Chicken with restricted throat/airway

[S-t-o-n-e]

My 4.5 month old austrolorp semis to have something stuck in her throat, she has a kind of honking breathing she has constantly been doing and she occasionally make a sneeze or cough sound, I tried turning her head down, and patting hard on her back, I also tried to squeeze her when she has exhaling to put more force into pushing the thing out, but neither seem to work. I’m not sure how serious it is, if someone knows how to dislodge it that would be helpful.

 

[Eggcessive]

It sounds possibly like she is having stridor. That is a high pitched wheezing sound on breathing in and out, and due to a piece of food stuck in the airway, mucus or swelling. If they have sneezing as well, it may be the symptoms of a respiratory infection or disease. If it is food stuck, they usually stop doing this within a few hours. Here is a video of a hen with stridor and you can tell us if that is similar to what you are seeing:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/silkie-w-possible-stridor.1218528/

 

[Eggcessive]

Try to offer her some water from a scoop or small bowl. If you have a short video you may post it on YouTube with a link posted here.

 

[S-t-o-n-e]

this is her, it’s the second day of this and I haven’t been able to be here to help her, it’s not stridor but she seems to be doing ok

 

[Eggcessive]

It does sound like stridor, but just when she is breathing out. Is she sneezing, or do you see any other symptoms, such as a watery or bubbly eye, or nasal drainage? Is she able to eat and drink okay? Have you added any new birds lately, or have you had a change in weather?

 

[S-t-o-n-e]

Here’s another video of her

 

[S-t-o-n-e]

It’s getting colder, although I have t been able to watch, when I did see her she was eating and drinking fine. Doesn’t have any of this other symptoms. It’s fall where I live, but no sudden weather change, and we haven’t added any new birds to the flock in 4 months, however we did move to a new house a month ago

 

[S-t-o-n-e]

The previous owners did not own chickens however

 

[Eggcessive]

It does sound like she is coughing or sneezing some. She is pretty noisy. It may be a virus, but hard to tell whether it is virus or bacterial without testing. Make sure the coop has good air circulation, no wet or moldy spots, or ammonia odors. Look for any other birds to have sneezing. Common respiratory diseases are infectious bronchitis which can last a month and affects many in a flock, MG, coryza, or ILT. The latter 3 are more serious with more severe symptoms. Hopefully she will get over this soon. Can you try to notice if the stridor gets worse at night? Here is some reading about common diseases including the ones above:
https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ps044

You might want to read about oxine, a product that can be use as a disinfectant, but also is used by some without the activator with a nebulizer or vaporizer to treat respiratory ailments.

 

[S-t-o-n-e]

Alright I’m sure there is something stuck in her trachea, and no she can’t clear it, it’s the third day now of her wheezing and she barely fought me when I caught her, it’s getting worse and she can’t clear it herself, if anyone has a way to help me get it out it I need it, we tried flipping her head down and patting her back, we tried to massage it out of her trachea, but we can’t