I have 6 hens, one of them a leghorn is a bit sick looking for the past month. She has her beak slightly open at all times, her breathing is heavy, almost wheezy, she makes a noise like a cough or a sneeze. I thought it was gape and treated her and the others just in case but she is still the same. I got her some vitamins, but no change.

Also the hens are 7 months old now and have not started to lay yet. It seems like they are never going to lay.

UPDATE: 2 leghorns have started to lay.

(See photo below)

Have you treated for red mite?

No, I'll give that a try too. Thanks.here is a picture of her, took it today. she is the white one at the front of the picture. She is the same age as the other two. You can see how pale her comb is in comparison to the white one at the back. It's not as developed either.

Does she scratch quite a bit?
If it is mites, you should treat them all.
I like your pen, do they go into the garden as well?

Yes, she does scratch a bit and puts her head under her wing too. The others don't scratch at all.

Thanks for your comments about the pen. My hubby and I made it for them, and they have free run in the garden too.

Here is a pic of their house with the run connected:




here they are saying hello to the guinea pigs:

Have a feel in her throat she might have a little bit of food stuck. I dont know if you feed them bread but this can get stuck quite easy and as they have no gag reflex its hard for them to reomve it themselves. There is a site called poultry chat that might have someone with better advice than me if thats any help. As for the eggs, mine didnt lay till 7 or 8 months and one of them only lays every whenever she can be bothered.

I'll have a look at her throat, I used give them bread when I got them first but haven't recently.

Happy chickens

How's your girl?

Hi Rona,
She looks a bit better these last few days, we HAD lovely sunshine, now it is so wet, we are getting snow and sleet and terrible wind, I have all the draughts blocked off so hopefully all will be well when this horrible weather subsides.....