Hen sounds like she is breathing through a kazzoo

[Ogress]

1) What type of bird , age and weight. Blue Ameracauna, 10 months, maybe a little overweight
2) What is the behavior, exactly. I went into the henhouse at 2pm when I realized my daughter forgot to do her chores this morning. At the time, the hen was in anest box where she laid an egg (she started laying about a week ago). She was making an odd noise and at first I thought she had a strange eggsong. She hopped down from the box and joined the other hens around the feeder, but continued making the odd sound, like breathing through a kazzoo. She also occasionally hiccups and shakes her head or scratches at her thoat.
3) How long has the bird been exhibiting symptoms? Probably several hours
4) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma. No
5) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation. Forgot to open coop door until 2pm today. Plenty of food, but no water.
6) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all. Her crop is VERY full of pellet food. She drank just fine when I bought her water. The water seemed to ease her breathing a bit. She stopped hiccuping, and the "kazzoo" is not as loud. When I put the water out, she stuck most of her head into the bowl so it came up dripping - I have never seen her do that before
7) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc. Normal
8) What has been the treatment you have administered so far? Water with Oxine
9 ) What is your intent as far as treatment? For example, do you want to treat completely yourself, or do you need help in stabilizing the bird til you can get to a vet? treat completely myself
10) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help. She looks perfectly normal, but opens her mouth a little as she breathes. I did not see any nasa dicharge.
11) Describe the housing/bedding in use. 10 x12 walk-in coop. She was perched on the highest roost last night as usual, with no sign of trouble. I use wood shavings on the floor and more in the nest boxes. I had just cleaned out all the nest boxes with fresh shavings. They usually have access to a covered 10' X 24' covered run, and roam free on 2 acres by day; but with the snow, the birds won't leave the coop and run. This am we forgot about the chickens so they were accidentally locked in the coop with plenty of food but no water antil 2 pm.

 

[twilite]

My chickens have made similar sounds when they had food stuck in their throats. Maybe she ate too much food and without water couldn't get it down her throat all the way. She seems ok but the only thing would be if she got a secondary infection from aspirating some of the food.(I mean the food went down toward the lungs instead). I've never used Oxine but if that is an anti-infective agent that should be all she needs.

 

[Ogress]

Thanks for the reply, I suspect that is what happened. She is sounding much improved now, though not perfect. I just went out to check on them, and when she stands still, she does not make the noise. She ran from coop to coop following me in hopes that I brought out a banana or a pear for them. She even braved a 5 foot wide strip of snow to forage under some trees. She now only makes the sound when she is running, and she no longer opens her mouth when she breathes.

Oxine is a disinfectant. I sprayed all the water dispensers and I misted to coop she roosts in. If she does have a respiratory infection, I hope that will keep it from spreading. Because the onset was so sudden, and there is no discharge. I don't suspect she's ill. If she has scratched and irritated her throat, hopefully that will help fight any infection.

 

[twilite]

Hope she will be fine. I'll have to get some Oxine. I just read about it. Wherecan I get some ? Tractor Supply?

 

[Ogress]

I can't recall where I bought this, though I did do a search on BYC and found a few sources at the time I bought it. Good luck!

 

[twilite]

Ok, Thanks

 

[psycoforsilkies]

you can also dilute oxine and lightly mist your birds head 3x day if you suspect resp infection and can also fog or use in humidifier at night for resp infection

 

[Ogress]

Thanks for the humidifier tip - I had not thought of that. I likely have one somewhere in the garage that reeks of tea-tree oil!

I'm happy to report that the hen is no longer wheezing. In fact, I'm not even sure which hen she is. They are all healthy and happy, but I will keep using the oxine for a while as my run is very wet from all the surrounding snow melting and seeping in. I have about 6" of play bark in the run, and some of it has turned to mush! Once the snow melts I am going to scoop that section out and replace it with fresh wood chips.