Can Chickens get a cold?

[DixieDame67]

Hello All,

This is my first post in the forum .....I have a 6 month old hen that i was given after the local fair last fall....She has always been shunned by the others and was kept in a kennel seperated ...She is now far bigger than my bantam hens and can hold her own....But she still will not get in the coop to roost, last couple of weeks of cold i have had to go out and lock her back up in her kennel to keep her out of bad weather , now she is coughing....i know that sounds crazy but its the best way i can describe this noise she goes around making , its like a cough ....Any suggestions of what i can do about this ??? Thanks

 

[seminolewind]

Hi, a cold (virus) can only be given to a chicken by a chicken. Not cold weather. Has your flock had contact with other chickens?

 

[speckledhen]

Honestly, chickens dont really catch a common cold. There are many viruses and bacterial infections, some nasty enough to make them carriers for life and able to infect other chickens even if they seem to get well. If you have a coughing chicken and there is nothing stuck in her throat nor does she have gapeworm, then she needs to be separated from the rest of the flock to observe so they dont become infected, if they aren't already.

 

[DixieDame67]

She does stay seperated from the rest , as i previously said she is the poor lil shunned one , but they have all lived together since last summer ....but one thing i have been wondering about is last couple days i have fed them pomagranites , she more than the rest seems to love them....could that be the problem? Thanks for replys i love reading in this forum i have gotten a wealth of information in a short time