Open mouth breathing

[Chickolett]

We picked up two pullets (one brown leghorn “Cupcake”, the other a brown leghorn/Easter egger mix “Muffin” from a local farm to add to our flock. They are around 12 weeks old.

Muffin has been open mouth breathing for as long as we have had her (a couple weeks) and the other has been fine. We have had them with our flock for several weeks and none of the other birds seem affected.

She doesn’t show any signs of distress other than the breathing. She only does it intermittently, and seems to eat and drink normally. It doesn’t seem heat related because she does it in cool weather as well.

She is more high strung than our other hens, the most fearful of people and also gets chased around the other chicks. She does appear to be stressed sometimes. (But the same is true for Cupcake )

I’d like to avoid having to catch her and examine her because I think it will be extremely stressful for her. And I think a trip to a vet would be as well. I’ve noticed the breathing is worse when she is frightened. I could maybe pull her out of the coop at night?

Is there anything I can do at home? Is it possible this is just the way she is or is it guaranteed to get worse or spread to my flock?

She has access to grit, chick starter/grower, and free ranges for a couple hours a day.

 

[Eggcessive]

Some chickens are very skittish, and do not do well being handled. If you can use a red light on a headlamp, and sneak up on her as she is roosting at night, you can see if she is having any respiratory issues, or open mouth breathing. It would be hard to know if she has something wrong, if there are no other symptoms. Bubbles in an eye, crust around eyelids, swelling of the eyelid or face, nasal drainage, or crackly breathing are some signs to look for. But since she has been a part of your flock already, any others would have already been exposed. Hopefully, she is just high strung.

 

[sourland]

It sounds as if it may very well be stress related. In that picture she appears to be in fine condition. I would provide multiple food and water stations to assure that she is getting enough to eat.

 

[BY Bob]

I'm tagging in @RoyalChick who is dealing with a case of ILTV in one of her pullets. None of the rest of her chickens are displaying symptoms but it has become quite serious in her hens case and is requiring a lot of effort to keep her going. If you could post a video of her breathing it may help to compare.

By no means am I saying that your hen has something serious but there are instances where they could and the rest of your chickens would seem unaffected.

 

[Chickolett]

Some chickens are very skittish, and do not do well being handled. If you can use a red light on a headlamp, and sneak up on her as she is roosting at night, you can see if she is having any respiratory issues, or open mouth breathing. It would be hard to know if she has something wrong, if there are no other symptoms. Bubbles in an eye, crust around eyelids, swelling of the eyelid or face, nasal drainage, or crackly breathing are some signs to look for. But since she has been a part of your flock already, any others would have already been exposed. Hopefully, she is just high strung.

Yes skittish is the word I was looking for. She is the first one to run around in a panic. I haven’t noticed any of those other symptoms.

 

[Chickolett]

It sounds as if it may very well be stress related. In that picture she appears to be in fine condition. I would provide multiple food and water stations to assure that she is getting enough to eat.

Yes I have noticed she was being chased away from the food and always eating last, I do have several food stations, Only one water so I’ll put another in just in case. Thank you.

 

[Chickolett]

I'm tagging in @RoyalChick who is dealing with a case of ILTV in one of her pullets. None of the rest of her chickens are displaying symptoms but it has become quite serious in her hens case and is requiring a lot of effort to keep her going. If you could post a video of her breathing it may help to compare.

By no means am I saying that your hen has something serious but there are instances where they could and the rest of your chickens would seem unaffected.

I did take a video but couldn’t figure out how to post it, would rather not have to set up a YouTube account. Is there another way? Her neck appears outstretched, but I also think she naturally has a longer neck than my other chicks.

 

[Chickolett]

I'm tagging in @RoyalChick who is dealing with a case of ILTV in one of her pullets. None of the rest of her chickens are displaying symptoms but it has become quite serious in her hens case and is requiring a lot of effort to keep her going. If you could post a video of her breathing it may help to compare.

By no means am I saying that your hen has something serious but there are instances where they could and the rest of your chickens would seem unaffected.

I watched her video from a gapeworm thread. https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/is-this-possibly-gapeworm.1536451/. Is this the pullet with ILTV? It doesn’t look the same as mine. Mine doesn’t look lethargic, she looks very much awake and alert like she just ran a race and is trying to catch her breath.