Do chickens get colds? UPDATE

[chickenchick99]

I noticed one of my 3 month old pullets has clear "snot" coming out of her right nostril.
What do I do? Is this just a cold (we all have one right now) or could it be something else?

 

[Suzie]

Chickens do not get colds...they may have a respiratory disease..I would suggest initially that you hold her up close to you...do you smell anything...she may have crop issues if you can detect a foul smell...if not you should listen to her breathing...if she is congested you may wish to consider using an antibiotic..if so, you should treat all of your flock as respiratory diseases are spread throughout them all...

Keep updating with any new developments please....

 

[hennible]

http://www.backyardpoultrymag.com/chickens-dont-get-colds/
Here's an article about the topic.

 

[chickenchick99]

I don't believe it is a crop issue - had a 6 month old that I had to put down last month due to that....

I just noticed that 2 of the adults have it as well and are shaking their heads - as if to flick the snot off.

All seem healthy otherwise. No foul smells, no respiratory sounds.

None of my birds are vaccinated. (Neither are my children, lol) I use ACV in their water and give them chili flakes.

We just had our first cold spell. The water on the top of the cow water buckets had a thin film of ice. My birds all sleep in a stall of a large barn except for 4 who prefer to sleep in a chicken tractor (two of those are the adults who are experiencing symptoms...they are not really in close regular contact with each other but do intermingle during the day)

What do you suggest I do? Separate them? Watch and wait? Antibiotics? (I would prefer not to use them, we are an organic farm)

 

[hennible]

... You could give them garlic... I'd separate them if you have space... If it's a possibility it's a virus what good would antibiotics do?

 

[cafarmgirl]

When chickens, and birds in general, come down with any kind of respiratory disease it very often and very easily morphs right into pneumonia and secondary bacterial infections. Doesn't matter if the disease is viral or bacterial these complications are very common, that is what very often kills the birds rather then the disease itself. So if one chooses to treat the birds rather then cull antibiotic's will help prevent those complications while the bird recovers. Just be aware that even after the bird is better it will be a carrier of whatever it had with the potential to infect other birds in your flock and may have recurring outbreaks of the disease as well. Some diseases are worse in that regard then others.

 

[hennible]

When chickens, and birds in general, come down with any kind of respiratory disease it very often and very easily morphs right into pneumonia and secondary bacterial infections.  Doesn't matter if the disease is viral or bacterial these complications are very common, that is what very often kills the birds rather then the disease itself.  So if one chooses to treat the birds rather then cull antibiotic's will help prevent those complications while the bird recovers.  Just be aware that even after the bird is better it will be a carrier of whatever it had with the potential to infect other birds in your flock and may have recurring outbreaks of the disease as well.  Some diseases are worse in that regard then others.

Thanks for the info, good to know.

 

[chickenchick99]

I did have one young one (from the same breeder) who was approx 3 months old and made "peeping/chirping sounds" all the time. She hung in for 2 months and I found her dead the other morning. If this came from her, I wonder why it took 2 months for everyone to catch it? Geez, I'm new at this. Does "culling" mean killing? Some people kill birds as soon as they show a sign of any illness?

 

[chickenchick99]

So now I am freaking out. Does this mean that I have to separate the ones showing signs and only treat them, or treat the whole flock? What do I treat them with? I am quite sure this came from the breeder, who I just spoke to and she has had it happen to her birds before. Does this mean that every bird on her property has the potential to be a carrier? I find it hard to believe that a breeder could never sell any birds again

 

[cafarmgirl]

I did have one young one (from the same breeder) who was approx 3 months old and made "peeping/chirping sounds" all the time. She hung in for 2 months and I found her dead the other morning. If this came from her, I wonder why it took 2 months for everyone to catch it? Geez, I'm new at this. Does "culling" mean killing? Some people kill birds as soon as they show a sign of any illness?

Yes, culling means to kill the birds. Some people do cull birds that come down with a respiratory disease for the reasons mentioned above. Other's choose to treat. What disease they have makes a difference in how successful treatment will be. Some diseases just keep coming back, other's, like infectious bronchitis may not come back. I treated a small flock for IB and never had another occurrence in that flock. But I only had 8 birds at the time, I did not breed birds, hatch chicks or sell birds or eggs and I kept a closed flock. And we did have a bird tested when they first got sick so we did know exaclty what we were dealing with and how best to treat/manage it.