Cause of "rattling" breathing?

[birdlover]

I picked up a rooster yesterday and he was absolutely terrified when they went to catch him. He squawked a lot in the carrier while I was driving and, after I got him in his pen, I noticed he was rattling quite loudly. This was upsetting, to say the least. Well, the person I got him from happens to be a horse vet and I asked her to get me some baytril which she is. He's a beautiful boy and I hate to send him back as the living arrangements where he was kept was less than desirable.

ANYWAY...this morning he wasn't rattling at all! I read that wet pox can cause rattling so I chased and caught him to see if he had any lesions in his mouth or throat. He didn't. Again, he was terrified and, when I let him go, I heard a little rattling - nothing like yesterday, though. Later, he was fine.

SO MY QUESTION IS can stress cause a chicken to rattle when they breathe? I'm hoping that's all it is. I'm holding off on the baytril until I see if it happens anymore. I know that fowl pox is caused by a virus but his mouth and throat looked clean and healthy so I don't think that's what he has. Oh, and he acts perfectly normal, not sick at all. Thanks for your opinion!

 

[Wynette]

The only thing I've heard of that causes rattling is respiratory illnes. Anyone else???

 

[KellyHM]

I don't know about chickens, but when some horses get stressed/worked up they can have several upper airway changes that cause them to sound like they're "roaring." I would assume that it's possible for the same thing to happen to chickens?

 

[Wynette]

KellyHM, I've got horses, and roaring is completely different from rattling in chickens. Rattling is like congestion in the lungs, and you can sort of hear it gurgling around. I'm not good at describing....

 

[KellyHM]

I understand the difference, but in birds this is different due to the air sac anatomy and the fact that their lungs do not inflate and deflate like ours You can rarely hear the rattling unless they're in terrible shape...and hers doesn't sound that bad, so I thought maybe it was similar to an upper airway obstruction instead, since everyone describes sounds differently.