My Black Australorp is sneezing!

[maidenwolfx80]

Allow me to interrupt your argument to address the sneezing issue the OP asked about, please.


Sneezing in absence of any other symptoms is usually just caused by something environmental. Don't go to the worst case scenario right off the bat. I have one hen who is six years old and has sneezed every day for the last five years. She has small nares and I suspect malformed sinuses as her head seems too small for her body (hatchery Brahma). She is not ill, but she is very sensitive to every little thing.

Check ammonia levels in the bedding at their level-you may not think it smells, but get down at hen height, stir it around and take a big whiff. Check for dusty feed, mold growing in the coop, etc, before you jump to any worse conclusion about illness in a bird whose only symptom is sneezing. Even new plywood and caulk can cause irritation and sneezing fits.

I have a hen who seems to have abit of a sneezing fit everytime I stir the bedding. I have allergies so I sneeze also, I know that is irratating. I usually spray it down with a light spritz of vinegar water before I stir it up now and it helps alot. so your hen gets along ok and everything? Wow 5 years of sneezing.... I know that this time of year they can get runny noses and have been told by the vet in town that sometimes that is just a bodies way of expelling the unwanted pollen and other fall residue in the air. Hopefully that is all it is in this case.

 

[speckledhen]

This hen is healthy in every way except her sneezing fits. No snot, no discharge. The summer before last , due to circumstance of a protracted period of high heat/humidity that none of my flock are used to at our 2000 ft elevation, some of the older hens and my rooster developed fungal lung infections. I treated them by misting with Oxine solution in a cool mist vaporizer in 10 minute sessions for a few days. Everyone cleared up fine, including that Brahma hen. A week later, I saw bubbles in one of her eyes, panicked, brought her in the house and was ready to cull her, in spite of her being 5 years old and a favorite. We decided to call the state vet before taking that drastic step.

He told us that she had developed a secondary sinusitis after the fungal infection, that at her advanced age and having never been ill before, he was 100% positive that it was not MG, that she was obviously highly resistant to it, as were all my flock of that age. He said to treat her with Tylan for the sinus infection and she should be good as new. For a time, she even sneezed less, but she's been that way most of her life. It's just her. She is head hen and kicks butt and takes names on a daily basis so nothing wrong with that girl.

 

[maidenwolfx80]

This hen is healthy in every way except her sneezing fits. No snot, no discharge. The summer before last , due to circumstance of a protracted period of high heat/humidity that none of my flock are used to at our 2000 ft elevation, some of the older hens and my rooster developed fungal lung infections. I treated them by misting with Oxine solution in a cool mist vaporizer in 10 minute sessions for a few days. Everyone cleared up fine, including that Brahma hen. A week later, I saw bubbles in one of her eyes, panicked, brought her in the house and was ready to cull her, in spite of her being 5 years old and a favorite. We decided to call the state vet before taking that drastic step.

He told us that she had developed a secondary sinusitis after the fungal infection, that at her advanced age and having never been ill before, he was 100% positive that it was not MG, that she was obviously highly resistant to it, as were all my flock of that age. He said to treat her with Tylan for the sinus infection and she should be good as new. For a time, she even sneezed less, but she's been that way most of her life. It's just her. She is head hen and kicks butt and takes names on a daily basis so nothing wrong with that girl.

Wow, she is lucky. Mine just got over a sinus infection. It cleared fast. I have heard good things about tylan, that is only injectable right? I am wanting to add some to my chicken med kit. I have been using sulfadimethoxine, and it sure did kick this infection fast. No more duramycin for me. The only thing is it is $40 for a gallon, I am going to shop around and see if you can buy it in a smaller amount. Someone told me I could use Sulmet interchangably with that since they are both sulfa drugs but I want to look into that first. As long as they are well, that is what I want. Did you find out why she sneezes like that?

 

[KayTee]

Thanks for the link cowcreekgeek.

It's not that I don't trust the vet, it's just that I think she's more used to dealing with large flocks of birds kept in runs, whose only water source is the trough provided. Since mine have the whole back garden, and every blade of grass is soaking wet at the moment, they're just not drinking much out of their bowl.

I've found the solution though - I've mixed up 5g of powder (minimum amount my kitchen scales will measure) into 100ml of water, and I'm putting 20ml of this mixture a day (using a syringe to measure) into a bowl of porridge - not completely accurate, since I'm sure Cinders gobbles more than her fair share, but since she's the biggest and also suffering most with sneezes and wheezing, I'm not too worried. All the porridge disappears, so I know that around the required amount is getting to each hen. (1g of powder per day for 10kg of chickens - more or less!

)


As a side note - Cinders laid 2 paper-thin-shell eggs today - together! She didn't even make it to the nest box - just laid them on the ground where she was eating. First time I've had an egg laid out of the nest box, and never 2 together, although the thin shell is an occasional feature of Cinders - she's only been laying a few weeks. I don't know if it's a side effect of the antibiotics, or just the fact that she still has a few kinks to work out; Has anybody had that before - literally two laid at the same time!!

 

[speckledhen]

Wow, she is lucky. Mine just got over a sinus infection. It cleared fast. I have heard good things about tylan, that is only injectable right? I am wanting to add some to my chicken med kit. I have been using sulfadimethoxine, and it sure did kick this infection fast. No more duramycin for me. The only thing is it is $40 for a gallon, I am going to shop around and see if you can buy it in a smaller amount. Someone told me I could use Sulmet interchangably with that since they are both sulfa drugs but I want to look into that first. As long as they are well, that is what I want. Did you find out why she sneezes like that?

