This just a common cold?

[Vamvakas]

I have 3 month old chicks and some of them have runny noses and sometimes sneeze and when you smell there breath it smells almost like rotten eggs. I this just a cold and will it go away? In the past I had the same problum before but none died from it. Should I get some antibiotics for chickens? I tried giving them vitamins for chickens that you put in the water but they seem to hate the taste of it and don't drink it..

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Look up coryza- that is the respiratory ailment in chickens notorious for a bad smell.

I don't know what the diagnosis is, though.

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ps044
diagnosis charts at bottom

 

[goosehead]

Sounds like coryza.

This should help http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ps044

 

[Vamvakas]

Thanks for the article, from what I read it is similar to a cold and no wonder why my older chickens arnt laying good anymore cause it's spreading also it say to buy antibotics and im going to do that very soon.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Thanks for the article, from what I read it is similar to a cold and no wonder why my older chickens arnt laying good anymore cause it's spreading also it say to buy antibotics and im going to do that very soon.

You should know that if it is coryza that your chickens will be carriers even if you get rid of the symptoms. Hence it would be good not to ever let them leave your property.

 

[speckledhen]

Coryza is not a common cold. Chickens do not get head colds as such. Coryza leaves them carriers, able to infect others even when symptoms are gone. My only advice is to cull or you'll fight this in your flock for the foreseeable future.

Antibiotics will not change their carrier status. You must be clear on that. We've read so many stories of folks who bought birds who were carriers and lost their entire flock because of it. It's always best to make decisions from a position of knowledge.

 

[luvussomechicks]

Do you mean if Coryza if enviromental or bacterial, either way they will always keep it? Does it hurt eatting the eggs ( of course, you can't eat them while medicating them ) ?
Do they just get the symptoms back easier each time it rains, cold or heat or are you saying they never get rid of the symptoms?

 

[Vamvakas]

Thanks all