weird squeek/sneeze

[OrganicChicken]

I have a chicken who makes a squeeking/sneezing noise, about three or four times in a minute then in a few minutes will start up again. she seems pretty normal otherwise. Is this a sickness? What can I do for the chicken to make it feel better. I have twelve other chickens they aren't sneezing and seem fine. This has been going on for about a week, i thought maybe it would run its course, ive been keeping an eye on her and she behaves normal and no discharge just a lot of sneezing/squeeking. She doesn't do it at night while roosting.

 

[chooks4life]

Inhaled seek husks or other bits of debris can cause this. When getting feeds with lots of loose husks I wet them down to prevent this. Also some chooks go nuts over millets and other tiny seeds and scoff them so eagerly that they end up inhaling some, another common cause of squeaking.

Generally, they should be fine without any intervention; almost all are, even when they sound absolutely terrible (a Light Sussex hen I had was braying like a demented donkey for a bit, with every single breath, thought she'd die but I still have her years later... She fixed up within a few days)... But if her face begins going blue, best to put her down. I had another hen inhale something and this one got worse and worse until it was clear she was dying, so she received a mercy kill. And another hen inhaled some grass and died, once; if she hadn't been trying to scream at me and swallow grass at the same time she'd have been fine. Her aggression did her in, lol...

Asides from that I've had many chooks inhale something and most manage to squeak it out with three or less squeaks, lol, only those three cases ever went longer, and since giving them soaked feeds the problem is pretty much nonexistent. Very rarely happens.

There's a chance it's a disease of course but it doesn't sound like it to me, sounds more typical for having inhaled something that's gotten stuck.

Good luck with it, and best wishes.

 

[azygous]

Good advice from Chooks.

Is she scratching her face or head? If so, look at her nostrils and see if you can see something lodged in there. Gently remove with tweezers.

You can try massaging her throat and crop. VERY gently. Watch her comb carefully for changes in color, from red to gray to blue, as she sneezes and wheezes. That would indicate possible swollen tissue.

If she continues to breathe every breath with a wheeze or rattle, it could indicate a more serious condition such as tumors crowding her lungs or trachea. In that event, you will know it when she gets worse, not better.

Most often this is a passing thing.