Sneezing Chicken??? HELP!!!

[YoungChickenFan93]

ok, my friend has a 10 month old red sex linked chicken that has started to sneeze when she eats. She said that today when she gave Waverly her food she started eating then stopped and held her head up and made a sneezing sound. then she would eat again and make the sound again. Its the same food my friend has been feeding her since she was born. can anyone help me figure what is going on with Waverly??? Thanks so much! We are very worried about her!

 

[speckledhen]

I have a hen who sneezes her head off when she scarfs down food too fast. She has done it for years and has these fits where she'll sneeze over and over again. They can get dust from feed up their nasal passages and that makes them sneeze. Also, if ammonia levels are high at chicken height, that will also make them sneeze. As long as there are no discharges from the eyes or nose (other than sneezing out water), she's probably fine.

 

[SunnyBrookeFarm]

If she is sneezing, I would pick her up, check her for nasal discharge. She may have
a URI (upper respiratory infection). These are VERY, VERY common in chickens, because
they drink dirty water fouled by their own feces. I would go to your local feed store, and purchase
a $5 bag of Duramycin powdered water-soluble antibiotic. Make a fresh solution AT LEAST daily
for 10-14 days to be sure she is cured. If she lays eggs during this time, dispose of them so
you don't pass the antibiotic into a human. The ratio is one teaspoon per five quarts of water.
Or less than one-quarter teaspoon per quart of water.

 

[Noobchick]

Just wanted to thank you guys for this question and the replies. One of my chicks started sneezing yesterday and another started today-- but they are the fastest eaters of the four chicks that I have and they only seem to sneeze during and right after eating. Now I know why theyre probably sneezing and I'll be sure to keep an eye out for runny noses. Thanks again!

 

[speckledhen]

I would have to respectfully disagree about the antibiotics, personally. I have never medicated a bird for a URI in the going-on-six-years of owning chickens till a specific situation caused one chick to develop pneumonia. If I had thought for one second that it was something contagious (and it took me 24 hours of analysis and consultation to determine that diagnosis of pneumonia), that chick would have been euthanized immediately due to the nature of most chicken diseases that make the "recovered" bird a carrier from then on. Sneezing alone is not something I would ever treat.

 

[Noobchick]

If my chicks develop runny noses, what would you recommend I do instead of antibiotics? And I didn't know that infected chicks are never really "cured" but are actually carriers. Thats good to know for future reference.