wheezing hen

[williamsl77]

Hi all,

I went out to the coop today to find my leghorn wheezing with most every breath. Her comb and waddle are bright red. I went out today because I had not seen any of my chickens come out of the coop all day today, which is unusual. Only the leghorn is wheezing. I also dropped a bunch of carrot shavings on the ground and nobody came to eat them. None of the other hens are wheezing. No one has any runny noses. Nothing else appears amiss. Yesterday, one of the hens laid our very first egg. I think it was our NH Red as she was doing a bit of an egg song when I was in just watching.

I separated the leghorn as she was obviously wheezing and not doing an egg song. Should I start them all on antibiotics? Is having laid the first egg somehow stressful and has caused some illness? I have Duramycin 10 on hand, dose of 3/4 tsp to 32 oz, right? Also of note, I gave them 1oz wazine per 1 galloon of water on the 8th. There are 6 bantams all aged 16 weeks, 2 EEs that are 16 week, a leghorn 24 weeks, NH Red 24 or so weeks, and a Delaware around 24 weeks. They are in a large walk in coop with pine shavings, cleaned out every 2-3 weeks. Roosting boards cleaned about every other day.

What think the experts???

 

[williamsl77]

FWIW, just took out big plate of scrambled eggs and the coop hens dive-bombed and cleaned the plate in 60 seconds or less. The hen I put in the garage gave me a bit of an argument. I don't know if she is eating or not. She doesn't like her new quarters. I guess she will settle down in a bit. Brought her some medicated water, eggs and yogurt (usual treats around here). Will check on her shortly. I know lots of respiratory stuff is going around...... just wondering what I should do. So far, I don't think it's any of the super serious stuff...

Update: Wheezy girl ate all her scambled eggs, no yogurt.

 

[williamsl77]

Anyone??

 

[williamsl77]

None of my hens has come out of the coop all day long. Very unusual. Any thoughts??

 

[chkn]

They may not have come out because they had an incident with a predator (it is that time of year where, at least for me, incidents are on the increase). One of my hens had a very close call with a hawk two days ago.

About the wheezing...well, she's eating, that's a good sign. What type of worming delousing program have you done? The reason I say this is when my birds are being bothered by critters I notice head shaking and sneezing of all things.

I would do the Valbazen treatment and Sevin dust treatment then in 10 days repeat but add Ivermectin pour on. It would be a good time to add antibiotics to the water or at least administer to the wheezing hen.

 

[williamsl77]

Oh, so maybe the wheezing and not coming out of the coop are not related? That's good. I just gave them a treat and they came to my voice, which reassured me.

Thanks for the input, chkn.

 

[chkn]

Only the one is wheezing, right? If there was a predator incident, it's possible the 'wheezer' could be injured? I'd check her over real good especially around the neck, chest and back. Good luck with her and watch out for the chicken boogie man (hawks, foxes, etc.)

Of course they'd like scrambled eggs and not those yucky carrots!!!

 

[williamsl77]

Definitely only one wheezing. I will check her over asap. I didn't notice anything when I carried her to the garage, though.

There has been something biggish scratching around our yard at night. No evidence of this near the coop, though.

Hmmmm.....

 

[williamsl77]

Alright, so now she is not wheezing at all. So weird. Could I be confusing an egg song with wheezing?! At first, she was one I thought had laid the first egg. It's a big white egg. Then the NH Red was definitely singing an egg song. Her comb and wattles are very, very red. Do NH Reds lay white eggs or brown? I'm so confused. I would much rather be dumb and mistake her sounds and have her be healthy...

 

[williamsl77]

So I just looked it up and it would seem that Delawares and NH Reds typically lay brown eggs. So the leghorn HAS to be the one who laid the egg. Could the funny noises she was making be related to laying the egg????