do older chickens breathe heavily like old people do?

[chickengr]

I rescued a 3 yo brahma hen. she is molting. she had too many fleas when I got her. she is clean now, her comb is darker but her eyes are half closed. I have noticed that she does not see well. eating and drinking normally, no sign of any illness. but I can hear her breathing just like old, fat people do. her beak is closed, no difficulty breathing except the noise. should I be concerned?


her comb is darker now than in pic. her eyes are like that all the time. I wormed her but it seems she didn't have worms. her poop is normal. I feed her 18% grower feed because of molting. she is not laying. skin around her eyes is yellow.

 

[TwoCrows]

Heavy breathing can stem from a lot of things from bacterial, viral or respiratory ailments, egg binding, liver disease or any other organ disease that cause the breathing cavity to take up the breathing space.

Noisy breathing can stem from similar issues along with deflated air sacs and heart valve problems. If the bird has ever worn pinless peepers, sometimes these can destroy the nasal cavity and make it difficult to breath or they can whistle when they do breathe.

Sometimes molting birds do breath in a lot of that feather skin and can have breathing issues, although it shouldn't be all that noticeable.

If this bird is eating, drinking, pooping and is active enough considering she is molting, then there isn't much to go on as far as what might be causing her noisy breathing. There would be other symptoms of the things I have listed.

So I would say just watch her carefully for a while. This just might be the way she has always been. But if she starts in with anything respiratory like runny nose or eyes, coughing or wheezing, you might get her started on some antibiotics. Watch for coccidosis as well...stops eating and drinking, sometimes blood in the poop, fluffs up, sleeps a lot and off by herself. Birds moved to new grounds can contract cocci quite easily.

I sure hope she is ok!

 

[chickengr]

Heavy breathing can stem from a lot of things from bacterial, viral or respiratory ailments, egg binding, liver disease or any other organ disease that cause the breathing cavity to take up the breathing space.

Noisy breathing can stem from similar issues along with deflated air sacs and heart valve problems. If the bird has ever worn pinless peepers, sometimes these can destroy the nasal cavity and make it difficult to breath or they can whistle when they do breathe.

Sometimes molting birds do breath in a lot of that feather skin and can have breathing issues, although it shouldn't be all that noticeable.

If this bird is eating, drinking, pooping and is active enough considering she is molting, then there isn't much to go on as far as what might be causing her noisy breathing. There would be other symptoms of the things I have listed.

So I would say just watch her carefully for a while. This just might be the way she has always been. But if she starts in with anything respiratory like runny nose or eyes, coughing or wheezing, you might get her started on some antibiotics. Watch for coccidosis as well...stops eating and drinking, sometimes blood in the poop, fluffs up, sleeps a lot and off by herself. Birds moved to new grounds can contract cocci quite easily.

I sure hope she is ok!

thank you.
she is not that noisy and definitely no other symptoms. I forgot to mention I used powder for fleas. and it is her eyes I don't understand why are half closed, I guess she is a bit anemic (after so many fleas). she probably is almost blind. when I give her boiled egg by hand she is pecking around before she manages to get it. and I don't think she will get cocci. she is with 2 other chickens I brought together in my shed with dry bedding (sawdust) and during the they they are out away from my other chickens. the other 2 sometimes pick her feathers from the bald area (it is killing me).

 

[TwoCrows]

thank you.
she is not that noisy and definitely no other symptoms. I forgot to mention I used powder for fleas. and it is her eyes I don't understand why are half closed, I guess she is a bit anemic (after so many fleas). she probably is almost blind. when I give her boiled egg by hand she is pecking around before she manages to get it. and I don't think she will get cocci. she is with 2 other chickens I brought together in my shed with dry bedding (sawdust) and during the they they are out away from my other chickens. the other 2 sometimes pick her feathers from the bald area (it is killing me).

Oh poor baby! She no doubt suffered a rough life from her previous owner. She may have been originally blind or because she was kept in such poor conditions, the ammonia in the coop burned her eyes. You might use some human eye drops in her eyes if you have any. Just a drop in each eye. Might help to soothe them.

