Rattle-y chest, deep frog sounding when breathing, sneezing

[porokelle]

Hi all,

We've had a girl that's been sneezing for weeks when eating wheat. Just sort of became her thing, and the others do it every so often.

Then yesterday I noted she started sounded a bit rattle-y when breathing. If sitting next to me, demanding treats she was sounding like a frog.
But she was acting normal self - running around, no coughing, no discharge or bubbles, normal clucking when running around, normal egg laying, normal color of her comb. She's normally the quiet one, so no loud egg song that could have rattled her airways.

Today she's worse sounding, by far. We have a dietary booster to put in their water (Agrivite - with sorbitol and minerals), and were thinking of trying some garlic with her, but the only garlic we have on hand has some citric acid or one with citric and ascorbic acid. Is that okay? Is there anything else to give her?

We're thinking infectious bronchitis is most likely. Wild birds are never not around, so easy enough to catch. All the other girls are acting normal, other than mom keeps losing her voice every other month (we think she's too ambitious in her egg song/get out of my box song).
We will probably bring her in for the night - it's been the start of those spring nights where it's warming up super fast and it's very dry and dusty all of a sudden, and something more stable might help.

And we're considering giving her another drop of invermectin/loxicom on the back of her neck (it's been 2 weeks since an initial dose - all the girls had bad lice at the start of spring, and this girl had the worst). Or would that be too much on her system?

We're relatively new to this (our girls just turned 1!), so much thanks for any suggestions and help!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Is her crop emptying overnight?

 

[porokelle]

Is her crop emptying overnight?

Yes, and there's no smell.

The chest rasping sound and frog like croaking was gone when we went out to check on her again. I won't be surprised if it shows up again tomorrow, like she gets something stuck in her chest or throat.

I haven't had a look into her mouth yet, but her nasal openings aren't blocked at all.

 

[porokelle]

She is still sneezing and turning into a very froggy voice whenever she eats something. There must be some cavity things are getting caught in. She is the chicken that will eat anything, of any size, and as fast as possible - despite being or maybe causing her to be the largest of all 5.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Is she near the bottom of the pecking order?

Try adding another feed station or two, see if that slows her down in eating so fast. She may be competing for food (real or imagined) and getting food hung up if she's eating really fast.

 

[porokelle]

Is she near the bottom of the pecking order?

Try adding another feed station or two, see if that slows her down in eating so fast. She may be competing for food (real or imagined) and getting food hung up if she's eating really fast.

No, she's either third or forth out of five - and by far the largest. The others don't bother her when she's eating. Maybe she's just very hungry being the largest. Her crop fills just as much as everyone else's.
She's the first to eat and the last still eating, first to run in for treats, eats all the trash greens no one else will, not picky about anything. I've even caught her running in and quickly gobbling up mouthfulls of oystershell when I put out a new batch. She just doesn't think and swallows anything in much larger pieces than she should.
Which maybe she ate something she shouldn't have, too fast, did some damage. And now when she eats it gets stuck in her nasal passages, causing a frog sound?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Has she always done that? Consider getting a fecal float to see if she needs to be dewormed.
You could try giving her extra protein and vitamins to see if that makes a difference in how she eat.

Some are just piggies and food driven. It's possible that she isn't processing/metabolizing foods/nutrients like she should and is deficient.

If you are noticing the gurgling especially when she eats, then this is likely the cause. I don't know how to remedy that really. Wet soaked feed may be more satisfying to her I just don't know.