Sneezing hen, no discharge or swelling, started to look sickly today

[ZazasMom]

Hi guys,

I'm worried about our 1 year old hen, Zaza, Barred Plymouth Rock. About 2-3 weeks ago I heard her sneezing for the first time, and since then it has gotten more frequently, she now sneezes maybe every 5 minutes or so. There is no discharge around her eyes, no swelling, she looks completely normal, not gasping or rattling, and her crop felt empty this morning. Her egg production is slightly down, from 6 eggs a week to 5, I'd say. Up until today she was also behaving normally, but today she's droopy. Her butt was always a bit poopy, but now more so than before. There's a few things going on with our chickens, so I'll list everything here, hoping that someone can point me to a possible cause or diagnosis. I'll try to keep it short, thank you for taking the time to read.

LONG VERSION:
Zaza has a bit of a journey behind her. Last year she lost her 4 chicken companions to a predator and we moved her to our friends' flock so she's not alone. We were planning to bring her back after hatching new chicks this year. We were given a "pullet" in early April, which prompted us to bring Zaza back at that time so she can get used to being back home with a friend. The pullet turned out to be a cockerel and we brought him back to the breeder early May. Our new chicks were 1 week old at that time, so we thought Zaza can hold out for another 3 weeks before we join the chicks in with her.

Since the cockerel left, she was trying to sleep outside in the run, and I thought she might be waiting for him to come back? We let her do this a few nights, but I started putting her into the coop every night since then (early May). She doesn't want to sleep inside anymore. We have good ventilation in the coop, but I admit that I haven't been cleaning it out as much as I should, thinking there will not be that much poop with just one hen.

The chicks are now almost 6 weeks old and moved into the coop/run with Zaza 2 weeks ago, which went smoothly. No pecking, unless meal worms are in the picture We have 9 chicks, but the plan is to bring the suspected cockerels back to the breeder this weekend. We can only fit 5 adult chickens.

Zaza was used to free ranging. We are in the process of extending the run from 60 to 130 sqft, because we don't want to free range anymore due to the predator incident. But until that's finished I've been letting her out to free range, because that's what she's used to. She always pushes against the door in the morning, and I felt pity with her... Now with the chicks that's much harder, because we won't let them free range, so Zaza is basically locked out of her run every day after she lays her egg. There are water containers in the yard, basically kids toys filled with rain water, and she's been drinking from those (like she used to last year). I also noticed that she's been eating from an old feed bag that had mold in it (no excuse for leaving that out in the yard, I feel awful about that). I finally discarded that.

The chicks were on unmedicated starter feed but have been on the All-Flock feed that Zaza has in the run. This is new for her since April, she was on layer feed before. This morning I saw a small ruby red bloody poop, that is way too small to be from Zaza, so maybe one of the chicks has developed coccidiosis??

Edited to add: I just remembered there was a bad rain storm for 2 days around the time she started sneezing, and she's been going to sleep wet (inside the coop). Can chickens get sick like that?

SHORT VERSION:
Zaza is stressed overall. So many changes (moving homes back and forth, new friends, new food, not consistently being able to free range anymore, or being locked out of the run when free ranging) and I know chickens don't like that Perhaps mold has started to grow in the coop? It's been quite tropical here in RI over the past 2 weeks, plus the bad hygiene. But she's been avoiding the coop for a month. And she's sneezing when she's outside too, not only inside the coop. The moldy food? Could this somehow cause sneezing? Was coccidiosis present for a while but I haven't noticed?? What to do? Treat everyone with Corid? Is there a general immune booster that I can try first? Thank you so much in advance!

 

[Banana01]

Can you post a picture of your coop? I know you are in the middle of construction, but maybe where they sleep. I trust my chickens' intuition when they move outside of a coop, I can sense that they are sensing something is wrong. Not always, but I have some smart chickens that avoid places that I've had mite or dampness and sickness problems, and I generally try to help them move to where they would feel better.

In my coop, the respiratory problem bacterias that thrive in dampness are more dangerous than the mold. What are your experiences treating with antobiotics on your flock?

Garlic is a good natural treatment, but there may even be better herbal treatments for respiratory function.

 

[ZazasMom]

Thank you, Banana01! Pictures of the coop attached. The plastic tarps were removed over a month ago.

I swiped my hand under the roost and didn't see any mites, but that's definitely a possibility. Last year she had mites and we treated with Elector PSP. She didn't avoid the coop back then... But I will clean out the whole coop this weekend.

I also saw carpenter ants in the coop the other night - could they be attacking her...?

