Emergency - Stridor Help

[Lady_Bat]

Hey everyone,

We have a 5 month old Easter Egger that just laid her first egg today. She was fine all of today, we went to lock the girls up tonight & I could hear 1 with Stridor from across the field. It's Cinco De Clucko. She is the only 1 that is in any way acting different or looking/sounding sick. I pulled Cinco from the coop & put her in sick bay. Her comb is still bright red. She's eating & drinking. Her breathing sounded AWFUL, I thought she wasn't long for this world when we put her in sick bay. I gave her some sardines (canned in olive oil) & she started sounding better. She did a tiny cute sneeze once. I know it's Stridor because I'm an EMT. I tried to upload a video but our internet sucks.

Here's the facts:
-Mixed age & mixed breed flock. Oldest girls will hit 2 years old in Feb 2012.
-We hand raised everyone, all were vaccinated for Marricks. The coop is sized for 40 chickens, we have 30 in there.
-We do Ployface Method Farming, mobile housing & mobile fencing. Cleaning once a week.
-We feed New Country Organic's Laying Feed
-Treats include: cabbage hung (once a week), Grubbly's black fly larva (once a day), spinach (once a week), sardines (once a week), Dave's Killer Bread - Organic Whole -Grain (once a week), cooked steel cut oatmeal (every few days in the colder weather), cooked pumpkin (up to twice a week in colder weather), fresh fruit in the Summer.

Please let me know if you have questions. Thank you for your time.

 

[Eggcessive]

Stridor sometimes may be from a speck of feed getting into the airway, but sometimes it might be from a mucus plug or swelling of the airway. A sneeze could be more of a respiratory disease sign, but I would watch it. Look for any development of eye bubbles or foam, nasal drainage, or swelling around an eye. Hopefully it is clear by tomorrow. There are a handful of respiratory diseases in chickens, from infectious bronchitis, mycoplasma gallisepticum or MG, coryza, ILT, and aspergillosis from mold spores. Here is a short video of stridor in a silkie:

 

[CluckerFamily]

I have never dealt with stridor before. Would a humidifier help this?

 

[Lady_Bat]

Stridor sometimes may be from a speck of feed getting into the airway, but sometimes it might be from a mucus plug or swelling of the airway. A sneeze could be more of a respiratory disease sign, but I would watch it. Look for any development of eye bubbles or foam, nasal drainage, or swelling around an eye. Hopefully it is clear by tomorrow. There are a handful of respiratory diseases in chickens, from infectious bronchitis, mycoplasma gallisepticum or MG, coryza, ILT, and aspergillosis from mold spores. Here is a short video of stridor in a silkie:

Her eyes & nose are clear so far. I'll research those possibilities. THANK YOU so much for answering!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Lady_Bat]

I have never dealt with stridor before. Would a humidifier help this?

It depends on the cause. I know with Asthma Attacks in humans, if no Inhaler is available, putting the patient in a hot shower helps relieve breathing difficulty. The humidifier is a great idea!! I will keep that in my back pocket in case research leads me down that path. Thank you so much!!!!!!!!!

 

[yakitori]

One of my silkies also just had stridor and was... hiccuping. I thought she was going to die too, because it was soooo loud! In the end, it seems like he/she had an impacted crop or something and the stridor went away when the crop cleared. I still haven't figured out what it was. She was pretty active throughout this, albeit reluctant to eat or drink. I t took her 24 hours to recover.

Are there any other symptoms? I think the other diseases often comes with runny noses and watery eyes or something.

edit: oh I just remembered that she wouldn't lay down, and remained standing throughout the night.

 

[Eggcessive]

Sometimes stridor can clear with a good cough. I had a hen who ate too fast who got stridor for several hours that cleared. A humid steamy bathroom might help and some people do use humidifiers, sometimes with oxine, for fungal infections from mold.

 

[Lady_Bat]

One of my silkies also just had stridor and was... hiccuping. I thought she was going to die too, because it was soooo loud! In the end, it seems like he/she had an impacted crop or something and the stridor went away when the crop cleared. I still haven't figured out what it was. She was pretty active throughout this, albeit reluctant to eat or drink. I t took her 24 hours to recover

Are there any other symptoms? I think the other diseases often comes with runny noses and watery eyes or something.

I kinda felt like a wirdo doing it but I did palpate all over her. No egg in the back end, crop had food in it but wasn't huge, it was mush-able/moveable, she gave no indication of discomfort when I felt her entire wind pipe & I didn't feel anything odd. She did 1 wee/tiny sneeze while she's been in sick bay so far. But that was the only thing that wasn't normal. In fairness I need to clean in that out building. It's Fall here, leaves have blown in the door a bit. Can chickens have allergies?
ps- Thank you for replying!!!!!!!!!!

 

[besorto]

Maybe she inhaled some dust from the feed? I have a hen that stuck her head all the way into a bucket of feed and ended up wheezing for an entire day after getting dust everywhere. I gave her a bit of olive oil and made sure she drank plenty of water. Her whole head was dusted white after dunking her head in the bucket .

 

[Sewtsyou]

I'm looking after a hen with 3 chicks hatched 4 Oct. She started laying again today which seemed extremely enthusiastic. Anyway, she's also started with as stridor noise this afternoon but I cant find anything really wrong with her. She seems well enough and that makes sense if she's started laying. Do I just watch and wait?