Coughing chicken?

[Bejep714]

A few days ago I heard one of my almost one year old Rhode island red make a very funny noise. It was at night when we were putting them away so they were already bunched up together. Honestly sounded like a gross toot. The same thing happened last night. But this morning while they were out I saw her making the sound. It was through her mouth. She wasn't really gaging. Her head was not violently moving back and forth. Her head was still and he mouth was barley open, but she was making those sounds. It was a cross between a gross snotty sneeze and a cough. She is eating, moving, and drinking just fine. Has this happened to anyone before? We are going to free range them later today and I will inspect her further.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Check to make sure her crop is emptying overnight.
She may be experiencing some stridor.

If possible, get a video of what she sounds like. Upload video to youtube and provide a link.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Feel her crop first thing in the morning before she's had anything to eat/drink. It should feel flat or empty.

Interesting that rubbing her neck made the sound stop. I would look inside her beak to see if there's mucous or white/yellow pasty material inside the beak.

 

[Bejep714]

Okay. Her breathing became normal, but when she sneezes it still makes the strange sound. I'll go check tonight and then tomorrow

 

[Bejep714]

I couldn't really tell on her crop. It wasn't flat, but I wasn't sure if I was looking at the right spot. I did look it up. There is also a possibility that she downed tons of food before we got there since they have a food tray in the coop. I'll check the nose. I'll also try to vacuum up some dust in the coop. As of right now her raspy breathing has basically stopped. All now seems like she has a snotty sneeze or cough

 

[Wyorp Rock]

The only thing I found odd was her face was paler than usual. She has always been a pale faced bird, but this a just a bit paler. One of our other orpingtons turned bright white at the face a few months ago and has recovered so I'm not sure if its something to be worried about, but Ill keep an eye on it. She did have little dots around her eyes. I did see that it could be mites, but to me it looked like dirt. I'm going to free range them today and I'll check her out better then. She coughed or sneezes a bit when we let them out this morning mixed in with some yawns. I couldn't tell with her crop. I know where it is but not how to check. Do you check in the front or the sides? Our red that started this whole thing with the snotty cough has fully recovered in around 5-6 days, so I hope this blows over as well

Today we let them out to free range and cleaned their coop, took out some installation, and used a leaf blower to get rid of dust. When I pick up the Orpington she breaths out of her mouth, and when I put her down she doesn't. Does that mean anything? She is still sneezing alot

Open mouth breathing while being held may just be stress if she goes back to normal when you put her down.

Crop is on the right front. You should be able to feel it when she's been eating/drinking, it will fill like lump. Feel that in the morning to see that it's emptied.

 

[Bejep714]

her sneezing has died down today to almost not at all. I don't think one night of the vents open did it, I think it hit its peak and now its going down. Her crop seemed empty but I still am not completely sure.

 

[Bejep714]

I can tell the crop is full at night on most of our chickens. It droops down pretty well. I can tell she has a very big crop at night and a smaller one in the morning so I'm guessing stuff is passing through. We closed the vent again for tonight because we are getting 30 mph winds. It is a very quick fix so it will probably come back off in a day or two. Thank you so much for answering my questions all this time. I really appreciate it.

 

[Bejep714]

How do you check if her crop is empty? Also they free ranged and I could hear she was making a sound in every breath. I rubbed her neck a bit and it stopped.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Check to see if she's got anything in her nostrils too that may be making her sneeze on occasion.