Hen breathing hard while nesting, watery eyes

[Chickflick29]

I’m not sure if I’m making mountains from molehills or not with this one, but my dear hen Clarice is a family member. Our vet isn’t open today, and I’m afraid to wait until after the Memorial Day weekend to get her looked at.

Clarice is a 5 year old Delaware hen, she’s mostly stopped laying except for a few eggs now and then. She still likes to go sit in the nesting boxes, sometimes for a few hours or more. Lately (within the last month) I’ve noticed that whenever she does, she starts breathing hard and today has watery eyes also. I admit this could be because I’m in S. Texas and the weather is heating up, but none of the other hens seem to be panting the same way when they’re in the adjacent nesting boxes. She’s mostly fine outside of it - I’ll catch her taking some breaths with her beak slightly open, but I haven’t noticed any gasping/nasal discharge/sneezing outside of that. I smell no foul odors, and I can’t hear any bubbly/raspy breathing when I put my ear right up to her beak. I do want to also note that she battled mites recently, I’ve treated with Ivermectin and Permethrin and she & the flock seem to be in recovery.

I swing between worrying I’m making an unnecessary fuss over a hen in the start of Texas summer and worrying that I’m disregarding an illness by trying to not panic about a hot hen lol.

She eats and drinks still, doodles in the yard with her husband and her sister, and seems like the same Clarice for the most part. If not a bit less active. I’ve attached a picture of her on the nest and her watery eyes, does anyone have wise words for me? Am I crazy ?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Does she still have mites? Looks like she may have some on her face, this may be why she has some watery eyes(?)

Did you clean out housing/nesting boxes and treat for the mites with a Permethrin based spray or something like Elector PSP? Most mites live in the housing, so it's important to try to eliminate them from there too.

Did you repeat the Ivermectin treatment in 10-14 days?

She's not laid an egg in a while, but she may be having a hard time expelling an egg. I'd give her 1Calcium Citrate+D3 tablet now, then once daily for 5 days to see if she lays and egg or expels some material.

Work on hydration and see that her crop is emptying. Has she been dewormed?

 

[Chickflick29]

Does she still have mites? Looks like she may have some on her face, this may be why she has some watery eyes(?)

Did you clean out housing/nesting boxes and treat for the mites with a Permethrin based spray or something like Elector PSP? Most mites live in the housing, so it's important to try to eliminate them from there too.

Did you repeat the Ivermectin treatment in 10-14 days?

She's not laid an egg in a while, but she may be having a hard time expelling an egg. I'd give her 1Calcium Citrate+D3 tablet now, then once daily for 5 days to see if she lays and egg or expels some material.

Work on hydration and see that her crop is emptying. Has she been dewormed?

Thank you so much for this very helpful response! We re-treated her with ivermectin for mites about 3 days ago, so very much hoping the few mites left won’t be around for much longer.. we stripped the coop completely, down to the wood, and then treated it with permethrin and allowed everything to dry before putting new bedding back in. I’m not sure if this may need to be repeated again, that was about 2 weeks ago. I’m trying to get my hands on some Elector (I like that it’s one and done), but I don’t have it yet.

As a small update, she was brought inside to be monitored/separated/removed from the heat and I’m convinced she has an acute respiratory infection. Slight sinusitis around her eyes, labored breathing when sitting/laying down, sneezing with clear, loose phlegm. No bubbles in eyes or mouth, no yellow or thick mucous, and she still has a healthy appetite and is drinking. I started treatment on Tylosin and Amoxicillin (water soluble powder), and she is still stuffy but has gotten a lot of energy back after the first day on it.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Thank you so much for this very helpful response! We re-treated her with ivermectin for mites about 3 days ago, so very much hoping the few mites left won’t be around for much longer.. we stripped the coop completely, down to the wood, and then treated it with permethrin and allowed everything to dry before putting new bedding back in. I’m not sure if this may need to be repeated again, that was about 2 weeks ago. I’m trying to get my hands on some Elector (I like that it’s one and done), but I don’t have it yet.

As a small update, she was brought inside to be monitored/separated/removed from the heat and I’m convinced she has an acute respiratory infection. Slight sinusitis around her eyes, labored breathing when sitting/laying down, sneezing with clear, loose phlegm. No bubbles in eyes or mouth, no yellow or thick mucous, and she still has a healthy appetite and is drinking. I started treatment on Tylosin and Amoxicillin (water soluble powder), and she is still stuffy but has gotten a lot of energy back after the first day on it.

With Permethrin, you'd want to re-treat housing about every 5-7 days to break the cycle. Elector PSP may be once and done, some report it's necessary to repeat that as well, you'll just have to check housing frequently to see if the mites are gone.

Hopefully the medication will help her, possible she has respiratory disease. Have you added new birds recently?