Caked crumbles in chicken's mouth or a disease!

[feather pillows]

We have a young hen, I can't remember just how old, 5 months or so, old enough to already go broody. She was very sweet
at first, but the older she got, the more distant she got and as a result she is now sleeping in the trees instead of the coop. She has just recently shown signs of respiratory distress, has a little sore above her eye, and the worst part is she has what looks like caked feed in the roof of her mouth, on her tongue, and way down her throat. We scraped some of it off her tongue and it looks more like tissue than caked feed. What are we dealing with here? I'm afraid she will die soon if the Sul Met does not work. Any ideas? Also, she was in a pen with hens she was afraid of, so she did not get off the roost very often.

 

[Eggcessive]

Welcome to BYC. Pictures can really help. A couple of diseases can cause the yellow patches inside the beak and throat. One is canker a protozoa that is treated by Fish zole (flagyl, metronidazole.) The more likely cause though is wet fowl pox. If the scab on her eye is fowl pox, then that may be what is wrong. Fowl pox is a virus spread by mosquitoes in warm weather. It usually just causes scabs on the face, comb, and wattles, but the the more dangerous type is dipththeric or wet pox. That can be fatal. Neither has any treatment other than to make sure the chicken is eating well. It runs it's course over several weeks. Here is some info to help you:
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/publications/6/diseases-of-poultry/195/fowl-pox/
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/avian-pox-how-to-treat-your-chickens-for-avian-pox
http://animalscience.ucdavis.edu/avian/fowlpox.pdf
http://www.hyline.com/aspx/redbook/redbook.aspx?s=5&p=35

 

[feather pillows]

Oh, my gosh! Thank you so much! What wonderful information in all the sites you posted. I have asked vets for years about chickens
and ducks, etc. and never get a good answer. As far as I can tell, wet pox it is. So far, hen is doing much better at the end of her
five day treatment of Sul Met, breathing improved 100 per cent, seems much more alert and eating well. Still has a frothy eye, but the
rest her is looking good. Have not looked in her mouth, didn't want to stress her any further. Maybe we will make it. No one else affected.
Again, thank you, what a great group to belong to!