HELP! runny nose chickens

[Roxannmi]

I am new to raising chickens and have a flock of 9. 2 laying hens and 7 pullets (2 olive eggers and 5 barnevelders) the pullets came from the same local farm. Within the last week or so one by one my barnevelder's have been getting runny noses, but only them. Only 2 are sneezing and other then the clear runny nose and sneezing they are acting fine. No raspy breathing no strange poop or fowl smell. I started the whole flock on an antibiotic in their water just to be safe. I'm stumped on what it is they have and why just my Barnies. Can anyone help me?

 

[BantamLover21]

It definitely sounds like they have some sort of respiratory disease. It is good that you started the flock on antibiotics, since those will help if the disease is bacterial.

However, viral respiratory diseases are more common, and unfortunately, are difficult to treat. Antibiotics will not cure a viral disease, though they will prevent secondary infections and help more birds survive. The only thing you can do for a viral disease is give supportive care to the birds and see if their immune systems can fight the disease off. Supportive care means keeping them in a clean place, encouraging them to eat plenty of feed, and putting vitamins/electrolytes in their water.

It is important, though, to keep in mind that most respiratory diseases never really go away. The symptoms may seem to be treated and disappear, only to come back during times of stress. If you're fine with that, then treatment is a perfectly viable option. But if you don't want your flock to be perpetually sick (and possibly spread it to other peoples' birds), another option is depopulating your flock, thoroughly cleaning the area, and starting over with fresh birds.

 

[Roxannmi]

That's what I was afraid of. I really don't want to "clean house" if you will but I don't want to get other birds sick either. Is there any way to know for sure which birds have it and which don't? And how do they get it in the first place? I was told the farm the pullets came from was a closed flock farm. And why just my Barnies?? It's weird.

Plus all the sick pullets eat and drink and act normal. They only reason I knew something was wrong was the runny noes and one sneezed