Squealing like bad breaks...

[Frecs]

I have a sick chicken and I don't know what is going on....I thought perhaps gapes but having read other threads here, it seems gapes is rare in chickens so I need to see what the collective wisdom of this site thinks about the following:

Brown leghorn hen, age 2 years
not eggbound
crop doesn't appear impacted or soured
eyes and nostrils appear clear
it is hot but she has access to clean water and does not feel hot...I've not actually witnessed her drinking water but have seen her foraging
she is still roosting normally

Behavior in question: Hen stretches out neck with beak open as if to vocalize but no sounds come out...then suddenly she makes a sound like squealing breaks...

 

[dawg53]

Possibly the heat. I had an EE that honked when it got real hot outside. Bring her inside in the a/c for the day and see if there's improvement, then put her out in the coop to sleep in the evening.

 

[Frecs]

But, she makes this noise first thing in the morning as she is getting down from her roost -- it is only in the high 60s then... that would certainly make sense during the hot part of the day but since I hear her at 6:05am awakening from her roost in the Camilla outside my bedroom window (yes, she refuses to roost in the coop and gets up high enough that I can't reach her) I have ruled out heat.

A few other points I forgot to mention:

she is the only one who appears afflicted out of a flock of 5 hens, 7 Muscovies, 2 blue swedish ducklings, and a pekin duckling.
she (like the others) free ranges including clean-up duty under the rabbit hutches
Today is day three of the behavior...
I can not take her to a vet due to a) only one livestock vet in the county and he is retired b) other vets are way too expensive for a chicken so I'll be treating her myself.
I have ordered some of Mollie's Herbal Wormer even though I doubt this is a worm issue...they could all use a treatment I'm sure and I prefer natural over Rx whenever possible.

 

[Michael Apple]

Open up the hen's mouth and look in there with a flashlight. If you see any yellow plaque or "buttons", it could be canker. Dusty environments can create labored breathing or bacterias and molds can cause an air sac infection. Sometimes a thread, or piece of string, or a blade of grass can get lodged in the throat.

Save your money on herbal wormers that won't do anything. Get some Worminator, or Valbazen, or Safeguard liquid labeled for goats if you want to effectively deworm your birds..