Do chickens snore?

[SemiSweet2391]

My hen is snoring… or is she sick? I’ve not seen her do this before. What do you think?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

My hen is snoring… or is she sick? I’ve not seen her do this before. What do you think?

She's not snoring.

I'd check her crop to make sure it's emptying overnight.
I do see a thread you made a while back of her where she's sneezing. https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/sneezing.1676368/

It may be that she has a respiratory illness, hard to know.

Since this seems to be chronic for her, if I didn't find another cause for the gasping (crop is emptying, no canker or lesions inside the beak), then I'd deworm her and consider giving her Tylosin to see if the symptoms improve.

You can find Safeguard Liquid Goat Dewormer (10%) at TSC or online. Dose is 0.23ml per pound of weight given orally once daily for 5days in a row.

Tylosin can be ordered online.
https://jedds.com/products/tylosin-powder?_pos=1&_sid=9d068963a&_ss=r

 

[SemiSweet2391]

She's not snoring.

I'd check her crop to make sure it's emptying overnight.
I do see a thread you made a while back of her where she's sneezing. https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/sneezing.1676368/

It may be that she has a respiratory illness, hard to know.

Since this seems to be chronic for her, if I didn't find another cause for the gasping (crop is emptying, no canker or lesions inside the beak), then I'd deworm her and consider giving her Tylosin to see if the symptoms improve.

You can find Safeguard Liquid Goat Dewormer (10%) at TSC or online. Dose is 0.23ml per pound of weight given orally once daily for 5days in a row.

Tylosin can be ordered online.
https://jedds.com/products/tylosin-powder?_pos=1&_sid=9d068963a&_ss=r

Thank you!! I will check her crop and get on this regimen for her.

 

[K0k0shka]

They shouldn't vocalize while breathing (whether asleep or awake). So this is probably a sign that something's not right. Hard to tell what, as chickens are notoriously hard to diagnose, especially if you're not a vet. I had a chicken that "snored" (vocalized when inhaling/exhaling) and looked like she was struggling to breathe. It turned out that she had EYP, and the mass was pushing on her organs, lungs, and air sacs and was making it hard for her to breathe. I would've never guessed without a trip to the vet and an x-ray. Those are expensive, but without a vet it's really just guesswork...

Your chicken looks like she's struggling to breathe, not like she's adjusting her crop, so I don't think the issue is with her crop. Crop adjustments with impacted crop look different (I've had a chicken with impacted crop, too).

 

[SemiSweet2391]

They shouldn't vocalize while breathing (whether asleep or awake). So this is probably a sign that something's not right. Hard to tell what, as chickens are notoriously hard to diagnose, especially if you're not a vet. I had a chicken that "snored" (vocalized when inhaling/exhaling) and looked like she was struggling to breathe. It turned out that she had EYP, and the mass was pushing on her organs, lungs, and air sacs and was making it hard for her to breathe. I would've never guessed without a trip to the vet and an x-ray. Those are expensive, but without a vet it's really just guesswork...

Your chicken looks like she's struggling to breathe, not like she's adjusting her crop, so I don't think the issue is with her crop. Crop adjustments with impacted crop look different (I've had a chicken with impacted crop, too).

Ok, thanks for your thoughts. I’m out of town so I can’t do any diagnostics until I get back but I plan to check for all these proposed maladies. I’ll update when I know more

 

[SemiSweet2391]

Sad update. She died before I could get home to check on her.

Since I can’t figure out which of the proposed issues she had, what do you all recommend that I do to check on the rest of the girls?

 

[K0k0shka]

Sad update. She died before I could get home to check on her.

Since I can’t figure out which of the proposed issues she had, what do you all recommend that I do to check on the rest of the girls?

I’m sorry to hear that. If you can afford a necropsy, that can give you answers. If not, you can open the bird up yourself and see if there’s anything obvious, like a crop impaction, tumors, water belly etc. If it’s any of those three, then it’s probably just her and no need to worry about the rest. If it’s something contagious, then you’d need a proper necropsy with lab work to figure out if that’s the case and if there’s any danger to the rest of the flock… Without that, there’s no way to know, unfortunately.

 

[SemiSweet2391]

I’m sorry to hear that. If you can afford a necropsy, that can give you answers. If not, you can open the bird up yourself and see if there’s anything obvious, like a crop impaction, tumors, water belly etc. If it’s any of those three, then it’s probably just her and no need to worry about the rest. If it’s something contagious, then you’d need a proper necropsy with lab work to figure out if that’s the case and if there’s any danger to the rest of the flock… Without that, there’s no way to know, unfortunately.

Ok. Thanks for your help, I appreciate it

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Sad update. She died before I could get home to check on her.

Since I can’t figure out which of the proposed issues she had, what do you all recommend that I do to check on the rest of the girls?

I'm sorry to hear she didn't make it.

If you still have the body, refrigerate it and send/take it to your state lab for analysis.

It seems that she may have had an ongoing issue for a while, so it would be hard to know the cause, there's so many conditions that affect laying hens.

 

[SemiSweet2391]

I'm sorry to hear she didn't make it.

If you still have the body, refrigerate it and send/take it to your state lab for analysis.

It seems that she may have had an ongoing issue for a while, so it would be hard to know the cause, there's so many conditions that affect laying hens.

Yes, there’s a lot that can go wrong. My friend who is watching my girls disposed of the body unfortunately, but I will keep an eye on the other girls to see if they start showing the same symptoms. I’ll probably check them all for the other things you mentioned anyway.

Thanks for your help, I appreciate it