Why are my chickens sneezing?

[Henriettasmum]

I just read an older post where pine shavings were thought to perhaps have been the cause of the sneezing. I am having the same problem with some of my roosters (not the girls, yet) and I recently started using pine shavings??? Worth changing, to see.

 

[RRLaney]

Hi y'all,
I have an approx. 8 month old generally healthy australorpe who won't stop sneezing. Everything I read says not to worry yet, but as a relatively new chicken owner I want to be sure. She doesn't seem to have any other symptoms, shes eating and drinking normally and has plenty of energy. She is still laying good looking eggs almost every day. I just worry cause I've read that respiratory illnesses spread fast with chickens. We have 11 others who are not sneezing. But Margaery (the "sick" one) is sneezing about once a minute, at least, for about a week now. And she gets sneezing fits quite often.
All our chickens free range, there are pine shavings in the coops/nesting boxes. I did an extra good cleaning of the coops/yards and sprayed some Poultry Protector to make sure there are no lice/mites/etc. They get apple cider vinegar in their water and electrolytes when it's hot. Not sure if there's anything else I can be doing to prevent illness or make her better..?
Is it possible for chickens to have allergies?

 

[Henriettasmum]

Hi RR Laney, Please take this seriously. Your problem could be different to mine, but listen to my experience. I purchased four beautiful pekins about a year ago. The boy always sneezed. Like you I wasn't concerned. He must have dust up his nose, I thought! He was gorgeous, happy and appeared healthy, except for the sneezing.Then a couple of months ago, he looked lethargic, had lost weight so I brought him up to the house and set up a home on the verandah for him. I tried hand feeding him with his favourite treats and feed, and gave him water with a dropper. But he died within days. A short time later one of his sons (my absolutely favourite bird) sneezed. An unrelated pekin rooster became lethargic and also lost weight. I took him along with the favourite boy to the vet. They were given injections and put on antibiotics and improved. The whole flock went on antibiotics to be on the safe side. By now, I had four beautiful roosters sneezing and in isolation and kept them on antibiotics well after the flock had stopped. It took a month before we could eat the eggs from the rest of the flock - so many eggs thrown away! Even though my boys recovered, advice I received and from research on the internet, I realised that they would always carry this problem. (Without a very expensive autopsy, we couldn't find out the exact nature of the problem.) The sneezing would probably come back and the rest of my birds were at risk. So, I had to make the terrible (absolutely distressing) decision to have my four boys put to sleep. I took them reluctantly to the vet where they were given a lethal injection. If I had done something about the original rooster perhaps I would still have my gorgeous Chickadee. So, my advice would be isolate the sneezing bird, talk to the vet, you may probably need to take the bird too. But I really hope it's something minor and that you don't go through the trauma we did. My problem was that I breed birds and couldn't afford to let it go further. Good luck. Let us all know how things turn out, but hopefully if you get to it early you might nip it in the bud. Rosemary

 

[RRLaney]

Hi RR Laney, Please take this seriously. Your problem could be different to mine, but listen to my experience. I purchased four beautiful pekins about a year ago. The boy always sneezed. Like you I wasn't concerned. He must have dust up his nose, I thought! He was gorgeous, happy and appeared healthy, except for the sneezing.Then a couple of months ago, he looked lethargic, had lost weight so I brought him up to the house and set up a home on the verandah for him. I tried hand feeding him with his favourite treats and feed, and gave him water with a dropper. But he died within days. A short time later one of his sons (my absolutely favourite bird) sneezed. An unrelated pekin rooster became lethargic and also lost weight. I took him along with the favourite boy to the vet. They were given injections and put on antibiotics and improved. The whole flock went on antibiotics to be on the safe side. By now, I had four beautiful roosters sneezing and in isolation and kept them on antibiotics well after the flock had stopped. It took a month before we could eat the eggs from the rest of the flock - so many eggs thrown away! Even though my boys recovered, advice I received and from research on the internet, I realised that they would always carry this problem. (Without a very expensive autopsy, we couldn't find out the exact nature of the problem.) The sneezing would probably come back and the rest of my birds were at risk. So, I had to make the terrible (absolutely distressing) decision to have my four boys put to sleep. I took them reluctantly to the vet where they were given a lethal injection. If I had done something about the original rooster perhaps I would still have my gorgeous Chickadee. So, my advice would be isolate the sneezing bird, talk to the vet, you may probably need to take the bird too. But I really hope it's something minor and that you don't go through the trauma we did. My problem was that I breed birds and couldn't afford to let it go further. Good luck. Let us all know how things turn out, but hopefully if you get to it early you might nip it in the bud. Rosemary

