Gurgly breathing

[WaveyCreekChickens]

My 3 year old hen Becky Pecky has a gurgle going on. It sounds as if she snuffed up water in her nose. It is not going away on its own. She is not sick, and she is doing all normal things, eating, drinking, foraging, being alert and active, demanding to be petted, laying eggs… Her comb is red and erect.
She has had this for 3 weeks now. I read the threads that seemed similar, and looked in her mouth and throat (looked normal), treated her for sour crop (even though her crop seemed fine), and treated her for respiratory issues with diluted Vet Rx. Nothing I did made a difference.
She tries to sneeze it out sometimes. The gurgle is sometimes more noticeable than other times.

This hen has a pre existing condition. Her foremothers have all had a reproductive issue, where their eggs are thin shelled, then no shell, then lash eggs, then died at a young age.
I don’t know if this gurgle is related to her condition.

Any idea what else I could try?

 

[Eggcessive]

Check her crop early in the morning to feel if it is empty. After being without food and water overnight, it should normally be empty and flat. Sometimes gurgling can be from crop contents coming back up into the throat.

If your flock has been exposed to a respiratory virus called infectious bronchitis, it can make carriers of the flock for a year. When a new chicken gets it, it just keeps passing on. IB virus can cause reproductive issues, thin shells. My flock had IB virus and many stopped laying eggs prematurely, and some did not live long lives. I stopped adding new birds or hatching any for 1 year to stop the spread early on. Signs of IB virus is sneezing. Antibiotics do not treat it, but it lasts about a month in each chicken. Testing or a necropsy of a dead chicken would be the best way to confirm that disease, which is common.

 

[WaveyCreekChickens]

I did check her crop early morning and it was always empty. That’s why I said she did not have a crop issue. But I treated for sour crop anyway, because of what I read in other threads and you said as well.

The thin shell issues have been from the beginning, and then one hen at a time over a period of 5 years. None of them had any respiratory issues, and none of them sneezed. I do not think any of that had to do with IB virus. All those who had it, were related. The others laid normal eggs and lived.
Becky Pecky has been laying thin shelled/no shell eggs for over a year now.
She does not have any discharge from her nose or eyes.
And she does not appear sick at all.
It is very odd.

 

[Eggcessive]

When they lay thin shelled or shell-less eggs, I would try treating them with human calcium with vitamin D for a week or so. But if there is a problem in the shell gland, this may not help. Do you feed a layer type feed or put crushed oyster shell out for them to take as needed? If so, it may be a problem that you cannot help.

 

[WaveyCreekChickens]

When they lay thin shelled or shell-less eggs, I would try treating them with human calcium with vitamin D for a week or so. But if there is a problem in the shell gland, this may not help. Do you feed a layer type feed or put crushed oyster shell out for them to take as needed? If so, it may be a problem that you cannot help.

I did all of that when the problem started in 2018. I tried caltrate and tums. None of the calcium supplements made a difference. I used to feed layer feed and offered crushed egg shells and oyster shells; right now I feed chick feed and offer both types of shells. The hens that laid/lay thin shell eggs did this regardless of feed and supplements. I came to the conclusion that it must be genetic.
Becky Pecky is the last of that line.
I know she probably won’t have a long life, but the gurgling, I wonder what that is and if it can be fixed.

 

[WaveyCreekChickens]

This is her today.

 

[Eggcessive]

Well, we are not vets here, only backyard chickens owners as yourself. Without testing or a necropsy of one that had these problems, it would be hard to say if IBV at one time had caused the laying issues, but it is possible. I know that my hens were exposed by wild birds to IB virus and it affected their eggs and lives. Many people buy birds from farms where they could have been exposed and may never had shown symptoms. Other things that can cause egg shell problems and thins ahells is listed here in this good article:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/common-egg-quality-problems.65923/

 

[WaveyCreekChickens]

You are right, it could be that the flock that I bought in 2018 brought IB virus with it. I won’t be able to afford testing or a necropsy, so only time will tell.
Thanks so much for your input. I appreciate it.

 

[WaveyCreekChickens]

If your flock has been exposed to a respiratory virus called infectious bronchitis, it can make carriers of the flock for a year. When a new chicken gets it, it just keeps passing on. IB virus can cause reproductive issues, thin shells. My flock had IB virus and many stopped laying eggs prematurely, and some did not live long lives. I stopped adding new birds or hatching any for 1 year to stop the spread early on. Signs of IB virus is sneezing. Antibiotics do not treat it, but it lasts about a month in each chicken. Testing or a necropsy of a dead chicken would be the best way to confirm that disease, which is common.

I would be interested in the timeline how virus affected your chickens.
How old were the chickens?
Did they all get infected around the same time? Did all them them get infected?

My Becky Pecky stopped gurgling after 6 weeks. In the meantime, 2 22 week olds got it, a young rooster and a pullet.

The thin shelled eggs happened over years.
If this is IB virus, Becky Pecky would have been infected in 2019 as a chick, started laying good eggs at 6 months old, and then developed thin shelled eggs in July 2021, after a year and a half of layong good eggs. (Her foremothers also developed thin shelled eggs after a year or two of laying good eggs, all on different years.)
Would the virus stay in her to cause a respiratory issue after 3 years of being infected?

Thanks for your time. I know you can’t know or guess what my flock has, @Eggcessive , I just wanted to know how it went for your flock.