Help! Chicken sounds like she’s choking sneezing and idk what’s wrong!!!

[Crystal-Chicken]

She’s been doing this gaping think a little while now, like gulping, but it didn’t look serious so I passed it off. It’s been several months and she’s been fine. Her name is Esmeralda and she is a white Sussex chook and she is just over 4 years old.

She doesn’t look lethargic though and she’s been laying eggs every day or two days for years.

Two or three years ago she swallowed a foreign body, which we took her to the vet and they pumped her crop. She survived and she’s been fine ever since up until this week. The vet said she is lucky to be alive.
I don’t know if this is some sort of relapse if that’s possible or if she’s swallowed another foreign body... I notice she likes to eat feathers and plastic when little bits are lying around. We are pretty clean and not a lot of rubbish lying around but sometimes things slip through. I saw her trying to eat a fingernail sized plastic yesterday.

I don’t know what’s wrong or how to fix it we don’t have a lot of money to go to a vet.

If anyone can help me please email me at [email protected] and I can send you a video of what she is doing. I’m really worried about her..

 

[ChickNanny13]

What are you feeding her? Is she eating? Drinking? Pooping?
So is she still doing that "gasping" or has it passed? Sneezing? Any discharge?

 

[Crystal-Chicken]

What are you feeding her? Is she eating? Drinking? Pooping?
So is she still doing that "gasping" or has it passed? Sneezing? Any discharge?

Yes she is eating and drinking just fine! She eats a mixture of layer pellets and mixed grain, which she (and the three other chickens) have been eating for months. Occasionally they get scrap food from my work at a cafe or from my dads coworkers, but this has also been occurring for months. I haven’t seen her poop yet, but I haven’t had much time with school to watch her. No discharge from what I can tell.

 

[annmjensen]

If I could go back in time and give myself advice on chickens - it would be:

1) It is almost never nothing by the time we notice it.
2) Get the sick chicken out and away from the rest of the birds.
3) Start watching the other chickens with an eagle eye and if they start looking off; pull them too.
4) If it isn't obvious what is wrong with patient zero - get to the vet.

I definitely don't always obey these rules. But everyone could be spared a lot of heartache if we did. And money in the long run too. And worry.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

She’s been doing this gaping think a little while now, like gulping, but it didn’t look serious so I passed it off. It’s been several months and she’s been fine.

I notice she likes to eat feathers and plastic when little bits are lying around. We are pretty clean and not a lot of rubbish lying around but sometimes things slip through. I saw her trying to eat a fingernail sized plastic yesterday.

Yes she is eating and drinking just fine!

She eats a mixture of layer pellets and mixed grain, which she (and the three other chickens) have been eating for months.

Can you share your video with us? Upload it to youtube, vimeo, etc. and provide us a link.

Does she have a source of poultry grit (crushed granite) available?

Sometimes a chicken can gape or gulp when they are adjusting their crop - you mention that she is currently eating/drinking just fine. Have you checked her crop to make sure it's emptying over night?

Do you mix the grain with your layer pellets? Feed the layer pellets free choice. Mixed grains (scratch?) is a treat, so it should be given as such. Toss a small amount to your girls, but try to limit it since it's usually lower in protein/nutrition. This may be why she's eating feathers (needs more protein).

Try to look around and find all the plastic that is laying about that your chickens might eat - small pieces might go through o.k., but I would worry that it could eventually impact the gizzard.