Non-Emergent: Cockeral Wheezes after Crowing

[PioneerChicks]

Might be completely normal, if you can do a video and put it on youtube and put the link here, it might help if others could hear it. I have a 4 year old rooster that has always wheezed/groaned on the inhale after a big crow, he's never had a respiratory infection. I think it's just a function of the anatomy of their throat which makes them able to crow in the first place. I've had cockerels make the same noise after death during processing when air is forced through the trachea inadvertently (which can be a little disconcerting), so in those cases it's just a matter of the air passing through.

Videos are not an option for me, so for now I'm just going to assume it's normal. But if he ever does show signs of any sickness than I will go from there. Thanks everyone!

 

[sourland]

What you are seeing is not at all uncommon. Many roosters fully empty their lungs when crowing and as they breathe in it's almost as if their vocal cords react to the intake of air. As long as he is eating and acting normally I doubt that there is a real problem.

 

[Wezdin]

One of my roos does the same thing, I'm pretty sure it is just them getting air back into their lungs.

 

[SueT]

My former rooster, and now his son, both have an audible inhale after their crow. Here's papa: