My Hen might have a Respiratory Infection

[Thesweetbirdsflock]

Hi! It’s been a long, long time since I’ve been on here, but my chicken, Abby is very sick. About 3-4 days ago she was acting extremely lethargic and panting excessively. Because the temperatures have been in the 100’s I assume she as just hot. That afternoon I brought her inside to cool off. She laid in the bottom half of a small dog crate for the rest of the day just panting and panting and drinking like crazy but had no interest in food. That night I put her back out with the other two hens to sleep, but the next afternoon I ended up bringing her inside again. The day after that it cooled down to about 95 so she spent the whole day outside. Very lethargic. Just laying around and panting. I realized today that it wasn’t the heat bothering her because it’s in the low 80’s and overcast and she’s acting the same way. She also started a more gasping type of pant. I decided she must have sour crop, as her crop was full that morning and she hadn’t eaten anything. So I fed her some yogurt mixed with oregano and olive oil. I also did the massaging the crop thing until she threw up a few times. In her crop was some freeze-dried grub worms that I give as treats. She hasn’t had those for awhile and yet they were still sitting in her crop. Odd. Thier coop is already divided into three “chicken suites” as I call them because they pick on each other so much. I put her into her “suite” with some of the yogurt mixture and she stayed there for the afternoon. I went to check on her about 3 or so hours ago (it’s about 5 pm right now) and she was making a sneezing sound in between gasps for air. I can hear her moving around fluid in her throat. When she breathes/gasps the part right under her beak by her wattle inflates and deflates a lot. I think she might have chicken respiratory infection. I moved her back inside and gave her more yogurt as well as apple cider vinegar and garlic powder. She is still drinking a LOT (I also have been giving her poultry electrolytes) and in the last half hour or so she has pooped twice and it was actual poop and not just runny white stuff. I’m not really sure what to do. Any suggestions?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Does she lay eggs?
How old is she?

Feel her abdomen for bloat or fluid. Crop symptoms can very well cause trouble breathing, especially if she's aspirated some of the fluid when you pressed the crop.
A crop with fluid or that is sour should not be massaged.
Often a bird that has crop symptoms also has an underlying condition like reproductive disorder, worms, infection, etc.

I would treat for Sour crop and examine her more closely to see if there's also indication of reproductive issues or worms.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/

 

[Thesweetbirdsflock]

Does she lay eggs?
How old is she?

Feel her abdomen for bloat or fluid. Crop symptoms can very well cause trouble breathing, especially if she's aspirated some of the fluid when you pressed the crop.
A crop with fluid or that is sour should not be massaged.
Often a bird that has crop symptoms also has an underlying condition like reproductive disorder, worms, infection, etc.

I would treat for Sour crop and examine her more closely to see if there's also indication of reproductive issues or worms.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/

Thank you so much! Sweet Abby has always had problems with laying eggs. She’s about 2 years old. “Aspirated some of the fluid” doesn’t seem to far off based on how she’s acting. Probably should’ve asked here before trusting Google…. :/ I’ll probably give her some dewormer then. She’s always been an “accident-prone hen” so to speak! I wouldn’t be surprised if she had a few other conditions…

 

[Wyorp Rock]

If she's had issues laying an egg, she may have a reproductive problem going on.
You can try antibiotics to see if those help reduce inflammation enough to get things moving.

 

[Thesweetbirdsflock]

Ok. Thank you!!