Oh wow, I am so sorry to hear that. That's what I'm worried about, I don't want to overlook something minor and have it turn into something major. I'll be home with the chickens all day tomorrow so I'll see if there are any changes and definitely talk to the vet just to be sure. Thanks for your help Rosemary, I really appreciate it!

Still curious if it's possible for chickens to have allergies? Or a common cold? Anyone know?

 

[timebider]

I've heard mine sneeze on occasion before. There was a windy, dusty day a couple months or so ago when there were enough sneezes from a few of my nine pullets that I considered calling the vet, but it had stopped by the next day. Yesterday evening, I noticed that two of them were sneezing regularly. They're still doing it today, though not nearly as frequently as before; I was just in their 1/4-acre pen for about ten minutes and heard 2-3 sneezes in that time. No runny noses, no other symptoms, and they're all running around, eating, foraging, and begging for treats, so I'm just monitoring the situation now.

Our neighbor, whose soybean field stops just 30 feet from my chicken lot, did harvest his crop the night before the sneezing started, which kicked up huge clouds of dust. Also, our weather has been highly variable—plunging from the 60s to the 30s with a heavy frost overnight, and then back up again. I don't know if the weather could have an affect, but the harvesting dust definitely could. I'll probably call the vet if they're still sneezing tomorrow, or if they develop more symptoms, but I'm trying not to be too alarmist. LOL

 

[ellieseggyeggs]

My hen keeps sneezing and not eating very much- I have started to use new bedding could my hen be allergic to this or not?

 

[chickens really]

My hen keeps sneezing and not eating very much- I have started to use new bedding could my hen be allergic to this or not?

Could be Respiratory........Post under emergencies and diseases....



Cheers!

 

[katiaobie]

One of my girls has been sneezing for a week! She's eating and drinking normal, pooping normal. There's nothing in her nose, her eyes aren't gunky...her weight is the same... I have no clue if if should be concerned or not

 

[fjbonser]

I've had 7 sick babies at once; all sneezing with clear liquid coming out their noses. Isolated all of them and put pedialyte in their water. That was 3 years ago and they're healthier than ever. (The woman who sold them to me had abhorrent living conditions, so potential illness didn't surprise me). Fast forward to today. I have 2 month old "indoor chicken" who is 100% isolated and sleeps on my bed. She is now sneezing. Clear liquid coming out of her nose but healthy, nonetheless. I'm not exactly sure what brings this on but I believe pedialyte is the best answer. There's no way to determine how they start sneezing; could be airborne particles. But if someone is sneezing and it's more than once a night, they need nutrients. And my chick is not living in a normal chicken life. She eats well and poops normally. She's active, runs around, I took her outside today to mingle with the others and she was normal as could be. Try the pedialyte.

 

[Henriettasmum]

That is great information. I wish I'd known that 12 months ago when my favourite pekin boy and two of his siblings started sneezing. I took them to the vet, who I now know has no knowledge of poultry whatsoever, and who told me they would be carriers of whatever it was they had for ever and ever amen. The only solution was to euthanise. I was traumatised - cried continuously for days but finally decided to follow his advice. For $5 a piece he did the deed and I continued crying. I am so happy for you that your outcome was so much more satisfactory.