Hen is wheezing and rattling, small black scab in throat. Fowl pox or something else?

[Fluffy_Feathers]

If she's 4 and been in the same housing with no problem, then I would rule out ventilation.

At 4 and wheezing, I would suspect reproductive problems and maybe crop symptoms.
Check to see that her crop is emptying overnight.
I've had hens start to wheeze when they would get a bit of fluid in the abdomen due to reproductive disorders. It doesn't take much fluid to cause symptoms.
Interestingly, the symptoms can wax and wane little, at least it did in mine. Maybe their body was able to flush the fluid out, but over time it took it's tole unfortunately. Just speculation on my part.

Alright I checked her as much as I could do right now. I have some developments.

When I got home I let them out and they ran around to the front as usual. She seemed to be doing better than yesterday when I let her out. This time I could not hear her wheezing, and she wasn't stretching out her neck. She was, however, opening her mouth when she took a breath. But that quickly subsided when she started walking normally.

When I examined her tonight, I smelled her breath, and got a better whiff this time. There was no bad odor exactly, and nothing strong or pungent. As weird as this sounds it smelled like... potato chips. More specifically, cheddar and sour cream potato chips. I could barely smell it. I... don't know if that means anything... but the info is there.

I checked her abdomen again; no noticeable change.

Now, for the black thing in her mouth. It is not a scab. In fact, it was on the other side of her mouth this time! Yesterday it was on her left, then it was on her right. Then, when I went to get my phone to attempt more pictures, I think it moved again to more towards the bottom of her mouth towards the back. I gave up on pictures and switched to videos to try to catch it, and I think it had moved back to where it was when I first looked tonight on her right side. I think I caught a glimpse of it in the videos. I'm not completely sure, it's hard to tell what is shadows and what is the black thing. Is this just something she ate moving around, or is it some kind of parasite maybe?
Whatever it is, would it be causing her wheezing?

I eventually gave up on taking the videos too. It was really stressing her out, and her breathing didn't sound very good from struggling with me. Very raspy, and rather congestion-y. But the videos did capture her breathing so I will include a YouTube link to it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_spcIDutXOo

When taking the videos and examining her she did sneeze a couple times, and I have noticed a couple of sneezes since yesterday. No nasal discharge, no puffy or swollen face, and no bubbles in the eyes. Even with no other symptoms, could the wheezing+sneezing point to a respiratory infection?

Here are a couple screenshots from the videos I took. The black thing still isn't clear but I tried.


Here is something that looks like mucous. I don't know if it is actually mucous or if it is saliva.


I have 4 hens. I got 3 eggs yesterday and 3 eggs today. I don't know if she's the one not laying or if it's someone else, or if they're taking turns. Maybe I can figure that out Thursday since I'm taking off work that day.

I will check her crop in the morning.

She is still acting normal and her comb is a nice healthy red.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

The breathing doesn't sound good. I would definitely check the crop in the morning. Sometimes there can be some gurgling if the crop is not emptying or sour.

I don't know quite what to make of the dark spot. If it was moving about, it could be debris she has stuck inside the beak? Maybe a long strand of grass or straw and you are seeing just one end of it?

If the crop is empty in the morning, I would still take another whiff of her breath. Cheddar and Sour cream potato chips huh...could it be a yeasty smell? To me, normal chicken breath smells like their feed/what they have been eating, so what you detect would be worth taking another smell in the am.

Hard to know which way to go, she sure is having some difficulty there. If you have Tylan/Tylosin then it may be a good idea to begin treating in the morning if you aren't finding the crop is soupy and causing her wheezing.

 

[Fluffy_Feathers]

The breathing doesn't sound good. I would definitely check the crop in the morning. Sometimes there can be some gurgling if the crop is not emptying or sour.

I don't know quite what to make of the dark spot. If it was moving about, it could be debris she has stuck inside the beak? Maybe a long strand of grass or straw and you are seeing just one end of it?

If the crop is empty in the morning, I would still take another whiff of her breath. Cheddar and Sour cream potato chips huh...could it be a yeasty smell? To me, normal chicken breath smells like their feed/what they have been eating, so what you detect would be worth taking another smell in the am.

Hard to know which way to go, she sure is having some difficulty there. If you have Tylan/Tylosin then it may be a good idea to begin treating in the morning if you aren't finding the crop is soupy and causing her wheezing.

The black spot seems to be pretty together. I feel like I would've seen if there was anything going down into her throat. I don't know. I'll monitor it, I guess it probably is just debris.

I did feel her crop this evening. It was full of course, but it wasn't soupy or soft. It was a pretty good consistency, not too soft or hard. Will sour crop cause the crop to always be soft? Or can sour crop feel normal and not always soft and squishy? Does sour crop empty in the mornings?

