hen that squeeks and has trouble breathing...

[limsan]

I hope someone can help me with a problem that has been bothering me and my little hen for months. She open mouth(beak) breathes often and especially in sunny or warm weather seems to really labor to catch a breath. In fact I almost put her down because I felt so sorry for her her breathing seemed that painful for her and yet she is still alive and she still has so much trouble with her breathing. I thot maybe she had something stuck down her throat. But,I tried looking and couldn't see much. She didn't appear to have any worms or anything really. Could she have a growth down there that would prevent her from getting a good breath.? Also, at night she has a harder time breathing. I am at my wits end. I hate seeing how difficult it is for her to breath but,she seems to really want to live. Also,she squeeks and squawks a lot around her breathing. You can hear her clear across the yard most any time of the day. I hope somebody takes this seriously and can offer me some advice or help. I don't know if I am doing the right thing to not put her out of her misery. Thanks

 

[patricium]

Not that I have a lot of experience, but maybe it's gapeworm? If you do a search on that here, you can see some recommended treatments - Ivermectin is one. Though if it's been ongoing for this long, it seems like she'd be much worse by now.

We just had a day of 80 degree heat here, and my 3 Red Stars were all doing open-beak breathing all day. They were also holding their wings outspread a little. I assume they do both of these things to cool off. Is your coop hot? - sometimes they heat up a lot during sunny days, and don't cool off for a long time. Or maybe she gets heated up by being near the other chickens.

 

[patricium]

Not that I have a lot of experience, but maybe it's gapeworm? If you do a search on that here, you can see some recommended treatments - Ivermectin is one. Though if it's been ongoing for this long, it seems like she'd be much worse by now.

We just had a day of 80 degree heat here, and my 3 Red Stars were all doing open-beak breathing all day. They were also holding their wings outspread a little. I assume they do both of these things to cool off. Is your coop hot? - sometimes they heat up a lot during sunny days, and don't cool off for a long time. Or maybe she gets heated up by being near the other chickens.