Question on sneezing

[sirhc76]

I've read a few hundred posts and before I convince myself the sky is falling figured Id ask. I have 7 week old chicks that just moved to the outside coop last week. The coop has dirt floor, reclaimed part of my yard which happened to be the manicured flowerbeds. My chicks sneezed occasionally when they were in the brooder with pine shavings, I attributed this to the dust. My question would be is any level of clear nasal discharge acceptable. It appears that they dig around in the dirt their nostrils start running, its a clear liquid. They aren't really coughing but will occasionally sneeze or hack like they have dirt in their nostrils. They are all eating all growing well and showing no signs of swollen faces. I have not seen anything coming from their eyes but they do scratch at their beaks, usually it appears to clean the dirt off that sticks to their beaks. There is no noticeable smell coming from them other than chicken smell, Ive picked each of them up and taken a whiff. I don't mind taking them to the vet if this is necessary but should I be concerned and if so what is my first course of action. I also want to avoid blindly medicating with antibiotics since its what got us where we are with immune nasties. Sorry for the typical my chick has a runny nose question. I want to make sure that a little clear snot is or is not acceptable.

Thanks again,

Chris

 

[CMV]

Good question. I have a zero tolerance policy for respiratory illnesses, so I would likely cull any birds even for such a small sign, but I am interested to hear what others have to say on the matter.

Good luck.

 

[fifenashia]

Sneezing is often just a way for the chicken to clear dust and debris from its nasal cavities. What substrate is being used in the coop? Straw is dustier than wood chips, you can try to change it out and add something less dusty. How's the ventilation in the coop?

As far as illness some things to look for would include: mucus around the mouth eyes and nostrils, the bird acting quiet and inactive during the day, partially closed and dull eyes, loose stools and bloody poop. Sounds like your girls aren't showing these though, so just keep an eye out.

You can also add some electrolytes to the water for a few days see if that helps and most aren't harmful to eggs.

 

[scratch'n'peck]

Although I can understand why people cull due to resp. illness, your birds do not presently risk passing this on to other flocks at the moment I assume. Thus, it does not hurt to see how any symptoms develop or spend some time ruling out other possible causes. I can understand why you are in a quandary, because the runny nose sounds rather subtle. That is probably why not many people have replied, too; it is hard to give a clear answer.

A few things could happen:

1. Their symptoms could get worse, with facial swelling and listlessness,etc, Then you could consider antibiotics, but they would still likely be carriers of the illness which complicates adding new chickens to the flock in the future.

2. You could try putting sand in their run, checking to make sure the coop wood was not chemically treated, etc. etc. and their symptoms could go away, but their is the chance still that it was a mild resp illness that they got over and they are carriers and other chickens added down the line could possibly get the illness and have worse symptoms.

3. Some other possibility I have not considered.

I know this is a frustrating response to your question.

I will say I have had a chicken that displayed worse symptoms and I treated him with injectable antibiotics and he is fine now, but I know he could be a carrier. I am not a breeder and I know that I should not add more chickens. We have added ducks and geese instead, who happen to be less inclined to respiratory illness.

 

[sirhc76]

Thanks for the responses and while I respect everyone's input Id prefer to not cull unless the birds are in some sort of pain or distress and cannot be treated. These will never go to another flock, they would be culled before that. I did expect to get two more SLW, if this is irresponsible of me I'll pass on them until a later date. I have a video that I'm uploading now and will post as soon as its on my photobucket page. I just spent about an hour in the coop watching the birds. They are sleeping and appear to be having somewhat of a difficult time breathing. I've read just about every post on the board that contained runny, nose, snot, and have a list of meds/illness saved. Again these are my first chickens since I was a kid and back then seat belts were non existent and vehicles were all steel. Chickens with issues normally just died and it was chalked up to a bad chicken.

Here are two shots of the coop, ventilation was my key focus when building and I built the coop so that the backside was removable. The wind can blow directly through the coop and my back yard gets a huge amount of wind.

Once I get the video up you can see exactly what I'm referring to. I do plan to add sand to the bottom of the coop, its already sitting in the back yard and its on my list of honey dos today along with painting the coop, refinishing my sons dresser and the laundry

See I let my wife go to the lake while I do the laundry yes I'm planning to get a new toy

Thanks for the input hopefully once the video is up this can be addressed. I know most will be on holiday and hope to get something done before the stores start closing for the day. My ISP isn't liking this huge video file.

 

[scratch'n'peck]

I know you could spend hours researching respiratory illness on chickens here and still not have a clear idea of what to do, but hopefully with the video more people will give some ideas. It looks like a nice coop.

