Discolored beaks and sneezing

[showbarnmom]

A few weeks ago I brought home a pullet that was sneezing. Hadn't been sneezing, started when I was driving home. When I got home and unloaded her, into quarantine, I noticed another one of my pullets sneezing.

A coon got all but 1 (sneezing) pullets I had in quarantine. Figured since I had another one already sneezing, and the fact of the coon, I put them together. Then I did a week of antibiotics. Sneezing didn't stop but didn't get worse.

Fast forward to today. 2 pullets still sneezing. Now I have 1 adult sneezing, and all sneezing birds have black discoloration around nostrils and down the top of their beaks. (I have pictures.) several other birds have the same discoloration, but no noted sneezing.

Everyone is eating and drinking and still laying when appropriate. Other than sneezing and discoloration, no other symptoms. I haven't repeated antibiotics because it hasn't made a difference.

Thought?

No noted drainage from the nose. I did note my RIR regurgitated water the other day when I went up to lock every one up. However she isn't sneezing so not sure if its relative.

 

[Beekissed]

Fungal spores? It can cause the sneezing and the black around the nostrils and giving an antibiotic can actually make them grow more. Something in the coop environment that is causing mold spores and growth? Moldy hay or bedding?


If it were my birds I'd try to locate the source of mold, if any, and remove it, then I'd wash out their nostrils with some saline wash, dose each bird with castor oil~an antifungal~and see what happens. If no improvement, I'd proceed from there.

 

[Eggcessive]

This sounds a lot like infectious bronchitis, which is a viral disease. Usually sneezing and a dirty nose are the only symptoms, but there sometimes can be other respiratory symptoms. Antibiotics don't do anything for this, unless you are treating a secondary bacterial infection. It lasts around a month, and every chicken will be exposed on your property. It's not that serious unless there are young chicks around. Most chickens do well after recovery, but may be a carrier for up to a year. There can be a decrease in laying eggs that may be temporary.

 

[showbarnmom]

Thank you both! We have had 100* + days, for about 4 weeks. I don't *think* I have any mold in the coops, I do fairly frequent bedding changes, but that doesn't mean anything. The pullets were in one coop, and moved them into the large coop. However, the viral infection def makes sense, just given my luck. And the fact its spreading, but not super rapidly. But I think I can def rinse out noses over the weekend, and see if that improves it. And do a bedding change. About how much castor oil would I do for LF adults? Is there a bleach type solution i could spray in the coops to help?

 

[Beekissed]

I wouldn't spray any bleach...just a tad too harsh on the coop environment. I use a dropper full of castor oil if dosing a chicken. They say 1.5 cc, but I'm not one much for precise measurements, so I just use a dropper each.

 

[showbarnmom]

Is there an alternative to castor? I only ask to avoid going into town lol

 

[Beekissed]

Not that I know of..though, if this is viral, you can give their immune system a boost by dosing each with garlic, honey, and mother vinegar as a bolus dosage. It's done some minor miracles for my livestock in the past.

 

[showbarnmom]

Not that I know of..though, if this is viral, you can give their immune system a boost by dosing each with garlic, honey, and mother vinegar as a bolus dosage.  It's done some minor miracles for my livestock in the past. 

 

I feed FF, but could easily add some minced garlic and honey into the mix and feed that for a few days.

 

[Beekissed]

I don't know if each would get a concentrated dose in that manner but it's worth a shot!

 

[showbarnmom]

Thankfully no one is "sick", so I have room to play around a bit.