Sudden coughing/sneezing fit

[DonyaQuick]

One of my 2 month old buff Orpingtons had a sudden and pretty sever coughing & sneezing fit just about 45min ago; it has subsided now but had lots of mouth breathing and gurgling noises - it sounded really horrible. My husband said she was making very loud alarm bok boks that he could hear from inside part of the house, so he ran to get her and brought her in because she started coughing and making other weird noises after he got there. When the sneezes started a couple minutes later, I put some vetrx on her comb and beak. That seemed to help and stopped the sneezing fit. She had a few other big sneezes after that but otherwise went back to eating, drinking, and walking around although she would still mouth breath periodically. I never saw anything come out when she was sneezing. I have a stethoscope so I had a listen and didn't hear anything off - no rattles or anything. At one point I saw a hair sticking out of her mouth and grabbed it, and she spat up the rest of it - it was a very long hair covered in snot. I don't know if that could be the cause or if it's just a random thing. Now she seems almost back to normal but still wants to lie down rather than peck around as she usually does. The others are running around because its breezy but she's pretty subdued - unless a treat is involved, in which case she's still very happy to run over and jump 4ft straight up in the air to steal it.

Is there anything else I should be doing other than checking up on her regularly and maybe another round of the vetrx?

The affected chicken has no other obvious issues - no discharge, smells fine, poops are normal, healthy appetite, no swelling around the fact, etc. and was her normal bouncy self earlier in the day. Sneezes in my flock have otherwise been pretty sparse, pretty much only when they get things up their nose (dirt, food bits, etc.). I have also never seen any coughing/choking or gurgling from anyone prior to this weird event.

 

[DonyaQuick]

Been back out to check on her a couple times. She's still wanting to lie down more than normal and occasionally I catch a glimpse of open mouth but if I wasn't looking for it I would likely not have seen it.

The run is mixed pine flake shavings and grass clippings right now. If it's an allergen or something in the clippings that could have caused the fit, I am torn between raking out the run to try to remove it or leaving it be to avoid the risk of stirring something up and making things worse.

 

[DonyaQuick]

My chicken with the horrible coughing/sneezing fit seemed back to normal when I went out to put everyone to bed today. No more open mouth and she is back to digging around like everyone else instead of lying down. Just to be safe, I put another dab of VetRX on her beak and comb right before herding everyone into the coop for the night. Still no discharge, swelling, etc. and breathing sounds good now as far as I can tell. Fingers crossed that this was just some random allergic event.

Are there plants that could cause this if a chicken ate it or got its face into it? I have had trouble with fleabane and two types of nettle, but have both done my best to eradicate them in my lawn area and also read in the past that chickens can eat them.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Sounds like she was experiencing stridor. This is when a piece of food/debris, etc. is inhaled into the trachea. Sort of like choking on a piece of food.
Stridor often resolves on it's own within 24hrs.

 

[DonyaQuick]

Sounds like she was experiencing stridor. This is when a piece of food/debris, etc. is inhaled into the trachea. Sort of like choking on a piece of food.
Stridor often resolves on it's own within 24hrs.

I got worried it was some other reaction when nothing came out after so much coughing and sneezing - but I had been assuming any particle would be in the nose. If she inhaled it farther back than that, then maybe she eventually hacked it up just enough to swallow it. She's still doing well this morning.