Polish hen choking, hiccuping or sneezing?

[Landerb]

Hello, all,

My polish hen just started doing this weird thing— something between a sneeze and a hiccup? She seems to be having trouble breathing, but the behavior seems to be episodic. We just began mixing pellets into their food, so could she possibly have one stuck in her throat or something? She has a pretty full crop. We tried massaging it a bit and I swear she burped.

No other signs of illness. We’ve had some other chickens come down with respiratory illness before & this seems different, but maybe that’s just wishful thinking.

Please help

 

[nuthatched]

Sneezing, she may have a irritant in her airway. Chickens don't have a diaphragm so they can't hiccup.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

How is she doing now?

It sounds like she may have aspirated some food, hopefully this will resolve on it's own.

You mention you've began mixing pellets into their food, what does this mean, do they normally eat crumbles and you are now giving pelleted feed instead?
See that she's drinking well and that the crop empties overnight.

Keep us posted on how she's getting along.

We just began mixing pellets into their food, so could she possibly have one stuck in her throat or something? She has a pretty full crop. We tried massaging it a bit and I swear she burped.

 

[Landerb]

How is she doing now?

It sounds like she may have aspirated some food, hopefully this will resolve on it's own.

You mention you've began mixing pellets into their food, what does this mean, do they normally eat crumbles and you are now giving pelleted feed instead?
See that she's drinking well and that the crop empties overnight.

Keep us posted on how she's getting along.

She’s better! We gave her some water and monitored her for a while and she stopped.

Yes, they usually eat crumbles, but our TSC was very picked over when I went to get more feed and they only had one bag of layer crumbles left, so I got it and the layer pellets to hold them over until I could find more crumbles. Was that a mistake?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

She’s better! We gave her some water and monitored her for a while and she stopped.

Yes, they usually eat crumbles, but our TSC was very picked over when I went to get more feed and they only had one bag of layer crumbles left, so I got it and the layer pellets to hold them over until I could find more crumbles. Was that a mistake?

I'm glad she's better!

No, not a mistake, sometimes you have to get the whatever feed is available.
She may have just inhaled a bit of food or water, sometimes that can just happen.