What's wrong with my hen?

[alanandlora]

My wife and I are new to raising chickens , so we have a lot of questions.

We have a RR hen that is 4-5 moths old , she started laying about 3 weeks ago.
This morning I went out to open the coop for the day and noticed the she was making a kind of squawking noise while tilting her head back and opening and closing her mouth. she is doing this pretty much non-stop at about 5 second intervals.
She doesn't have any crusty stuff on her beak or eyes. She has a gurgling noise in her chest like someone that had a chest cold .


Anyone have any ideas?


Alan

 

[Suzie]

She may have a respiratory disease...gurgling sounds from the chest may point to this.....you can give her antibiotics if that is the cause.

Is she free ranging at all ? If so she may have symptoms of gapeworm...this sounds more like a rasping sound with her breathing and they do tend to tilt their heads backward with this...

How is her comb looking? Is it bright red ?

Any further details you can give may point to what the problem with her is....

 

[alanandlora]

Suzie,

Thanks for replying. She does not free range , she stays in a chicken yard when not in her coop.
Her comb is bright red and she laid an egg today( girl is like clockwork! )