Breathing disturbances in 3 young hens.

[dawg53]

I had three hens that were making a honking sound, it then progressed to rattling in their lungs and a cough. They didn't have any mucus or bubbling, that's why I recommended what I did. I see a lot of responses that mention MG, is it common? Is IB infectious bronchitis?

Again, your experience couldve been an environmental issue, not necessarily a respiratory problem or disease. Once a bird has a respiratory disease and depending what disease it is, they are carriers for life and symptoms will reappear when birds are stressed.
Hot temps can cause honking. Honking and other symptoms you mentioned can be caused by dust from dust bathing, inhalation of feed dust, ammonia fumes, pesticide use, pollen, feed or water entering the trachea, fungus and mold spores etc...

Both MG and IB are common because folks dont practice biosecurity.

 

[SmiYa0126]

In my situation it was a rooster I traded my two male guineas, he was an asymptomatic carrier for some kind of virus, my Plymouth blue hen that always had a flopped over comb got it first and almost died as I didn't recognize the symptoms, then my other two Plymouth blues got it too, the latter two recovered completely, the first one is still isn't 100%.

Not everyone has the capacity for quarantine, and in my case it wouldn't have mattered because the rooster never showed any symptoms. Also at that time I wasn't free ranging them at all because of the severity of the bird flu this year.

I understand that some stress bio security, however unless the birds are in a bubble it's not possible to protect them for everything.

In my situation I learned which ladies are hardy versus not, which means I won't try to hatch their eggs.

There was an excellent thread that I read on this site where a woman's flock was hit with Marek's, she introduced local Amish chickens to her flock (within 5 miles), the hardiness of the barnyard mixes have now created a strong flock.

 

[dawg53]

Acquiring new birds is always guesswork unless they come from a reputable hatchery.
I always recommend quarantining new birds a good distance away from an existing flock for at least 30 days.
This gives the owner a chance to closely inspect the newbies for external parasites and worming, and observing anything out the ordinary such as bubbly eyes, gurgling, sneezing and wheezing etc...
The 30 day quarantine gives time for respiratory diseases to show themselves.

After handling and inspecting the new birds, the owner needs to change clothes and practice personal hygiene before handling birds in the existing flock because respiratory diseases can be easily carried on clothing including shoes and even tires on a vehicle.
All of this is not impossible to accomplish. Practicing biosecurity beats worry and heartbreak, not to mention playing nursemaid to a bunch of sick hens shoving antibiotics down their throats and never laying eggs because they are too sick.

 

[Chicken_Mammy]

Photos? Coop, run, the chickens?

Video of the honking? Upload video to YouTube and provide a link.

You mention small isolated coop - how much ventilation is in the coop?
How long have you had these birds?
Any mold, mildew in the coop/run or feed?

Any bubbles in the eyes, facial swelling, mucous, etc.?

VetRx is a just a remedy, it's not cure, it could be used to give a bit of respiratory relief, similar to vicks vapor rub.

If you find that you are dealing with a respiratory disease instead of something environmental, then treating symptoms with an antibiotic can help. Do be aware there is no cure for respiratory disease and birds will remain carriers, so it's likely to spread to your existing flock.

They’re housed at my mother’s so I don’t have video/audio, but here is the small coop and the 3 birds. No swelling or discharge that I’ve noticed. We kept our other chickens in this same coop while we were building the larger and had no problems. These 3 all came from the same farm. I wonder if they’d been exposed to something there. I returned a Silkie that I got from there because of similar issues except she also had watery poop and no feathers on her bottom.