Try to protect her from the others picking her feathers. You can make things yourself to cover up areas of their bodies with scarves and such. I had a bird over the summer that was suffering from depluming mites and she didn't have a feather on her loins or butt. The others were always bothering her, so I used a crop bra with a scarf like a skirt, to cover her back side and she didn't mind and she was left alone.


Ridiculous looking, LOL but it did the trick. I have never had any luck with no pick sprays and lotions or blu kote either.

I hope you can get your girl nursed back to good health. You might add vitamins to her diet, and even probiotics. You can use human grade probiotics. A healthy immune system will keep her feeling so much better.

Good luck with your hen!

 

[Jesusfreak101]

If you give them more protien it can help stop the feather pecking expecially if they are eating the feathers.

 

[chickengr]

Oh poor baby! She no doubt suffered a rough life from her previous owner. She may have been originally blind or because she was kept in such poor conditions, the ammonia in the coop burned her eyes. You might use some human eye drops in her eyes if you have any. Just a drop in each eye. Might help to soothe them.

Try to protect her from the others picking her feathers. You can make things yourself to cover up areas of their bodies with scarves and such. I had a bird over the summer that was suffering from depluming mites and she didn't have a feather on her loins or butt. The others were always bothering her, so I used a crop bra with a scarf like a skirt, to cover her back side and she didn't mind and she was left alone.


Ridiculous looking, LOL but it did the trick. I have never had any luck with no pick sprays and lotions or blu kote either.

I hope you can get your girl nursed back to good health. You might add vitamins to her diet, and even probiotics. You can use human grade probiotics. A healthy immune system will keep her feeling so much better.

Good luck with your hen!

thank you, I am going to dress up this lady! btw, she seems better today. may have been reaction to the parasite powder. the feed has already got added vitamins and I give them boiled eggs as well. I have eye drops as well. she was in the coop with a lot of birds and a lot of roos as well.

 

[chickengr]

If you give them more protien it can help stop the feather pecking expecially if they are eating the feathers.

I do give them proteins but it seems they do it because they are bored. I am going to dress up my old lady. thank you for the suggestion.

 

[TwoCrows]

thank you, I am going to dress up this lady! btw, she seems better today. may have been reaction to the parasite powder. the feed has already got added vitamins and I give them boiled eggs as well. I have eye drops as well. she was in the coop with a lot of birds and a lot of roos as well.

Make sure to keep your ratio of rooster to hen correct, especially with this particular hen. She is going to be a target for mating. Never allow roosters to mate sick or disabled birds.

The ratio of roo to hen is 1 rooster to 8 to 10 hens. Any less and roosters can over mate one or a few hens to death.

Good luck with your hen! She looks like such a sweet heart. Keep us posted and I do hope she gets her eye sight back!!

 

[chickengr]

Make sure to keep your ratio of rooster to hen correct, especially with this particular hen. She is going to be a target for mating. Never allow roosters to mate sick or disabled birds.

The ratio of roo to hen is 1 rooster to 8 to 10 hens. Any less and roosters can over mate one or a few hens to death.

Good luck with your hen! She looks like such a sweet heart. Keep us posted and I do hope she gets her eye sight back!!

she and other 2 pullets are in my shed at the moment, no roos. btw my roos are crazy, 2 of them share their old ladies and have never accepted 3 pullets, lol. they will not over mate because they scare off each other when trying to mate. if I wanted fertile eggs from them would be a problem. a cockerel is mating with 3 non desirable pullets but not so often as the roos are after him, too. my boys are my pets. in my case 4 hens to 1 roo works well. maybe because I have muscovie ducks in the same run so they keep busy scratching all day long.

my hen doesn't like her skirt. keeps taking it off. I wonder if the other 2 are helping her with that. it seems they peck her because she is quiet and not for feathers. the other 2 are young and very active. they come from an overcrowded cage, they now enjoy running.

 

[TwoCrows]

Quote: The others are probably trying to remove it for her. LOL My girls did the same when the one I pictured above first wore her attire. They gave up after a day or so. They will eventually get used to her looking this way. Especially if they have had free range to her feathers! (they want in!

) So I would keep putting it back on and I would bet by tomorrow it stays on.