 

[sirhc76]

Ok well Photobucket didn't like the video even though it fit their restrictions, good thing I pay a fee to use it. I went ahead and uploaded it to youtube link below. You can skip to 3:47 and again to 6:07 to hear the "hacking" noise that I mentioned.

 

[scratch'n'peck]

Since you spent all that effort getting the video posted I will make a comment. Of course it is pretty hard to see how much their noses are running, but the video did seem to show some raspy breathing. I don't know what their baseline behavior is like when you are around them. Mine are not so laid back when I come to the coop, but then my chickens get all excited to see me because I am their treat dispenser.

For my adult rooster who had a respiratory illness, it developed pretty quickly. The first sign that he was feeling poorly was when I let the chickens out to free range, he walked around a little then sat down and closed his eyes, which for them is unusual. Then I put my ear next to his beak and heard that he was raspy. He also made some of those stretch the neck and open the beak hacks or gasps similar to what you filmed.


The description of my rooster may not be all that helpful because your pullet's symptoms may be less clear cut.

I don't normally like using antibiotics either, but after spending an evening researching respiratory illness on BYC, I decided to get and injectable antibiotic. It just seems easier to get the right clinical dose with an injectable. Besides, my rooster did not seem to be drinking the water that I put some powdered Duramycin in. Tylan 50 is what was most often recommended on the forum. When I went to the feed store (injectables are commonly marketed for cattle, but can be used on other animals) they were out of the Tylan 50 so I got another injectable antibiotic, Liquimycin. Then I did more research on Liquimycin specifically and found a veterinary web site that actually mentioned chickens and said it would treat infectious coryza, bronchitis, and mycoplasma. The bottle packaging has a dosage by weight of the amimal. My husband and I gave him one shot and he showed improvement about 24 hours later. The rate at which he improved was pretty dramatic.

I am not necessarily recommending this course of action for your pullets, but if you find their symptoms get worse, this treatment may be one option.

Maybe more folks will have some input...

 

[fifenashia]

scratch'n'peck :

Since you spent all that effort getting the video posted I will make a comment. Of course it is pretty hard to see how much their noses are running, but the video did seem to show some raspy breathing. I don't know what their baseline behavior is like when you are around them. Mine are not so laid back when I come to the coop, but then my chickens get all excited to see me because I am their treat dispenser.

For my adult rooster who had a respiratory illness, it developed pretty quickly. The first sign that he was feeling poorly was when I let the chickens out to free range, he walked around a little then sat down and closed his eyes, which for them is unusual. Then I put my ear next to his beak and heard that he was raspy. He also made some of those stretch the neck and open the beak hacks or gasps similar to what you filmed.


The description of my rooster may not be all that helpful because your pullet's symptoms may be less clear cut.

I don't normally like using antibiotics either, but after spending an evening researching respiratory illness on BYC, I decided to get and injectable antibiotic. It just seems easier to get the right clinical dose with an injectable. Besides, my rooster did not seem to be drinking the water that I put some powdered Duramycin in. Tylan 50 is what was most often recommended on the forum. When I went to the feed store (injectables are commonly marketed for cattle, but can be used on other animals) they were out of the Tylan 50 so I got another injectable antibiotic, Liquimycin. Then I did more research on Liquimycin specifically and found a veterinary web site that actually mentioned chickens and said it would treat infectious coryza, bronchitis, and mycoplasma. The bottle packaging has a dosage by weight of the amimal. My husband and I gave him one shot and he showed improvement about 24 hours later. The rate at which he improved was pretty dramatic.

I am not necessarily recommending this course of action for your pullets, but if you find their symptoms get worse, this treatment may be one option.

Maybe more folks will have some input...

Thanks for posting this, I am always nervous buying items for cattle/horses ect... and using them on my birds. I will print this out and put it in my first aid kit for respiratory illness. I'm of the mind that it's better to treat than sit idle. I don't cull since mine are not bred and really are just pets that lay eggs.

Hope you see improvement soon!​

 

[sirhc76]

They are starting to warm up to me and will not run up to the coop door when I walk up. When I go in they are still a bit shy with the exception of my daughters little chick which we believe to be an australorp. That little thing will run straight up to me and nearly jump in my lap. I just went out again and not one of them was idle, they were all over the place. It was a bit warm when I shot the video so they may have just been hot. PMs with another very helpful member have given me a good course of action at this point. I still look for feedback if anyone cares to offer since it will help not only me but others with similar issues. The amount of fluid coming from their nostrils is minimal but obvious if you look at their feathers. You can tell they have been brushing it off with their feet. I just caught the one that I still think will be a rooster and calmed it down enough to look into its mouth. Looked like a tongue and and nothing more. Ill see if I can get a good closeup pic of their nostrils with the SLR and post it up.

Thanks again for all the help.