Hen opening and closing mouth, looks sickly maybe gaping

[Hengirl22]

My 2 year old golden sexlink hen has not been looking very good for the past couple weeks. I noticed 2 days ago that she is slightly opening and closing her beak repeatedly and there is little to no sound. Her chest and whole body is moving much more than it should while breathing. She is separated from the other chickens and has adequate food, water, electrolytes, dewormer and I have been putting VetRX on her head and under wings. Any ideas on what the problem could be or recommendations on what I should do? She’s eating but not drinking a lot as well. Thank You!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

My 2 year old golden sexlink hen has not been looking very good for the past couple weeks. I noticed 2 days ago that she is slightly opening and closing her beak repeatedly and there is little to no sound. Her chest and whole body is moving much more than it should while breathing. She is separated from the other chickens and has adequate food, water, electrolytes, dewormer and I have been putting VetRX on her head and under wings. Any ideas on what the problem could be or recommendations on what I should do? She’s eating but not drinking a lot as well. Thank You!

Welcome To BYC

Can you get a video of her actions? Upload Video to the BYC GALLERY and provide a link. https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/how-to-upload-videos-to-the-gallery.1631126/

When was her last egg?
What is the dewormer you are giving?

Check her over for lice/mites, look inside the beak for any lesions or canker and see that her crop is emptying overnight, if the crop is not emptying, begin addressing that symptom according to the article linked below.

Photos of her and her poop may be helpful as well.



https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/

 

[Hengirl22]

Welcome To BYC

Can you get a video of her actions? Upload Video to the BYC GALLERY and provide a link. https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/how-to-upload-videos-to-the-gallery.1631126/

When was her last egg?
What is the dewormer you are giving?

Check her over for lice/mites, look inside the beak for any lesions or canker and see that her crop is emptying overnight, if the crop is not emptying, begin addressing that symptom according to the article linked below.

Photos of her and her poop may be helpful as well.



https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/

Hopefully this link works. This is the video of the hen breathing, she is not opening her mouth as much as I’ve seen her before. Thank you!

 

[Hengirl22]

Welcome To BYC

Can you get a video of her actions? Upload Video to the BYC GALLERY and provide a link. https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/how-to-upload-videos-to-the-gallery.1631126/

When was her last egg?
What is the dewormer you are giving?

Check her over for lice/mites, look inside the beak for any lesions or canker and see that her crop is emptying overnight, if the crop is not emptying, begin addressing that symptom according to the article linked below.

Photos of her and her poop may be helpful as well.



https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/how-to-treat-sour-crop-and-impacted

-crop-and-how-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/

This is the dewormer I’m using. She hasn’t layed an egg for at least the past 2 days.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

When was her last egg?

I'd give her extra calcium.
You can find Calcium Citrate with D3 in the vitamin aisle of stores like Walmart, CVS, etc. Give 1 tablet daily, just pull down on her wattles, pop the tablet into the beak and let her swallow.

If you suspect that she has worms, then I'd deworm her with an anthelmintic like Fenbendazole (Safeguard) or Albendazole (Valbazen).
Safeguard dose is 0.23ml per pound of weight given orally once a day for 5 days in a row.
---OR---
Valbazen dose is 0.08ml per pound of weight given orally once, then repeated in 10 days

Here's how to give oral medications:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...dications-to-all-poultry-and-waterfowl.73335/

When was her last egg?


Check her over for lice/mites, look inside the beak for any lesions or canker and see that her crop is emptying overnight, if the crop is not emptying, begin addressing that symptom according to the article linked below.

Photos of her and her poop may be helpful as well.

 

[Hengirl22]

When was her last egg?

I'd give her extra calcium.
You can find Calcium Citrate with D3 in the vitamin aisle of stores like Walmart, CVS, etc. Give 1 tablet daily, just pull down on her wattles, pop the tablet into the beak and let her swallow.

If you suspect that she has worms, then I'd deworm her with an anthelmintic like Fenbendazole (Safeguard) or Albendazole (Valbazen).
Safeguard dose is 0.23ml per pound of weight given orally once a day for 5 days in a row.
---OR---
Valbazen dose is 0.08ml per pound of weight given orally once, then repeated in 10 days

Here's how to give oral medications:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...dications-to-all-poultry-and-waterfowl.73335/

Ok thank you so much!

 

[Hengirl22]

Ok thank you so much!

Her last egg was at least 4 days ago

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Ok thank you so much!

Her last egg was at least 4 days ago

I'd see if the calcium helps. Keep me posted.

 

[Hengirl22]

I'd see if the calcium helps. Keep me posted.

Ok, I started giving her oyster shells today. I’ll see how she does and get some calcium with D3 if she doesn’t improve.

 

[Hengirl22]

She is improving but I’m starting to suspect that the problem is worms. Looking at the fenbendazole safeguard, which one should I get? I see one for goats and one for equine.