Hen with exaggerated breathing!?

[tryxichicks]

Hi all!

I have a 5 year old Jersey that started to have very exaggerated breathing about 4 days ago.
She isn’t gasping, no open mouth breathing or anything. It is particularly noticeable when she lays down, she just has a lot of movement in her rear end, bobbing up and down, and the tissue behind her nostrils - what would be a chickens “cheek” area kind of puffs up with each breath. Zero other respiratory symptoms. Shes eating, pooping, good color still, though her legs seem slightly stiff, or like she has a slight limp? But she is up and moving regularly.

Today I noticed maybe the area above her nostrils seems to be lighter in color and getting larger? No visible lump or growth it just looks bigger?

I checked her for water belly, but she feels fine. Not egg bound.

I am treating with Denegard in the water, this is day 3 to try to curb anything from getting worse.

Any thoughts? The stiffness has me scratching my head, along with somewhat labored breathing…

Thanks for your thoughts and any help on this. She’s our favorite.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I have a 5 year old Jersey that started to have very exaggerated breathing about 4 days ago.
She isn’t gasping, no open mouth breathing or anything. It is particularly noticeable when she lays down, she just has a lot of movement in her rear end, bobbing up and down, and the tissue behind her nostrils - what would be a chickens “cheek” area kind of puffs up with each breath.

Shes eating, pooping, good color still, though her legs seem slightly stiff, or like she has a slight limp? But she is up and moving regularly.

Today I noticed maybe the area above her nostrils seems to be lighter in color and getting larger? No visible lump or growth it just looks bigger?

I am treating with Denegard in the water, this is day 3 to try to curb anything from getting worse.

Any thoughts? The stiffness has me scratching my head, along with somewhat labored breathing…

Can you get photos of her, her face and poop?

A video of her breathing may be helpful too. Upload video to youtube and provide a link.

Is she drinking the medicated water really well? Denagard is reported to be bitter, so often they don't drink like they should. Some folks use some juice or karo syrup to help make it more palatable.

Any improvement at all with the Denagard?

When is the last time she laid an egg?

Any lesions or canker inside the beak and is her crop emptying overnight?

Hard to know what's happening. The limp is interesting, I would lean toward her perhaps struggling with an egg or lash material, something pressing on a nerve. You can give her Extra Calcium if she should have laid an egg and hasn't. Just pop 1 Calcium Citrate+D3 tablet into the beak and let her swallow, give for 5 days.

The cheek area puffing I've seen folks describe that and often is it respiratory illness or sinus infection. The Denagard should help if you are dealing with Mycoplasma. There are various other bacterial and viral infections chickens can have, so if there's no improvement with the Denagard, then you could try a different antibiotic like Baytril to see if that makes a difference.

 

[tryxichicks]

Thank you! I will try to get some photos and a video today once it’s light out.

She hasn’t laid in quite sometime, this group of jerseys has never laid in winter even their first laying year. One of the other gals just started laying again about a week ago. I initially thought egg bound or something, but she’s not pushing and she’s pooping just fine.

I mixed the Denegard/ water with apple juice & she seems to like it just fine. I’ve watched her take big drinks several times. No noticeable improvement.

I also wondered about injuries from our roo…

I’ll try for some decent photos & post them as soon as I do. Thanks again!

 

[tryxichicks]

This nostril (area above) looks enlarged & white/ lighter in color and some pretty normal healthy looking poo…

 

[tryxichicks]

IMG 1800

Face and breathing video.
Note: Tail is down bc she just stood up from roost and hadn’t really moved yet. It’s up in the next one, and has been up and fluffy through this “ailment”.

 

[tryxichicks]

IMG 1803

Her walking, looks maybe less stiff this morning?? I think I did catch a bit of a sneeze or something perhaps. Which is the first I’ve noticed from her.

 

[tryxichicks]

February 22, 2025

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I also wondered about injuries from our roo…

This nostril (area above) looks enlarged & white/ lighter in color and some pretty normal healthy looking poo…

She's lovely.

Have you by any chance checked for any signs of bruising/injury under the wings and on her sides from the rooster? Check her all over for scrapes, bruising (green to purple skin). Sometimes a toenail or spur can cut upon mount/dismount and is just hidden under feathers. Is the rooster really rough?

While your at it, take note if there's lice/mites. And just to check something else, while you are looking her over, see if there feels like there's any air bubbles/trapped air under the skin around the abdomen, under the wings, etc. wherever there's an air sac.

I agree, she looks a bit puffy over her left eye, could be a bite or perhaps peck. Nostril looks like it may have some stuck on dirt, I'd investigate that a little further.

She moves o.k. to me, but you know her actions best. She's 5, so she may be starting to slowly come back into lay. That should affect her breathing though unless she's at the beginnings of some type of reproductive problem.

If the Denagard doesn't help and you think you want to treat her with something else, I'd try Baytril. She's bright eyed, good color.

 

[tryxichicks]

She's lovely.

Have you by any chance checked for any signs of bruising/injury under the wings and on her sides from the rooster? Check her all over for scrapes, bruising (green to purple skin). Sometimes a toenail or spur can cut upon mount/dismount and is just hidden under feathers. Is the rooster really rough?

While your at it, take note if there's lice/mites. And just to check something else, while you are looking her over, see if there feels like there's any air bubbles/trapped air under the skin around the abdomen, under the wings, etc. wherever there's an air sac.

I agree, she looks a bit puffy over her left eye, could be a bite or perhaps peck. Nostril looks like it may have some stuck on dirt, I'd investigate that a little further.

She moves o.k. to me, but you know her actions best. She's 5, so she may be starting to slowly come back into lay. That should affect her breathing though unless she's at the beginnings of some type of reproductive problem.

If the Denagard doesn't help and you think you want to treat her with something else, I'd try Baytril. She's bright eyed, good color.

Okay thank you. I’ll check further around under her wings. I checked her abdomen, but I just mainly focused there and her crop.
I’m trying to find a source of baytril as we no longer have a vet that will see hens locally. I may order from Jedds it looks like.

Last night I also noticed maybe some puffiness around two other chickens eyes. I think maybe there is something moving through the flock.

The roo is great, he’s big though.
He seems to be giving her lots of space. We trim his spurs but they are certainly still there. I’ll give her another once over. Thank you very much for taking a look & responding.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Okay thank you. I’ll check further around under her wings. I checked her abdomen, but I just mainly focused there and her crop.
I’m trying to find a source of baytril as we no longer have a vet that will see hens locally. I may order from Jedds it looks like.

Last night I also noticed maybe some puffiness around two other chickens eyes. I think maybe there is something moving through the flock.

The roo is great, he’s big though.
He seems to be giving her lots of space. We trim his spurs but they are certainly still there. I’ll give her another once over. Thank you very much for taking a look & responding.

Jedds is a good place to get the Baytril.

Your rooster sounds nice. Sometimes a nail or spur can cut the side or under the wing of a hen. Not intentionally, it just happens.

Keep me posted on how she's doing. If you are noticing a couple of other hens with puffiness, it may be something going around. Do check your ventilation in your coop too, often we tend to want to close up air flow when the temperatures are so cold, but that can contribute to extra ammonia in the coop and dust, etc. Ventilation in winter is important.