Hen breathing heavy while sleeping

[Chickenpapa77]

I have a bunch of large breed hens and they always seem to rock when falling asleep, but once asleep for a while are more still. One of them with the most pronounced rocking while breathing just turned 10. I would have to say I mostly notice it when they are laying on the ground taking a nap.

 

[Chickadeedeedeedee]

Hi everyone. I took the hen to the vet a few weeks ago. They said her respiratory rate was high and they did blood work. Her white blood cell count was high which could point to a respiratory infection. There were other high values on the blood work but nothing that would point to a cause for the breathing. Of course, the vet mentioned all these of "what ifs/possibilities", but she is still acting completely normal otherwise and even laying more than when I posted this video. So I opted for the antibiotics rather than any other crazy further testing BUT I cannot get the pill in her! She fights so hard and she won't eat it hidden in any type of food either. I've contacted the vet to see if I can have an injectable version of the medication because I've done that before. I don't know what to do....my husband is like, she's happy and doing everything as usual maybe we should let her be, but I hate seeing how she's breathing at night!

 

[StinkyAcres]

Kneel down, hold her on your knee with your non-dominant hand wrapped around her and pull down on her wattles with that hand. Pop the pill in with your dominant hand and close her beak and she should swallow it. You can wrap her in a towel if she flaps her wings too much. My chickens get used to taking pills after a while and eventually stop struggling for the most part.

 

[Sunshade82]

Hi everyone. I took the hen to the vet a few weeks ago. They said her respiratory rate was high and they did blood work. Her white blood cell count was high which could point to a respiratory infection. There were other high values on the blood work but nothing that would point to a cause for the breathing. Of course, the vet mentioned all these of "what ifs/possibilities", but she is still acting completely normal otherwise and even laying more than when I posted this video. So I opted for the antibiotics rather than any other crazy further testing BUT I cannot get the pill in her! She fights so hard and she won't eat it hidden in any type of food either. I've contacted the vet to see if I can have an injectable version of the medication because I've done that before. I don't know what to do....my husband is like, she's happy and doing everything as usual maybe we should let her be, but I hate seeing how she's breathing at night!

How is your chicken doing now? I just noticed this same behavior in one of my birds. No other symptoms, just the heavy breathing at night.

 

[Chickadeedeedeedee]

How is your chicken doing now? I just noticed this same behavior in one of my birds. No other symptoms, just the heavy breathing at night.

She's the same! Healthy otherwise! I noticed she wasn't doing it when she was broody. How strange. She's happy and doing everything else she should be doing so I just watch to make sure nothing changes.