Hens sneezing

[Amina]

This past Sunday (5 days ago) I got four new hens from a friend. On the first day, my barred rock sneezed/made a snorting sound a few times. At first I thought maybe she put her head in too deep getting a drink of water, and maybe got water up her nose. The sneezing has continued since then and has become more recognizably a sneeze. It's possible she's having some slightly loose droppings too... nothing very bad but there's a little bit on her bum and my friend says she's always looked very clean back there. Other than that, she acts perfectly healthy, and in fact has been the most active of the flock - always running around, scratching in the dirt, and actually so far I think she is my only consistently laying hen. The others may still be stressed from the new surroundings. In the past couple days, the others have started sneezing too, and I think the barred rock might be getting a little worse just because her nares look wet now, and they didn't before.

I did tell my friend about all this and she says that none of her remaining chickens have any symptoms.

So given this situation, what do you all think I should do? I guess my options are treating with Tylan, or letting nature take its course.

 

[Eggcessive]

How well do you trust the friend? Sneezing can be a sign of respiratory disease, especially if they are having other symptoms like nasal discharge, bubbles in eyes, eye drainage or crust, and swelling around the face and eyes. If they are only sneezing, it could be dust, an allergy, or still a respiratory disease such as infectious bronchitis. Tylan and Duramycin10 are a couple of the drugs given to treat bacterial diseases and secondary infections of viruses. Do you think your friend would take them back?

 

[Amina]

I completely trust my friend to be honest with me, although perhaps she could have overlooked something. I live 4.5 hours away from her, so giving them back to her would be a huge pain. I don't know what they would be allergic to... I got play sand from Lowe's for bedding. It doesn't seem super dusty...

Their eyes all look fine, and there's no facial swelling. The nares have looked dry until this morning, and then the nares of the barred rock just look wet, so it might be a little runny but it's clear and minimal.

 

[realsis]

I agree with above post completely if they continue to show signs of illness I would see if she will take them back. Your other option is to treat. Don't let it go too long because symptoms progress pretty fast. In my own flock a few months back I had a respiratory illness and it started with sneezing went into coughing then I treated with tylan50 and thank God it. relieved the symptoms. But its likely contagious and can spread fast if its respiratory illness. So I would either take them back or treat if it continues. I wish you the best of luck.

 

[Amina]

At what point would you treat? My barred rock has had this for 5 days now, and the others started showing symptoms yesterday.

 

[Amina]

Should I treat tonight, or should I wait longer to see if things get better or worse?

 

[Amina]

Well, they are treated... hopefully it helps.