I will for sure check her crop in the morning, and I'll try to smell her breath again. I don't have any antibiotics to give her so depending on her crop I will check the surrounding stores for those meds and pick something up after work.

I guess we'll see what fate holds in the morning.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

The black spot seems to be pretty together. I feel like I would've seen if there was anything going down into her throat. I don't know. I'll monitor it, I guess it probably is just debris.

I did feel her crop this evening. It was full of course, but it wasn't soupy or soft. It was a pretty good consistency, not too soft or hard. Will sour crop cause the crop to always be soft? Or can sour crop feel normal and not always soft and squishy? Does sour crop empty in the mornings?

I will for sure check her crop in the morning, and I'll try to smell her breath again. I don't have any antibiotics to give her so depending on her crop I will check the surrounding stores for those meds and pick something up after work.

I guess we'll see what fate holds in the morning.

What's her crop like this morning?

 

[Fluffy_Feathers]

The breathing doesn't sound good. I would definitely check the crop in the morning. Sometimes there can be some gurgling if the crop is not emptying or sour.

I don't know quite what to make of the dark spot. If it was moving about, it could be debris she has stuck inside the beak? Maybe a long strand of grass or straw and you are seeing just one end of it?

If the crop is empty in the morning, I would still take another whiff of her breath. Cheddar and Sour cream potato chips huh...could it be a yeasty smell? To me, normal chicken breath smells like their feed/what they have been eating, so what you detect would be worth taking another smell in the am.

Hard to know which way to go, she sure is having some difficulty there. If you have Tylan/Tylosin then it may be a good idea to begin treating in the morning if you aren't finding the crop is soupy and causing her wheezing.

Okay I checked her crop and it was completely empty. That checks off impacted crop. Does that also check off sour crop?

I smelled her breath again and I don't think it smells like potato chips anymore. It smells like some kind of food but I don't know what. It still doesn't smell pungent or bad necessarily. Not a yeasty smell I don't think.

So, that only leaves reproductive problem or respiratory infection. There doesn't seem to be a good way for me to figure out reproductive since it's inside her, and veterinary help isn't an option. So I guess what's left is for me to get antibiotics and see if that helps?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I would try antibiotics and see if that helps.

It can really be hit and miss to find meds in stores. Most were taken from shelves a few years back...but I've been able to find Tylan 50 and Fish Antibiotic (Amoxicillin) at my local TSC. It depends on your state. Tylan is more geared for treating respiratory illness like MG but could treat other things. Amoxicillin is broad spectrum but won't treat MG because there is no cell wall. You have no other birds that are symptomatic and I suspect whatever is going on with her is just her - meaning it's nothing contagious - whether she's aspirated and has some aspiration pneumonia, it's age related and it's an organ dysfunction - who knows(?) So...I think if I found both, I would use Amoxicillin, but see what you can get. You may end up having to order online.

 

[Fluffy_Feathers]

I would try antibiotics and see if that helps.

It can really be hit and miss to find meds in stores. Most were taken from shelves a few years back...but I've been able to find Tylan 50 and Fish Antibiotic (Amoxicillin) at my local TSC. It depends on your state. Tylan is more geared for treating respiratory illness like MG but could treat other things. Amoxicillin is broad spectrum but won't treat MG because there is no cell wall. You have no other birds that are symptomatic and I suspect whatever is going on with her is just her - meaning it's nothing contagious - whether she's aspirated and has some aspiration pneumonia, it's age related and it's an organ dysfunction - who knows(?) So...I think if I found both, I would use Amoxicillin, but see what you can get. You may end up having to order online.

I'll see what I can find. For the Amoxicillin, what do I search for? Is it just called "fish antibiotic" or does it go by a different name?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I'll see what I can find. For the Amoxicillin, what do I search for? Is it just called "fish antibiotic" or does it go by a different name?

In my TSC the bottle looks similar to this

 

[Fluffy_Feathers]

In my TSC the bottle looks similar to this

View attachment 2740971

So I did an online search of all the surrounding farm stores, and am waiting to hear back from one. None of them have either Tylan 50 or that Fishbiotic stuff. I even looked at Amazon and it didn't appear to have exactly that. However, I did look at Walmart and they did have some Tylan stuff

Is this the stuff you're talking about?

There are some places that I can get the Fishbiotic online, and it's half the price of that Tylan stuff. If that farm store doesn't have what I need then I think I will order it online. I'm just worried it would take forever to get here and then she'd go downhill and I wouldn't have anything to give her.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I've never seen TSC show availability of the fish antibiotic online. Sometimes they have it in the store/sometimes not, but not online.

https://fishmoxfishflex.com/collections/amoxicillin-fish-antibiotics
https://www.jedds.com/shop/tylan-soluble-100-g/