No cluck and opening beak.

[weedemnreap]

Do chickens get laryngitis? Right around Christmas, Hazel (1 of 4) started sounding raspy. I gave her colloidal silver and apple cider vinegar and she started sounding better. She's been acting fine, no discharge or other symptoms but while she sounded like Darth Vader for awhile now she just sounds like she has laryngitis and no cluck.

Update: I was just out locking up the coop and saw that she is eating pellets but when she gobbled up some scratch from my hand she kind of coughed it out. She seems to be opening her beak a lot and just a slight hissing sound comes out. She doesn't appear to be in pain but not sure what to do. When she got on the roost, I felt her throat and it felt the same as the others but I'm not a chicken anatomy expert either (just a first-time chicken owner and worried about her). I haven't noticed any other unusual behavior.

I welcome any thoughts!

 

[Country4ever]

I don't know much about this, but have you checked her for gapeworm? Those affect the throat.
I do have some hens that can't seem to tolerate scratch very well. One of them in particular seems to get it caught in her throat, and then she wheezes for awhile.
I have one hen who has an expiratory honk every night and sometimes during the day. I'm thinking she might have a slow growing cancer in her throat.
Sorry I can't help you more.
You could try to separate her and give her some aspirin in her water and see if that helps with any inflammation.
I would quit giving scratch. its pretty hard on birds, even though they love it.

 

[weedemnreap]

Thank you. Is it problematic or dangerous if I do treat her for gapeworm and that isn't the problem? If so, should I also treat the others even if they're not showing symptoms?

 

[weedemnreap]

Sad news - Hazel, our buff orp, died this evening. She had seemed about the same till today but when I got home from work, hubby said she had been keeping to herself but that she had laid an egg (her 2nd one). He had found her sitting in the nesting box when he checked her. When he told me about her day and I noticed she wasn't with the others, I found her under a tree breathing hard. We brought her in and got her to swallow a bit of water; called the feed store and they said it sounded like a respiratory infection. Hubby quickly went and picked up Duramycin but just as we started getting it down her she quit breathing.

I'm kicking myself for not doing more earlier. I think if we had treated her, she would have been fine. Being first time chicken owners, we didn't know any better but I hate to think that my ignorance contributed to her death.

I'm going to miss her antics - she was a little slow but so sweet.

I'm not sure if what she had is contagious but I'll be keeping a close eye out on the others and try to be a better mom.

 

[Sir Birdaholic]

Sorry for your loss!

 

[artsyrobin]

I am so sorry!! something to remember, birds are very good at hiding illnesses, and as a new chicken mom i know the questions- i have lost a few this last year that i will always wonder if i had only known more could they have been saved- part of it is learning, sometimes it is worth knowing you did your best, and you will do better each time it happens- don't blame yourself! there are some things that no matter what you do, they can't hang on. do keep an eye on the others, and post if you notice anything unusual...