[SamT]

Hi, my chicken has started making gurgling noises over the last few weeks, we thought she had a cold initially as she sounded a bit blocked up, but when she eats she sometimes stretches her neck as if shes got something stuck.  She is still eating and drinking lots and running around as usual so it doesnt seem to be affecting her that way, but in the last few days we have noticed a hard lump in her neck just sort of under her chin area this has only just appeared and wasnt there when this first started.  I have checked her crop to make sure that this wasnt part of the gurgling (as had sour crop in another chook recently so first thing I checked) and that all seems normal.

She doesnt gurgle all the time, and can sit and sleep with her beak shut so shes not having trouble breathing

She is a bluebell and is 5 years old now, so wasnt sure if it was age related or whether we should take her to the vets.  She seems happy enough and its not affecting her job as top chook.

Thanks for any advice

Sam

[joyfull]

when was she last wormed and what with?

[grinling]

has she got access to grit?
have you cut the grass recently?
any other animals which may use hay?
could be impacted crop

[SamT]

Have cut the grass it was after she started with this problem.  Plenty of grit, I checked her crop and could feel grit in there too.  No Hay, and have been worming them this week with Flubenvet.  If she was a human the best way I could describe it as her glands are swollen.  She seems a bit better today, she seems to do the stretching neck when shes eating rather than randomly, so I guess these lumps are causing the problem when she eats, but she doesnt do it every time she eats and it certainly isnt slowing her eating down.  Thanks

[Sassy]

Joyfull is asking about the worming in case it may be gapeworm that is affecting her. You may need to get her checked by a vet in case it is a tumour

[SamT]

Yes I did wonder about gapeworm thats why I started worming them again just in case.  I think I will take her to vet just to be on the safe side in case she needs medication to sort it out.  thanks

[joyfull]

gape worm can take longer to remove (an old fashioned way was to use a feather quill to oik it out of the hens throat but I've never tried this). If your bird has gape worm then you may need to continue with the flubenvet for another week.
Get your vet to look in her throat to see if there is any obstruction.

[SamT]

Took chook to vet today and I cant remember the fancy name he gave it think it begins with a T, but its a kind of respiratory problem and he looked inside her throat and its like a lump of plaque building up in her neck which is causing the lump and therefore the stretching of the neck.  Got some medicine to give her which should break it down and sort her out, fortunately he said its generally easy to treat especially as we got her in while she was still in good health so fingers crossed it will sort her out.

many thanks for all the advice.

Sam

[Sassy]

Glad the mystery is solved. You are lucky to have a vet that understands chooks.

[grinling]

http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/trichomonas

Did the vet say about egg withdrawl?

[barley]

omg just googled this - awful 

never had it and never want it