We have a six year old barred rock that a few days ago became fairly sedentary, and obviously is working (employing effort) to breath. Her whole body moves as any chicken's does when breathing, but the movement is much more pronounced.
She seems healthy otherwise. Comb and waddles look great. Very alert with bright eyes (when she's not sleeping). No history of illness or significant injury. She eats, drinks, and poops as normal. She can vocalize as normal, but has become reluctant to "talk" unless there's something to make her vocalize (whereas before she'd offer "commentary" all the time). Her posture is poised and perfectly normal (no drooping or saggy tail). She can roost just fine and moves around just find. Even scratches occasionally, though no where near as much as normal.
She naps almost constantly, usually in a 'secure' area. Her breathing sounds impaired. Not a gurgle, but audible with a "stop" that sounds mucus-y. Her actions seem commensurate with trying to limit the need to breath heavily. It's possible she got something in her trachea (I think that's called "aspiration" of debris?). She does have a history of trying to eat things she shouldn't (from broken glass to wood chips!). But most of those incidents were when she was much younger. I did add wood chips to parts of their yard a couple weeks ago. But one of her runs was entirely covered in chips for a couple years; that was when she ran into trouble with them. She seemed to learn her lessons at the time...
She's vaccinated for Marek's. No known parasite issues. The rest of the flock is perfectly normal. We maintain a tidy yard (re: pathogens/parasites). We dewormed the flock about three months ago. Her crop isn't impacted (per eating/pooping above). Her abdomen doesn't palpate either hard or squishy, just "normalish" as far as I can tell (comparing to other flock members). She has put on some weight this past year, but nothing I'd consider overweight. Up until a few days ago here activity level was high (although not at all at the point of the rest of the flock which is five years younger). She hasn't laid eggs in at least a couple weeks, maybe a month. But she lays very infrequently (can go months without laying) most of the time anyway.
I can probably get her in for an ultrasound inspection next week. But the vet is a 90 minute drive away and she has to be by herself in their waiting area, which is much warmer than her outdoor living. And she's very obstinate and strong willed. That's a recipe for a significant amount of stress on her. She's obviously trying to avoid stress, so I don't want to put her through that unless we need to. And maybe we DO need to...
I have VetRx, but haven't applied it yet. I have my doubts it would make a significant difference on symptoms, but I'm dead certain applying it would stress her out. She's a very spoiled chicken; she doesn't like being handled when it's not on her terms. She didn't want me to palpate her abdomen and that incident had her breathing harder than I'd like to see. Of course I will handle her however needed, when it's needed. But limiting her stress at this point is important to me.
I thought I'd see if anyone on BYC might have some insight before setting down the road of more drastic intervention. Thank you for reading!
She seems healthy otherwise. Comb and waddles look great. Very alert with bright eyes (when she's not sleeping). No history of illness or significant injury. She eats, drinks, and poops as normal. She can vocalize as normal, but has become reluctant to "talk" unless there's something to make her vocalize (whereas before she'd offer "commentary" all the time). Her posture is poised and perfectly normal (no drooping or saggy tail). She can roost just fine and moves around just find. Even scratches occasionally, though no where near as much as normal.
She naps almost constantly, usually in a 'secure' area. Her breathing sounds impaired. Not a gurgle, but audible with a "stop" that sounds mucus-y. Her actions seem commensurate with trying to limit the need to breath heavily. It's possible she got something in her trachea (I think that's called "aspiration" of debris?). She does have a history of trying to eat things she shouldn't (from broken glass to wood chips!). But most of those incidents were when she was much younger. I did add wood chips to parts of their yard a couple weeks ago. But one of her runs was entirely covered in chips for a couple years; that was when she ran into trouble with them. She seemed to learn her lessons at the time...
She's vaccinated for Marek's. No known parasite issues. The rest of the flock is perfectly normal. We maintain a tidy yard (re: pathogens/parasites). We dewormed the flock about three months ago. Her crop isn't impacted (per eating/pooping above). Her abdomen doesn't palpate either hard or squishy, just "normalish" as far as I can tell (comparing to other flock members). She has put on some weight this past year, but nothing I'd consider overweight. Up until a few days ago here activity level was high (although not at all at the point of the rest of the flock which is five years younger). She hasn't laid eggs in at least a couple weeks, maybe a month. But she lays very infrequently (can go months without laying) most of the time anyway.
I can probably get her in for an ultrasound inspection next week. But the vet is a 90 minute drive away and she has to be by herself in their waiting area, which is much warmer than her outdoor living. And she's very obstinate and strong willed. That's a recipe for a significant amount of stress on her. She's obviously trying to avoid stress, so I don't want to put her through that unless we need to. And maybe we DO need to...
I have VetRx, but haven't applied it yet. I have my doubts it would make a significant difference on symptoms, but I'm dead certain applying it would stress her out. She's a very spoiled chicken; she doesn't like being handled when it's not on her terms. She didn't want me to palpate her abdomen and that incident had her breathing harder than I'd like to see. Of course I will handle her however needed, when it's needed. But limiting her stress at this point is important to me.
I thought I'd see if anyone on BYC might have some insight before setting down the road of more drastic intervention. Thank you for reading!
