PLEASE HELP - CHICKENS BREATHING STRANGLE

[Countryhippie]

I was hanging out with my girls right before bed and they were all running around playing and I gave them a dish of their feed with water mixed in (so mash). Then I put them to bed and all was normal. I then looked on my camera to see if they had all settled down and then I see they are all like breathing through their mouths one is moving her head in a weird way when swallowing. One of my hens have been dealing with an impacted crop, but she has never mouth breathed before and the crop is not at all hard like it once was. I thought maybe they were hot as it was about 75 in the coop, so I opened both of the windows and its now 68 in there and they are still doing it. Is this normal and are they just adjusting their crop. I have never seen this before but I normally don't check the camera. They were literally running around playing, dust bathing, eating and drinking perfectly all day. I will attach videos in a minute.

Video Link #1:

Video Link #2:

 

[Battlepants]

Video 1 - Looks to just be overheated. Open mouth and flaired wings.

Video 2 - Looks to be overheated and excited by your presence.

Mine are doing pretty much the same in our heatwave over here, but our thermometer was showing 90-95F. Might be worth checking out if your thermometer is busted IMO.

On a side note - are they eating, drinking and pooping as normal?

 

[Countryhippie]

Video 1 - Looks to just be overheated. Open mouth and flaired wings.

Video 2 - Looks to be overheated and excited by your presence.

Mine are doing pretty much the same in our heatwave over here, but our thermometer was showing 90-95F. Might be worth checking out if your thermometer is busted IMO.

On a side note - are they eating, drinking and pooping as normal?

The temps hit 80 today and the low tonight is 60 in central Massachusetts. I got them last august as chicks so I never had them in hot weather. They have been doing it for 3 hours and haven’t laid down yet. I was just concerned that it could be something more. But it’s just so crazy to me because I didn’t think 70s would be that hot for a chicken to start panting. and yes they are eating and drinking and pooping. All are also laying. The only thing is that they have all had poopy butte for the past month or more. I have cleaned it over and over and with out fail the poop comes back. I had a fecal float done and no worms were shown.

 

[kcan2]

I agree it looks like panting! The heavy humidity of spring is probably the cause. I live in MI and although it was upper 70s yesterday, the neighbors chickens were panting pretty hard even out in the yard. I think I read somewhere that its 105° for them under all those feathers, so it's understandable!
Two in the back panting here:

Edit* also worth a mention that since hot air rises, the upper part of the coop tends to collect the day's heat! Good ventilation up there helps with that

 

[coach723]

They do look warm. Couple of thoughts, check their body condition, fat birds will have more trouble with the heat (chart below). Feathers hide a lot so you actually have to feel their bodies to know. You can also feel the abdomen, some birds will accumulate fat there and it will feel squishy, some are more genetically prone than others, but diet matters. Also a couple of crops look very full. Could just be feathers, but I can't feel it........check their crops tonight when they go to roost, see how they feel, then check in the morning before they have eaten or drank anything. Should be empty in the morning.
Might be worth repeating the fecal. It is possible to get a false negative result at certain times in the life cycle of the worms. But fat birds can have more trouble pushing droppings out also.
http://www.poultrydvm.com/featured-infographic/chicken-body-condition-score-chart

 

[Eggcessive]

I agree with it being hot in the coop. They typically hold wings out from the bodies and pant. What are you feeding? They do appear to have large crops. You want them to have a mostly full crop at bedtime, and an empty crop by morning. If they are not empty before they start eating and dinking, something may be wrong. I would limit or eliminate any treats or scratch if they are overeating or feel too fat. A balanced layer or all flock feed with plain clean water is all they need. Any treats or scratch grains should be very limited.

Coop ventilation, especially higher up over their heads is very important in coops. My coop has a metal roof, and it can be like an oven if I don’t have an out-facing fan, and all 6 windows open. If your coop doesn’t have good ventilation you can make more. Just keep windows covered with hardware cloth wire to protect from predators.

 

[Countryhippie]

They do look warm. Couple of thoughts, check their body condition, fat birds will have more trouble with the heat (chart below). Feathers hide a lot so you actually have to feel their bodies to know. You can also feel the abdomen, some birds will accumulate fat there and it will feel squishy, some are more genetically prone than others, but diet matters. Also a couple of crops look very full. Could just be feathers, but I can't feel it........check their crops tonight when they go to roost, see how they feel, then check in the morning before they have eaten or drank anything. Should be empty in the morning.
Might be worth repeating the fecal. It is possible to get a false negative result at certain times in the life cycle of the worms. But fat birds can have more trouble pushing droppings out also.
http://www.poultrydvm.com/featured-infographic/chicken-body-condition-score-chart

Thank you for the information! I brought one of the Road Island Reds to the vet on Tuesday for an impacted crop. She had eaten to much dead grass. Her crop is still a bit full but they put her on a motility drug (Metoclopramide) to keep things moving and an antibiotic (SMZ TMP), as well as flushed her crop. I have also been doing a lot of home treatments like coconut oil and probiotics. Anyway to make a long story short she is the only one who has woken up with a filled crop, but as of this morning it was almost completely empty. I have been feeling the others crops as well and they all wake up completely empty. When they weighed my girl at the vet she was a whopping 9 pounds. That was before they flushed her crop, which was completely full of fluid. But im assuming she is still at least 7-8 pounds.

I stoped giving scratch or any treats to them as I dont want them to get overweight. So all I give them is access to their feed when ever they want (Its half chick starter and half 16% egg layer crumbles mixed together). What is a normal weight for a 10 month old chicken?

 

[Eggcessive]

Each breed is going to weigh a bit different than others. Many common hens will weigh around 5 pounds, while a larger breed (brahmas, Marans, barred rocks, salmon faverolles) may weigh 6-9 pounds. There will be differences within the breed too. The breastbone should not be very prominent, but some chickens may develop a lot of fat. Here is a link I just found with average weights:
https://farmhouseguide.com/how-much-chickens-weigh/