speckled sussex - odd noise - What do you think ? ? Allergy ? ?

[math ace]

I have two speckled sussex pullets about 3 months old. Both girls are friendly and talkative.
However, the one makes strange noises. I thought for a while she was getting picked on by one of the other hens.
It is kind of a yelping noise. Today, I watched her. She makes the noise and shakes her head at the same time.
I picked her up and stroked her - - - she was mellow and cooing. There are no signs of illness in her or the other birds.
She is active and friendly and outgoing.

Is this a normal form of communication for some birds?

Is this how birds sneeze?

Can birds have allergies?

Has anybody ever seen a hea;thy bird shake their head and make a yelping noise ? ?

 

[Chickenlover7711]

If it is sneezing which it sounded like how you discribed it you might want to seperate her from your other chickens because that could be a sign of a deadly illness.
hopefully i am wrong and its not

 

[Qi Chicken]

Does is sound kind of like a startled bark? Mine do that sometimes (mostly the bo I think) and I think her head moves just due to the logistics of making the sound. It doesn't seem to mean anything specific or consistent to me but I assume it means something to them. It doesn't seem to be a warning call or anything. I don't think it's anything to be worried about. There was a thread not long ago, a lot of people said they had hens that did it.

 

[suburbanminifarm]

sometimes they sneeze if you feed powdery (mash) type feed, it gets in their nostrils, that could be it?

 

[math ace]

I watched her do it today at our "PARK". I let everybody go into our large fenced in potbelly pigs pen - - - 80 ft x 50 ft - - for few hours everyday. We take a little field trip from their chicken coop / run to the pigs' pen and then they play, eat grass, hang out in the palmentto bushes, etc for a few hours. Then we do a "follow the leader" hike back to their coop for the evening feed and water.

When we returned to the coop, she did it there too. So, it just seems to happen. There is no food in the pigs' pen for them - - -it is not from food dust.

I checked her eyes and listened to her breathing. I did not hear or see anything that indicated illness.

I thought that it was an "I'm spooked" reaction, but she does it when no one is around her.

Qi chicken - - - if you remember what the thread was called - - - I would love to search for it and read it

 

[SmittenChicken]

Quote:
I think I hear that same sound sometimes, from one of my Sussex and especially from my most skittish chicken (an EE). Haven't noticed a head shake with it as the OP has, though.
Not sure what it might mean, but it seems like it happens with mine when they're startled and/or excited? I seem to hear it a lot when they're all clamoring for treats and running into one another.

 

[math ace]

EXCITEMENT - - - that might be it. . . . .

She when she first went to the "PARK" ( the pigs' pen) and she did it as she first went into the big girls coop. I'll have to watch and see if she does it after she has had a chance to become BORED.

There is definite head shaking going on with in !

 

[math ace]

Maybe it is the chicken equilvalent to "PARTY" "PARTY"