Sneezing but no discernable discharge

[BackyardAR]

I noticed for the first time yesterday when my 4.5 week old meat birds were eating that several of them were sneezing. It got my attention, but they didn't otherwise appear stressed or to have any other symptoms. Granted they breathe heavily all the time and lay on their big butts to eat and drink, but that is common to meat chickens anyway.

I have 24 birds in a 4x8 tractor with a second one built. This week I was going to split them between the two tractors.

I took a long hard look at them this morning. At rest several are sneezing, but I could not notice discharge, or crud on their beaks or eyes. We have had several cold/rainy snaps here, but I have kept them covered for every one. I move the tractor once or twice a day so they have new, clean ground to forage on daily.

They get fresh water once or twice a day. Medicated feed stopped at week three. I do not put suppliments in their water. They were down to the bottom of a bag of feed and it was dusty, but they've been eating a new bag for the last 36 hours and are still sneezing.

Ideas? I'm at work now and this ancient PC won't let me do a search in the forums, though I've done several google searches that lead me to posts. So far they have all been about birds with drainage and mine don't appear to have any.

 

[realsis]

my birds had those same exact symptoms
.they were sneezing with no mucus present. they would occasionally cough but very rarely. here is how I treated mine. I used Tylosin aka Tylan50. dose for small birds is 1/4 cc large birds 1/2 cc once daily for 5 days. injection is given in the breast muscle. Tylan50 is a good choice for respiratory issues. you can get it in the feed store in the cattl section. NOT to worry that the bottle says for cattle and swine. MANY poultry owners including myself use tylan successfully for respiratory issues. it really works great.. i think it will help your birds too. it really helped mine.

 

[BackyardAR]

What I've read about that medication is that you shouldn't use it on meat chickens because it causes problems in the muscle tissue.

One post mentioned something about an "enlongated mite" that can get into the nasal passages and give these kinds of symtoms too....

 

[BackyardAR]

Just as an update to this, my meaties sneezed for three to five days, no discharge, and now they are all fine.