Coughing, sneezing, and one with clear snot

SCmama · Mar 22, 2012

Hey everyone, I have a question. I've looked up some posts on this topic, but none seem to fit my situation I guess. I have 5 girls, 3 I've had for 9 mos, and 2 I got a couple of months ago. Only 3 are cuttently laying, the newer 2 aren't quite old enough. Everyone is perfectly healthy normally. We live in South Carolina, and have been hit Really bad with pollen this year. They're calling it one of the worst, earliest years in history I guess. I know myself and my kids are all battling horrible allergies right now. At any rate, I was wondering if chickens can have allergies. 4 out of the 5 are sneezing/coughing and one has a small amount of clear snot. The snotty one just started laying about 2 weeks ago, and lays about every other day. (She's one of my originals). Egg production on my other 2 is great, almost every day! Everyone is eating well, has normal energy, drinking well, no change in temperment or spunk, anything like that. Just the sneezing and coughing. So, can it just be allergies? What can I do about it? If it's Not allergies, what else could it be?

Before anyone says that the 2 new ones brought something in, they didn't. I got them from a dear friend of mine who raises chickens, and wouldn't give me any that had any problems.

They free range for about half the day in our 1/2 acre back yard. I'm not sure what other information is needed to help my question, but please let me know what I should do, if I even need to do anything. Thank you!

~Jamie

dawg53 · Mar 22, 2012

My vehicles must have at least a quarter inch of pollen on them. My chickens arnt sneezing, coughing, no runny nostrils. One chicken having an allergy is one thing, but 4 out of 5? Time will tell whether it's allergies or a respiratory problem. For now, I suggest you purchase some tylan 50 injectable, it's fairly inexpensive and it's good to have on hand just in case.

mammat · Mar 22, 2012

You do realize that chickens do not get colds or allergies. Lots of poultry diseases are in a "carrier" state. Your friends flock could have a multitude of diseases that she does not know about. Her birds could be carriers and be TOTALLY asymptomatic. Get the tylan, it will help if bacterial and will help with secondary infections if it is viral.