Pampered Hen

Songster
10 Years
Feb 8, 2009
235
6
141
Vermont
I have one hen who has been having the "sniffles" for a couple months now. I noticed that she has been breathing through her mouth and I hear her sneezing occasionally. I have noticed no nasal discharge and no change in behavior. She is the only bird out of my flock showing any symptoms. I would like to help in her recovery, but am unsure which of the many respiratory aliments she may suffer from.
Any advise would be greatly appreciated!
 
It's possible it might be an environmental issue such as pollen, feed dust or perhaps she inhaled a small feed granule, pesticides, or dust from dust bathing etc.
If it were a respiratory disease, your hen along with the entire flock would be showing much worse symptoms.
 
That thought never occurred to me! Any ideas of what I could do in that case?
Thanks in advance for any input you may have!
 
Watch how she eats, especially in the morning when they first eat. Chickens are like hogs when they're hungry and will gorge on feed. Other times they use their beak to root feed out of the feeder, making a mess. These are prime times when a chicken can inhale a feed granule or feed dust.
If pesticides are being used on your lawn, simply stop.
Pollen on the other hand, you cant prevent pollen, not much you can do about them dust bathing neither.
Clean out and change bedding on a regular basis. Soiled bedding emits ammonia fumes which can cause the symptoms you're seeing. There's also dander mixed in the bedding which can cause issues when the chickens stir it up. Ensure there's good ventilation in the coop as well. Mold and fungus are problems too. If there's mold inside the coop, bleachwater will take care of it and will require bi-monthly inspections and cleaning as needed.
There might be other things that I've forgotten, but other folks can offer suggestions as well.
 
I pretty much have a check on all those things: we don't use lawn pesticides, the coop is well maintained and ventilated. They have free access to the outdoors where they spend their time during waking ours unless they come in to lay an egg - even in winter (I live in VT). I provide feed and water outside as well.
However, I will do a spring cleaning and decided to disinfect with Oxine.
I put my ear to her chest and did hear some kind of rattling. I went ahead and ordered VetRx and Denagard. Worst it can do is hurt my wallet...
 
I'm sure you already know this, Denagard treats mycoplasma diseases. MG and MS are contagious. If you're going to treat the one hen, perhaps it might be best to treat them all. There is no resistance and no egg withdrawal. There is a 2 or 3 day slaughter withdrawal for eating meat.
 
Yes, I'm aware. I'm planning to treat the whole flock and with no withdrawal times for eggs, at least I don't have to toss our breakfast.
A flock in my state was just diagnosed positive for mycoplasmosis. Many locals have had problems with respiratory issues in their chickens. We have had a tough winter with long periods of deep freezes followed by pretty extreme temperature swings and it has been quite wet on top of it. And since I'm not a vet and not comfortable with off label use of things like Tylan I decided to give Denagard a shot...
 

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