my hens have breathing problems

[prittybitty]

my hens are panting with open beaks. i lost one hen that started out that way. i just thought she was hot.. next thing i know she is down and her comb is purple and a little swole. i need advice. i didnt know vets were hard to find to treat chickens.

 

[courtshep]

I'm not very experienced, but is there an ammonia smell in the coop? Maybe that is the cause.

 

[prittybitty]

no im not smelling it my self but they may be alittle more sensitive to it. i have a rooster and he isnt acting like anything is wrong

 

[Eggs-Actly]

I just went thru this and after much deliberation and various additives to their water it occurred to me what the problem was:
the fine pine shavings I was using. I had cleaned their area out this past Sunday and then put new pine shavings in but I noticed when I opened the new bag of pine shavings it was the "extra fine" stuff not the pine chips/shavings. Apparently I grabbed the wrong bag while at the feed store and did not notice it. I noticed some dust when I put the pine in but thought nothing of it until I went in the next day and noticed the girls were almost whistling their breathing was so raspy. Wednesday night I cleaned it out again and put the pine chips (it's not actually chips it's pine shavings but it's not extra fine) I normally use in and voila, they are fine. Thank goodness.

I don't know what you are using but perhaps it could be that simple?

 

[prittybitty]

i was using bedding hay and my feed store was out. so i bought a bale of feed hay which is much finer and dustier that may be it. i will remove it and see what happens. thanks