chicken can't stop clucking

[CarolB]

I have been raising chickens for many years but I have never had this problem with a chicken. About a month ago my big white wynadotte hen suddenly started clucking and has not stopped since. About a week later she started stretching out her neck after some clucking and seems to be almost crowing or expelling air. I don't think she is inhaling. She makes a sound with this neck stretching. She has been treated with Wyzine and panacur for worms. I have treated her with Duramycin. None of these treatments have helped. She sounds as if she is very uncomfortable but she is eating and drinking. She comes running for her treats with the rest of the flock. She did have some whitish gray colored stuff around her vent at first. That seems to be gone now. I treated her for mites because I saw her picking at her legs one day. If she didn't sound so stressed out, I wouldn't be so concerned, but she seems very unhappy. I have heard her clucking and hollering late at night. None of the rest of the hens are sick. Has anyone ever had this problem before? If you have what did you do about it? I need some advice.

 

[seminolewind]

I've never heard of that. I can't even think of what it could be.

 

[Eggcessive]

Is she clucking, or could she be coughing/sneezing? Infectious bronchitis (IB) is a virus chickens can get where they sneeze a lot, especially at night and right after eating. It's usually very contagious to the others, although it usually doesn't kill older chickens, and runs it's course over 6 weeks. It can cause a drop in egg laying and wrinkled eggs.

 

[CarolB]

I want to say that I am sorry about the delay in a response. It was very kind of you to send the information about Mareks. It seems to be a possibility, just as much as any other or more so that she has the disease. She has been this way for a month at least and I don't think she is worse. What ever it is, it is moving slow. The rest of my hens seem to still be fine. The one thing I haven't done yet is pick her up and examine down her throat and look at the rest of her body. If I can't find anything, I guess we will have to cull her, because she seems to be very uncomfortable. I have noticed the last few days that she seems to be having some problem retaining food in her mouth and swallowing it. Also, she doesn't seem to be quite as large as the other hens of her breed in my flock. So she may not be eating as much as I first thought. It has been driving me crazy that I can't figure out what is wrong with her, but greatly appreciate your help in that regard. I was hoping with all the chicken breeders out there that someone would have had the same experience.

 

[CarolB]

Thank you so much for your response and I am sorry about not responding very soon. A family member has been ill and we all have been very busy. Everything is finally better now and I have some time. Our hen is still having the same symtoms and the rest of the flock is doing just fine. I feel so sorry for her because she seems very uncomfortable. She is not sneezing, just clucking or maybe it is a cough and after a few minutes she stretches her neck and out comes almost a crow. She is a hen and not a rooster for sure. She has given us some nice eggs. Anyway, I plan to look down her throat and feel the rest of her body to see if I find anything else wrong. A kind member sent me some information on Mareks and I think it very possibly is that. If I can't find anything else I will have to cull her soon. I have put it off too long now. She does seem to not be able to eat as well as she was because she seems to be having some trouble swallowing. She is always hungry too. Also, she seems to not be quite as large as the other hens in the flock like she may be losing weight. Anyway, I have never experienced anything like this and I have raised chickens for several years. I was hoping that some member may have had this experience with chickens.
Thank you for your kindness.

 

[chooks4life]

I once had a little cockerel who was gizzard bound and had gone septic from it and the blood poisoning caused him to twitter rapidly nonstop. Olive oil drenches fixed him. I only noticed he was in trouble due to the constant noise.

However while possibly poisoning may play a part in your hen's behaviour, I don't think it's the same. Derangement of the brain as with all nerves often occurs in severely poisoned animals and constant noise is one way to spot it.

Just a random thought; is she experiencing some sort of paralysis in throat or trachea/windpipe somewhere that is forcing her to constantly forcibly expel bursts of air (with noise, as that is how chickens most naturally expel air forcefully) in order to be able to breathe?

Some badly inbred animals including some thoroughbred racehorses have inherited partial paralysis that affects their breathing, causing them to make a noise. If you do an internet search for the cause of 'roarers' in racehorses, or those that haemorrhage from nostrils after/during racing, you will see it can all be traced back to one stallion who had one of his neck vertebra nerves (which control the opening and shutting of the trachea valves) which didn't go straight from neck to valve like it should have but looped way back through his belly first. Those horses are automatically disqualified and banned from racing now.

Maybe your hen has a similar problem. It's not often noticed in younger horses, so it's possible it could be adult-size related. The fact that she's doing it at night is a sign it may be vital to her survival, though constant clucking can de-oxygenate them sometimes as they don't stop to take deep breaths. Possibly she cannot breathe without using air the way she is, to shove some paralyzed part of her breathing apparatus open.