Sneezing chicken - advice please

Claire A

Songster
Oct 2, 2019
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Background; Brought 4 new Pekins recently. As you do - I quarantined them, in a dog crate in my garden room and sectioned off a bit of a run for them. All went well and so it was time to introduce them to the others.

To do this I sectioned off the run, so they would be able to see each other through the wire first.

The day after putting them out the youngest of the new additions started sneezing every 5 - 10 minutes, this went on all day... No other symptoms and the others were fine.

I decided to put BlueBell back in the garden room, thinking 'oh my god she has an illness of some sort'. Mmm - wow was she pissed at being separated from the other ladies!

An hour, maybe two hours later and she stopped sneezing. That was two days ago, so put her back in the run. Tonight I noticed she is sneezing again!

I am using the same bedding out there. Half the run is covered as we get a lot of rain. There is a small rockery - dirt parts - wood chippings - a few tunnels and concrete. Nothing which I can isolate as a problem.

It is slightly warmer in the garden room, but as it is unheated I can't see this being the cause?

Does anyone have any experience with this? Give me any clues as to what is causing Bluebell's problem?

I would hate to have to rehome her...:(
 
We can only guess here, not being familiar with Bluebell or her health quirks. But I would guess she is sensitive to the dust in the run.

I suggest you ask her previous owner if she is a habitual sneezer. My guess is they will say yes.

My chickens will occasionally sneeze when they eat dry crumbles quickly. They are used to wet fermented feed, so dry crumbles is a novelty. They gobble it like it was a treat they need to get as much as they can before others eat their share.

Perhaps Bluebell has sensitive nares and dust sets her to sneezing whether it's from bedding or from food.
 
It is sneezing season, the falling leaves and temp changes have lots of stuff sneezing.
Autumn is springtime's scraggly sister.:)

Thanks this makes sense. We have had very changeable weather - one moment sunny - the next freezing and not to mention all the rain and moisture in the air :)
 
We can only guess here, not being familiar with Bluebell or her health quirks. But I would guess she is sensitive to the dust in the run.

I suggest you ask her previous owner if she is a habitual sneezer. My guess is they will say yes.

My chickens will occasionally sneeze when they eat dry crumbles quickly. They are used to wet fermented feed, so dry crumbles is a novelty. They gobble it like it was a treat they need to get as much as they can before others eat their share.

Perhaps Bluebell has sensitive nares and dust sets her to sneezing whether it's from bedding or from food.

Thanks for your response. Yes, it is a difficult one, but happy as I am now convinced it is not an illness. No chicken can be that fisty and ill!

I do feed dry food and could try wet and see if it makes a difference - I would say bless her - but damn she has caused a difficult few days. Calling to the other ladies and unsettling them to get to her - escaping to try to get to them - turfing all her bedding out.

Well you get the picture :D
 

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