted in the feeder. I'm in the UK, it is very wet and cold at the moment, basically constantly raining. Was obviously also upset that she spent a night out of the coop the night it was extremely cold so I had put it down to potentially getting chilly and stressed. I've washed and cleaned all their water, feeders thoroughly for tomorrow, I also put a little bit of VetXr on her beak and around her face when I bought her in to try and help her breath a little better if her nostrils got blocked. I will check her crop first thing in the morning and have made a nice mix of dry fresh food ready for their feeders tomorrow, and fresh water. She's asleep in the coop at the moment but before that she was happy in herself and you wouldn't even have known there was anything wrong until you smelt her breath or got close enough to her beak to see it was a bit gunky.

 

[trottreacle]

ACV (1 tblsp per gallon of water) I used to use as a probiotic but then I learned you should only give them that no more than twice a week. It can cause other issues if given too strong or too much. Well, phooey on that! I asked my show breeder what she uses and have used Hydro-Hen ever since. Many similar powders like that go in their water and provide electrolytes as well.

Yogurt is good too, about a tblsp of that, and Greek is the best kind. Some will say get sugar-free. I buy what's on sale.

I've seen other people mention about the natural yoghurt, will get that and some fresh garlic first thing in the morning. She is perfectly fine other than the stinky breath and the snotty nose so I am hoping tomorrow with the fresh water with ACV and the fresh dry food and some yoghurt it will start to get better. I'm just so sad because she is my little baby one and the idea of her suffering really breaks my heart as she's had a fair amount of stress this week :-(

 

[Eggcessive]

The main thing to find out is the source of her bad odor, whether it is sour crop, canker, or coryza. Maybe the odor is the rotten moldy feed that she was getting into and possibly on her feathers. Hopefully, it is nothing serious and will go away. Let us know how she gets along.

 

[trottreacle]

The main thing to find out is the source of her bad odor, whether it is sour crop, canker, or coryza. Maybe the odor is the rotten moldy feed that she was getting into and possibly on her feathers. Hopefully, it is nothing serious and will go away. Let us know how she gets along.

Update. I woke up super early to get her out of the house before the big girls woke up, cleaned her nostrils, they were still a bit gunky. Her breath was still very smelly but her crop was completely empty and flat, she has been eating food fine all day, I also bought some plain greek yoghurt which she has eaten a fair amount of, her first poop was also completely normal. Overall, she seems completely happy but still can't figure out why her breath is bad and the snotty nose. It has basically not stopped raining all day either so I'm sure that's not overly helpful either.