Chickens Sneezing Should I be Worried?

[pony007]

For the last 3 weeks or so, my flock (11 Brahmas) have been sneezing alot and many have had clear, nasal discharge on and off. The discharge is thin and looks like water, and has no scent at all. They have no swelling around their eyes, and no other signs of respiratory distress. Their poops all look completely normal, and they have not been acting sick or lethargic. They sneeze whether they are in the coop or outside.

I feed all flock pellets, and scratch and peck grower feed, so its a little dusty but not bad. I keep their coop very clean by shoveling their poop boards twice daily and scooping up any other poops that i can find on the floor. . It is however, really dusty, with probably way more DE sprinkled about than there should be, the rest of the bedding is dust free pine shavings. The coop does not collect moisture or get wet.

Does it sound like a respiratory infection? Should i put them on antibiotics? Or should I try to remove all the DE with a deep coop cleaning? I'm very new to chickens, so I'm not sure what to make of all the sneezing.

 

[ChloeSilkie08]

I don't know about colds and such but I highly doubt that DE would be causing the problem.

 

[WholySwampFarms]

How large are the pine shavings? Are they the typical shavings you get at TSC, or are they fine?

 

[WholySwampFarms]

Also, how much ventilation does the coup have?

 

[pony007]

They are the typical tsc pine shavings, so pretty big chunks. The coop could definitely use more ventilation, but its not horrible. We're planning on adding more when the weather gets better.

 

[Isaac 0]

I feed all flock pellets, and scratch and peck grower feed, so its a little dusty but not bad. I keep their coop very clean by shoveling their poop boards twice daily and scooping up any other poops that i can find on the floor. . It is however, really dusty, with probably way more DE sprinkled about than there should be, the rest of the bedding is dust free pine shavings. The coop does not collect moisture or get wet.

They are the typical tsc pine shavings, so pretty big chunks. The coop could definitely use more ventilation, but its not horrible. We're planning on adding more when the weather gets better.

Sneezing can be brought on several factors, but most frequently is either related to an environmental problem such as dust in the environment, or an actual respiratory disease such as infectious bronchitis (IB), or MG. Determining which one might be the problem will largely rely on diagnostic testing done by your state or national lab.

By the sounds of your post, your coop could be a little less dusty and could contain some more ventilation. A chicken's respiratory system is very sensitive and complex, so any dust can cause respiratory problems, and promote respiratory diseases. Microscopically, DE resembles glass particles and can be harmful to chickens if they are constantly breathing it in. You may consider stop using the DE, add some ventilation, and overall work on improving breathing conditions.

Even if the problem isn't environmental related, it will promote overall respiratory health. There are respiratory diseases such as infectious bronchitis that often causes mild respiratory problems such as sneezing in poultry. Antibiotics are usually not needed, and the birds generally recover overtime with IB.