Smart Feeder - Light sensor values

[Tina C]

Can chickens get a sore throat?

 

We lost Cilla a couple of days ago and introduced new chickens yesterday - we posted them into the eglu after Cluck had gone to bed. Its all fairly calm at the moment so fingers crossed it will stay that way. Cluck is not amused and has been giving them warning pecks now and then - but she seems to accept she can't police all three of them at the same time. They are only 19-20 weeks so are quite timid and are just keeping out of her way, thankfully.

 

But she has been complaining very loudly on and off all morning. Now she has started following up her wild clucks with a kind of ho"Ooops, word censored!" wheeze as she breathes in. Could it be that she has just been shouting so much that she has got a 'sore throat' or should I suspect an infection and get off to the vet's? Cilla did not have a respiratory problem, just in case you wondering, and the new girls seem healthy.

[AnnieP]

Oh dear Tina! What a worry! I have never heard of a sore throat, but I suppose it is possible that a chicken could have one.

Do you think it could be a noise she is just making to frighten off the new ones maybe?

[jess]

One of my hens made a really loud wheezing sound for a while but it was just a cold

[Tina C]

Well she seemed to get over it after that first day with her new friends. It really did seem as if she had become asthmatic at one stage, or maybe she was having panic attacks. She did lay a soft egg that day though so I am still keeping a close eye on her.

 

She has calmed down a lot now and the intro's are still going better than expected. Probably helps that the three new girls have plenty of space to run into when she chases them off the food.

 

The only difficulty has been getting them to bed - Cluck sits in the nest box and gives them a peck as they go in. I had to post 2 in the first night and 1 in the second night. Chick Pea favours roosting in the holly bush - but as she is white, and there is a hole near the branch she choses, I can easily pull her out.