Are you sure it was a sinus infection? You must be really sure it isn't contagious. I won't treat anything contagious-as I said, I was all ready to euthanize Caroline until the state vet said it was definitely a secondary bacterial infection after the fungal stuff. Most anything contagious in avians makes them carriers and then you have a Typhoid Mary in your flock. No one else has had that sinus thing Caroline developed so the vet was 100% right, that it was not anything contagious, just a simple bacterial infection that was a hanger-on from the fungal crud.

I believe she sneezes like that because of the formation of her sinus cavity. Her head is too small for her body and the nare openings are also quite small. If she gets dirt in them, they are clogged up quickly and she sometimes sneezes to dislodge dirt/food she has up in there. She also sneezes when she eats too fast, as do other birds in the flock. That is their way of dislodging pieces of food that go down the wrong pipe, so to speak.

 

[audreydc1983]

Hey, all - just wanted to update, and the sneezing seems to have stopped as abruptly as it started. Weird!

She still looks great - comb still red, active, no strange behavior, no swelling, no discharge, poops all normal - from all evidence, a normal, happy chicken.

Perhaps I was getting ahead of myself!

Thanks for all the terrific advice - I'll keep it in mind, if I have any future problems.

~Audrey

 

[cowcreekgeek]

Hey, all - just wanted to update, and the sneezing seems to have stopped as abruptly as it started. Weird!

She still looks great - comb still red, active, no strange behavior, no swelling, no discharge, poops all normal - from all evidence, a normal, happy chicken.

Perhaps I was getting ahead of myself!

Thanks for all the terrific advice - I'll keep it in mind, if I have any future problems.

~Audrey

Glad to hear it ... good news is such a welcome thing to hear ~'-)

 

[cowcreekgeek]

Thanks for the link cowcreekgeek.

It's not that I don't trust the vet, it's just that I think she's more used to dealing with large flocks of birds kept in runs, whose only water source is the trough provided. Since mine have the whole back garden, and every blade of grass is soaking wet at the moment, they're just not drinking much out of their bowl.

I've found the solution though - I've mixed up 5g of powder (minimum amount my kitchen scales will measure) into 100ml of water, and I'm putting 20ml of this mixture a day (using a syringe to measure) into a bowl of porridge - not completely accurate, since I'm sure Cinders gobbles more than her fair share, but since she's the biggest and also suffering most with sneezes and wheezing, I'm not too worried. All the porridge disappears, so I know that around the required amount is getting to each hen. (1g of powder per day for 10kg of chickens - more or less!

)


As a side note - Cinders laid 2 paper-thin-shell eggs today - together! She didn't even make it to the nest box - just laid them on the ground where she was eating. First time I've had an egg laid out of the nest box, and never 2 together, although the thin shell is an occasional feature of Cinders - she's only been laying a few weeks. I don't know if it's a side effect of the antibiotics, or just the fact that she still has a few kinks to work out; Has anybody had that before - literally two laid at the same time!!

1 milligram = 1/1000 gram = 0.001 grams, therefore: 1g/10kg = 100 mg/kg body weight, wheras the study suggest 10 mg/kg ... not that ten times their dosage should do 'em any harm, but there's no worry that any ain't gonna get enough (w/ antibiotics, I'd rather see too much for too long than ever too little, and never for not long enough )-;~

You could dose then half of their daily dosage, but twice per day, w/ the second about six hours after the first ... have often seen this done w/ the studies I've read, so as to more evenly disperse medications.

Your side note -- never personally seen either, but there's a most rare event in which one egg is *inside* of the second egg.

My side note -- the FDA has funky rules that prohibit vets from prescribing some medications being added to feed, but allows 'em to add it to the water (e.g. extralabel usage of some unapproved anthelmintics ~'-)

 

[maidenwolfx80]

Are you sure it was a sinus infection? You must be really sure it isn't contagious. I won't treat anything contagious-as I said, I was all ready to euthanize Caroline until the state vet said it was definitely a secondary bacterial infection after the fungal stuff. Most anything contagious in avians makes them carriers and then you have a Typhoid Mary in your flock. No one else has had that sinus thing Caroline developed so the vet was 100% right, that it was not anything contagious, just a simple bacterial infection that was a hanger-on from the fungal crud.

I believe she sneezes like that because of the formation of her sinus cavity. Her head is too small for her body and the nare openings are also quite small. If she gets dirt in them, they are clogged up quickly and she sometimes sneezes to dislodge dirt/food she has up in there. She also sneezes when she eats too fast, as do other birds in the flock. That is their way of dislodging pieces of food that go down the wrong pipe, so to speak.

I am not positive it is a sinus infection, it could very well have been something else but it came and went in a couple birds and we have not had a problem since. I like to treat and if caught early, I can give that bird a chance. I understand the whole point of it being possible of it reappearing later on but I have never had that issue. I grew up with chickens and have had all this passed down to me.I try to follow what I know and I always keep in mind the cases that will not be worth making an animal suffer.
I have heard mine sneeze when I feed in the morning and they are so hungry and hog it lol.

 

[KayTee]

1 milligram = 1/1000 gram = 0.001 grams, therefore: 1g/10kg = 100 mg/kg body weight, wheras the study suggest 10 mg/kg ... not that ten times their dosage should do 'em any harm, but there's no worry that any ain't gonna get enough (w/ antibiotics, I'd rather see too much for too long than ever too little, and never for not long enough )-;~

The dosage on the pack definitely states 1g of powder per 10kg body weight - poultry included. Hope it doesn't do anything horrible to them! They were stll sneezing and wheezing last night - I'll check again in a few minutes when I shut them in - hoping to see some improvement soon.