superkitty Posted December 3, 2011 Share Posted December 3, 2011 Hello all Constance scared the life out of me this morning - when I let them out of the run she started making a right old racket and when I went back out (in dressing gown and wellies) to see what it was, she seemed to be coughing! Looked like she was trying to cough something up - neck stretched out, beak wide open etc. So I went back in to put some clothes on and call the vet...but when I went outside again 10 minutes later, she had stopped and was yelling for food at the back door as usual! I have got rid of the northern fowl mites (my first foray into what can go wrong with chickens) as of last week, and they are both looking great, fluffy, clean knickers, their combs and wattles are much redder, eyes are clear etc. No runny noses or bubbly eyes or anything. At the risk of sounding stupid, can chickens get food or something 'stuck' and have to cough it up, like humans?! She had been in the Eglu overnight so wouldn't have had access to any food to get stuck. They have shredded paper in their nesttbox (sorry, POOPbox, given that neither of them are laying yet and they just perch on the side of it at night and poop in it!) so I presume she wouldn't have eaten that?! I'm just going to make them some hot mash and see whether she has any trouble eating it. Coincidentally, some citricidal that I'd ordered also arrived today so I guess I can put that in their water as well? I feel totally confused by these chickens a lot of the time - I had no idea it would be so stressful keeping chooks! However, I love them dearly now so it's pretty much worth it...but I don't know whether I'm overreacting or not, a lot of the time! Some questions: - If she doesn't sound rattly (am going to go and listen in a minute) and is feeding/scratting about/yelling at the back door normally and not coughing at all now (and can eat the mash with no problems) should I just leave her be? - If one of my cats was coughing I'd open their mouth and have a look to see if I could see anything. Can you do the same with a chicken, or would it hurt them? How would I do it? - I've looked up the threads on citricidal dosage and it looks like it's 4 drops to a full Glug. I was just going to go and do that. Is it still ok to put a capful of ACV in the Glug at the same time, or should I stick to dosing with one thing at a time? Would really appreciate any advice on offer from anyone that's online at the moment. If I need to take her to the vets, I can only do so today Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
superkitty Posted December 3, 2011 Author Share Posted December 3, 2011 Quick update: I've just given them their hot mash (which Constance chowed down on with normal levels of enthusiasm!) and then watched them for 15 minutes or so. One tiny 'huff' from Constance (more of a small honk really ) but no coughing at all. Scratting about just like normal. So I think she's ok (hopefully). ??? ??? But whatever was the coughing this morning all about then?! If anyone else has had this, would be really interested to hear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plum Posted December 3, 2011 Share Posted December 3, 2011 Good to hear she's ok and guess they can inhale rubbish same as anything else, but not had experience. I do know that yes you can look down a chickens throat without hurting them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
superkitty Posted December 3, 2011 Author Share Posted December 3, 2011 Thanks! All very odd - I was in with them for nearly 2 hours today (doing the deep clean on the Eglu, moving their pen fencing so they had some fresh grass to destroy, doing their second spray with the mite spray etc.) and she seemed absolutely fine. Will just chalk it up to Weird Chicken Behavious Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
