I can see my chicken breathing from her neck...

[SimonRooster]

Yes, it is weird but true. When my hen breaths you can see a bulge in her neck. She has been doing this for about a year and also sneezes on a regular basis. Im not worried about it, but does anyone know what it is?

 

[Eggcessive]

Chickens have air sacs that are connected. Here is some info on how chickens breathe and a diagram of the air sacs.

 

[SimonRooster]

Thats cool! So you think she is breathing more from one of the air sacks? honestly, now that I have seen the diagram, It seems like the air pocket that bulges when she breaths is at the cervical air sac...

 

[Eggcessive]

I don't know, but it seems like that would be possible. If an air sac gets injured, it can balloon out, and cause problems especially if it becomes large. Your chicken may have a little defect or leak that you are seeing. When a chick of mine once had a leaking air sac from injury, I heard a clicking sound when it breathed. I hope your hen gets along well.

 

[ashgrovechicks]

Hi, I have just seen this, we have a 14 week old silver sussex who is also experiencing this bulging motion when breathing. Our girl has not been a straight forward chicken to say the least. She has survived a serious case of coccidiosis, is constantly sleepy, always has crusty (hard almost) feathers and has snot leaking from her nose/beak (not sure what it is called.)

Does anybody know if this is all related??
Thanks in advance.