Trouble breathing every morning

[ioana]

Hello everyone,

I have been reading this forum for over 10 years and it helped me a lot. Now it's the first time I am making a post because I'm at lost. I feel like there are so many possibile causes for this problem and I hope someone can figure it out.

I have a hen that loses her breath in the mornings. She's breathing with an open beak, letargic and not moving, closed eyes, wings droped. It goes for like 20 minutes and then she's back to normal for the rest of day. It started at the beggining of September with a crisis like this, then she had another one a week later and now it's happening almost every day, some days worse than the others. Only once it happened later in the day. I also noticed her dropings have more clear liquid than usual. I gave her antibiotics(oxytetracycline and neomycin combo) but didn't work and then dewormed(flubendazole) to rule out gapeworm but she's still the same.

I will add the basic info and then go in detalil with her full medical history.

Age, breed and sex:
She's a female bantam.I dont know her exact age, I have her for almost 4 years, but I think she was pretty young when I got her from someone I knew. She used to live in a crowded space with pigeons, ducks

Diet:
I give her layer feeds mixed with cereals as per instructions (40% 60%) and various treats like grapes and berries, walnuts (her favourite), yougurt, and ocasionally a bit of cooked meat

Housing:
Well ventilated coop. She uses the steps at evening but in the morning she jumps (around 5ft). I'm mentioning in case the flying effort can be somehow related to her morning crises. Also free range under supervision in my yard.

Medical history:
When I got her 4 years ago she came with clogged nostrils. I tried to clean them and but keep filling with a lot of pus daily. I took her to the vet and they told me to put betadine in her nostrils but that did nothing. Then I tried different antibiotics and the one that finally worked was a drug combo including metronitazole. The problem stoped but her nostrils remained deformed. I am not sure if she can use them or if she's mouth breathing.
I've read somewere that metronidazole can cause egg problems so I am now wondering if that happened to her. She was never a big layer and she seemed to have a hard time laying an egg. But I don't know if it's normal for a hens struggle, she is the only hen that ever came to lay her eggs in my lap so that's how I noticed lol. This year I don't think she laid any egg.
I have read that reproductive issues can also cause respiratory distress so I thought it's worth mentioning this too.
I have noticed in the spring some gaping and some sort of hiccup sound so I gaved her some antibiotics then (tylosin and sulfadimethoxine combo) but I don't think it helped as she keept doing that from time to time. After that I didn't noticed unusual until the breathing problems in the mornings started in September.
I am really scared of heart and circulatory diseases (I think her feet are colder than usual) but there are so many other possibile causes.

So what do you think it most likely is?



Thanks to everybody who took their time to read my post! Any answer would be highly apreciated!

 

[ChickenLoverTrin]

Hi Ioana,

You're doing a really good job, giving her vitamins. Tbh I'm really not sure what it could be, maybe hang tight and hopefully you will get the answer you are looking for. Do you have any other chooks? If so are they separated from her? Also, try scrambling some eggs for her! Does she keep her appetite up?
Fingers crossed she gets better! Keep us updated!

 

[ioana]

Thank you so much! She lives with 3 other bantams and she's the alfa hen even though she's way smaller than them haha. Her appetite is good. I will deffinitey give her some eggs, thanks for the idea! She used to love the yolk but I totally forgot to give them in a long time

 

[ChickenLoverTrin]

Thank you so much! She lives with 3 other bantams and she's the alfa hen even though she's way smaller than them haha. Her appetite is good. I will deffinitey give her some eggs, thanks for the idea! She used to love the yolk but I totally forgot to give them in a long time

No problem! Hahaha, my frizzle is also the alpha hen but is the smallest! I'm glad that her appetite is good, my chooks love eggs as well!

 

[LaFleche]

have a hen that loses her breath in the mornings. She's breathing with an open beak, letargic and not moving, closed eyes, wings droped. It goes for like 20 minutes and then she's back to normal for the rest of day

To me this sounds as if she is laying internally or trying to lay eggs without shell.

started at the beggining of September with a crisis like this, then she had another one a week later and now it's happening almost every day, some days worse than the others.

Do your chickens gave grit and calcium like crushed oyster shellls available at all times?

her dropings have more clear liquid than usual. I g

Might be albumen/egg white.

.I dont know her exact age, I have her for almost 4 years,

At 4+ years in your care and unwell from the start you have done a good job keeping her alive with all the issues she brought with her

used to live in a crowded space with pigeons, ducks

She probably contracted trichomonas from the pidgeons and other diseases, hence the only medication that worked was the metronidazole.

got her 4 years ago she came with clogged nostrils

but keep filling with a lot of pus daily. I took her to the vet and they told me to put betadine in her nostrils but that did nothing. Then I tried different antibiotics and the one that finally worked was a drug combo including metronitazole

she seemed to have a hard time laying an egg

Shell-less eggs are very hard to lay as the contracting muscles don't find any resistance they can push against.

You could give her calcium 600. plus vitamin D3 +K as a supplement for 7-10 days to see if she will be able to build proper shells again.
Just get the ones for humans and pop one tablet into her beak every evening.

 

[ioana]

Thanks a lot! That could possibly be it. I don't think she has enough calcium in her diet. They have grit and crushed egg shells but she doesn't eat them and she's not even a huge fan of yogurt like the others. Last year she was eating a lot of grit right before she had to lay an egg but she doesn't do that now. And no other signs that she's about to lay except the labored breathing with the whole body moving.

I have calcium with vitamins for hens to put in their food but I didn't use it as I thought the layer feed has enough. I will start to add it. Or do you think the human tablets are a better option? Is it possibile to overdose her?

 

[LaFleche]

Or do you think the human tablets are a better option?

Yes, for the moment they are better.
You can use the other supplement on a regular basis like twice a week for your flock in winter

Is it possibile to overdose her?

Yes, one can overdose, but not with a few days of supplementing the much needed calcium for proper egg shell formation.