Can DE cause a chicken to cough?

[weenie007]

Can DE cause a chicken to cough? Last night one of my hens were coughing every couple minutes. This morning she is not coughing at all. I spent about 10 minutes with her an she coughed once. Yesterday I put DE down in the coop and layed some scratch down for them. Later in the day when I went to their coop is was so dusty from the DE. So I am wondering could she be coughing from the DE dust or could she be sick?

 

[speckledhen]

Dust of any kind can cause them to sneeze rather than cough. I've been using DE for years and I've never heard a chicken cough. I suppose if she got a really bad snootful, it could cause that, but sounds like alot of DE you must have put down, if so.

 

[weenie007]

Thanks. Does anyone think I should quarantine or is it to late since it's been 2 days?

 

[spatcher]

Was it food grade?

 

[weenie007]

yes, i believe so.

 

[WoodlandWoman]

If you put a lot of de in, food on the floor and they scratched enough that you saw the air was cloudy with dust, it could have been from that. Even inhaling something like flour that was cloudy in the air, could make them or us cough, if too much was breathed in. Plus, they would have their head right down at litter level as they ate scratch, which is where the dust would have been most concentrated.

I've never had this problem. I would say that you should skip tossing scratch in the bedding for now. That will give the de time to settle deeper into the litter, where it hopefully won't get so scratched into the air. If you don't have much litter in the coop and the de is pretty thick, you could also try adding a little more litter on top. Maybe try using less de, next time.

 

[dlhunicorn]

You should always avoid a dusty environment with birds ...

 

[weenie007]

Thanks. I called the vet and he said to clear out some of the DE an that was probably the problem.

 

[speckledhen]

Wear a mask when you do because if it's so dusty that the birds are coughing, it wont do you any good, either. DE seems to help grind down shavings faster than if it wasn't in them, I've found. And that creates extra dust.

 

[LittleMissRed]

Hi i have a real small sliver tip duckwing chicken who all of sudden had problems breathing and thought for sure she was a gonner and I just made her comphy and waited and she came out of it and also laid an egg during this time so Im wondering if it had anything to do with it or she might still be sick?? I have her in my bathroom and she seems to calm down on her breathing hard but she is still coughing/sneezing not sure which it is. I read on here to give Tylan 50 and I had a friend pick some up for me and its for cattle and pigs so can I still give it to her?? and if so do I really have to give a shot or is this something i can put it her water by some chance, of if anyone has any other ideas please let me know. Thanks