Persistent sniffles now in the second generation.

[catandmilkart]

Hi there,
I adopted a blue laced red wyandotte who turned out to be very sick with something. Rattle in the chest, very snotty, sneezing and sniffling. I had her in quarantine for weeks, and she finally recovered. As soon as I stuck her in the yard, the other two hens got sick but to a much lesser degree. Now, they all seem to sneeze/sniffle more than they did before the Wyandotte arrived, although they are otherwise totally healthy.

We have one little chick who is getting old enough to join the flock now. Surprise, surprise: after her first hang-out session in the yard, she is sniffling too. So far, she is just sneezing every so often, and otherwise unbothered. I started giving her Nutridrench though. I'm nervous - we are talking about a very cool chick!

Any idea what this bug could be just hanging out in my flock? Coryza? Does anyone recommend another fix for the chick, or vaccinating for something should we ever adopt another chick?

Thanks in advance!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Sounds like when your birds recover, they are still carriers. Depending on what it is, you may not want to hear this but you may need to cull, disinfect the coop and leave it vacant for several weeks.

 

[Eggcessive]

This is the way chronic respiratory diseases in poultry act—the recovered birds may always be carriers for life, and all other birds they come into contact with, even if they don’t become sick, should be considered carriers. Those diseases include mycoplasma (MG, MS,) infectious coryza, and ILT. Infectious bronchitis will make survivors and the flock carriers for 5 months to a year afterward.

Some diseases may look alike, while some have specific symptoms. Antibiotics can help treat bacterial diseases, but do not cure the disease. They are likely to become sick again when a stress occurs, such as during very cold weather, during a move to a new home, or during a molt.

One of the best ways to handle an illness in a backyard flock, is to close your flock to new or hatched birds. Wait till all have passed on, and after waiting several weeks, get new healthy chicks from a hatchery. Most respiratory diseases will die in your environment within several days for most bacteria to a couple of weeks in some viruses. Here is a good link to resd about illnesses:
https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ps044

 

[Kiki]

Hi there,
I adopted a blue laced red wyandotte who turned out to be very sick with something. Rattle in the chest, very snotty, sneezing and sniffling. I had her in quarantine for weeks, and she finally recovered. As soon as I stuck her in the yard, the other two hens got sick but to a much lesser degree. Now, they all seem to sneeze/sniffle more than they did before the Wyandotte arrived, although they are otherwise totally healthy.

We have one little chick who is getting old enough to join the flock now. Surprise, surprise: after her first hang-out session in the yard, she is sniffling too. So far, she is just sneezing every so often, and otherwise unbothered. I started giving her Nutridrench though. I'm nervous - we are talking about a very cool chick!

Any idea what this bug could be just hanging out in my flock? Coryza? Does anyone recommend another fix for the chick, or vaccinating for something should we ever adopt another chick?

Thanks in advance!

If you are in the US there is testing that can be done to let you know which if any chicken disease you are dealing with.
If in US you can find your state testing lab here:
Necropsy and disease testing lab info
Usually testing is as simple as collecting swabs from the mouth/throat and mailing them in.