I never used antibiotics... How do I know there is bacteria in the coop? Or do I just treat preventively with something?

Do you just add a peeled garlic clove into the water? One fresh every day?

Thank you!

Here is the run, 4' x 15': That's Zaza in the front and the branch on the right is where she wants to sleep. It's about the same height as the roost inside the coop.


Run, coop and nesting box add-on:


Inside coop, looking in from the entrance to the run, and the blue square is the nesting box:


Inside coop:

 

[ZazasMom]

Here’s some poop from our run area today:

These two are from Zaza:



This is one of the chicks:


And this is a close up of Zaza today. She did eat her mealworms and some yogurt, but was moving slowly, tail down, and shaking her head as if something was bothering her. I imagined it’s the dirt on her beak, but perhaps it’s something inside her nostrils? I can’t see anything abnormal in her face. I don’t think she ate much throughout the day though, her crop felt empty.

 

[Banana01]

Hello, unless you have a vet that handles your medicines, you should order some Tylan just to have it in your medical kit. It's a general antibiotic for respiratory issues.

Maybe post questions about the run in the chicken coops section. Hopefully people can give advice there. I can see moisture maybe causing you problems later, it can contribute to weaker immune system. It is different from my coop setup, but I would fear moisture in the dirt under the woodchips and also the woodchips themselves getting wet. Also I worry about the number of chickens in the area, which can all contribute to weakened immune systems.

Garlic cloves in water is supposedly a natural antibiotic and may help the sneezing. I sometimes feed garlic to my chickens and they seem to like it, but think more like a garlic tea is also good. When my chickens get sneezy, sometimes I do nothing and it clears itself in a day, sometimes I give a few drops of Tilan and it clears that way.

 

[ZazasMom]

I bought Duramycin 72-200 for injection, but I’m so confused on what I’m reading online. It may be the wrong product, but can I give it to her anyway? No vet in my area is treating chicken. I saw bright green poop just now, and from what I’m reading that’s a bad sign
This morning one of the chicks died from coccidiosis. I cleaned out the run and believe the other chicks are okay judging from their poop, but I will treat with Corid preventatively (i.e. the lower dosage over 21 days)
Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Banana01]

I bought Duramycin 72-200 for injection, but I’m so confused on what I’m reading online. It may be the wrong product, but can I give it to her anyway? No vet in my area is treating chicken. I saw bright green poop just now, and from what I’m reading that’s a bad sign
This morning one of the chicks died from coccidiosis. I cleaned out the run and believe the other chicks are okay judging from their poop, but I will treat with Corid preventatively (i.e. the lower dosage over 21 days)
Any help would be appreciated.

Search for duramycin on BYC or look at some of the similar threads for how to administer it. Have you ever injected medicine before in chickens? I would suggest injecting it. Post a picture of the medicine if you aren't sure of the dose.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/duramycin-72-200-help.748105/

If you treat for coccid, follow the instructions because there are some food and vitamins that should not be given at the same time.

I hope they are better.

 

[ZazasMom]

We injected Zaza with 1ml of the Duramycin 72-200 yesterday with a 22 gauge diabetic needle. She took it very well and seems to be a bit better this morning. I also let everyone (Zaza + 9 chicks) sleep outside last night, since the coop is being disinfected. Zaza’s sneezes sound different, not as vocal and she’s moving around some more. I also started Corid treatment for everyone using the full dosage for 5 days (not half as previously stated). One of the chicks poop didn’t look so great yesterday. Fingers crossed that I’m catching all of the diseases that are going on right now!!

 

[ZazasMom]

Zaza seems to be out of the woods... I did not do a second dose of antibiotics - should I? She behaves normally to me, except she hasn't laid an egg since Friday (so for 6 days now). Is it normal that egg laying takes a while to pick back up? (I know we can't eat the eggs anyway at first due to the antibiotics). She also isn't happy about the chicks - is it possible that they annoy her? No pecking unless food is involved, but she just ignores them. They're almost 7 weeks old now. I hope they become friends at some point...

I also have the answer to why Zaza stopped going into the coop at night!! There used to be a nightlight inside the coop, and the battery had died a while ago, so I took the light out and forgot to re-install it. The other night I remembered and reinstalled it. Guess what, she's back to sleeping in the coop now!!

 

[Lady Clucks-a-Lot]

I am not sure about how do deal with problems like that, but sometimes chickens sneezing does also mean they are cold or they're HAVING a cold, also my five chickens, specially my buff Brahma Yellowie, they sneezes every time when they eat too fast, but that doesn't really sound like you problem though....