My almost 8 Year Old Australorp has been off the last few days. She’s breathing a little bit heavier than normal and can’t speak anymore. When she tries to speak, it ends up sounding like she has a blockage of some sort. Otherwise she acts like the others. She eats, drinks, dirt bathes, etc.
There are no other signs of injury I can see, but sometimes one of the new chickens will get scared & fly away over seemingly nothing and cause the entire flock to fly up and away from their food. Do you think she could have flown into a branch and injured her voice box? There is a birch and a few mulberries in the yard.
So far I’ve treated this as if it were a respiratory problem. I’ve given her VetRX the last two nights & sprayed her nostrils. She has garlic & oil of oregano in her water. Tonight, I put a swab of peppermint oil in front of where she sleeps & also gave her some turmeric & black pepper in coconut oil. I’ve also cleaned the coop a little bit and expect to continue over the next week when I can. I wasn’t able to deep clean it last fall like I normally do so it’s been overdue. Her voice is slightly better than before - she can make longer sounds. But apart from that no serious change.
Here is a video. Near the end she tries to say something. She was not happy with me holding a mint towel in front of her face, normally she breathes softer than in this video.
There are no other signs of injury I can see, but sometimes one of the new chickens will get scared & fly away over seemingly nothing and cause the entire flock to fly up and away from their food. Do you think she could have flown into a branch and injured her voice box? There is a birch and a few mulberries in the yard.
So far I’ve treated this as if it were a respiratory problem. I’ve given her VetRX the last two nights & sprayed her nostrils. She has garlic & oil of oregano in her water. Tonight, I put a swab of peppermint oil in front of where she sleeps & also gave her some turmeric & black pepper in coconut oil. I’ve also cleaned the coop a little bit and expect to continue over the next week when I can. I wasn’t able to deep clean it last fall like I normally do so it’s been overdue. Her voice is slightly better than before - she can make longer sounds. But apart from that no serious change.
Here is a video. Near the end she tries to say something. She was not happy with me holding a mint towel in front of her face, normally she breathes softer than in this video.