Signs of a cold

[Gorsty]

Hi folks

Have heard a few sneezes today & one of my three has got very loose poops. Don't supposed either are very surprising what with all the rain/cold weather we've had AND all that clover in our lawn that they've been eating.

They are all looking bright enough and eating well. Do I need to worry? Should I be doing something?

Regards

[RichmondHens]

Keep an eye on the one with loose poo - a cold doesn't affect the droppings. Have they been wormed? If not, do that and then keep and eye on the affected bird. You should isolate her if she doesn't improve as could be something more serious and you don't want it passed on.

[HayleyB]

To be honest my lot runaround doing poos of all consitencies at all times, now wrong with them they just seem to change with the wind. Afew have sneezes but there was a lot of dust in the air until we had this rain and the we had floating seed in the air the last few days....

[pipscariad]

I found that Citrocidal (sp?) grapefruit seed extract was good when my girls got a bit of a sniffle - cured their sneezes very fast. Perhaps worth a try? (it goes in their water). Might be worth giving them some poultry spice too, certainly can't hurt.

Hope you get them back to full health very soon.

[Gorsty]

Rookie needs more advice

Keep an eye on the one with loose poo - a cold doesn't affect the droppings. Have they been wormed? If not, do that and then keep and eye on the affected bird. You should isolate her if she doesn't improve as could be something more serious and you don't want it passed on.

No I doubt they've been wormed - do I get a wormer from the vet or on line? How is it administered and how often?

[QUOTE=pipscariad;472816]I found that Citrocidal (sp?) grapefruit seed extract was good when my girls got a bit of a sniffle - cured their sneezes very fast. Perhaps worth a try? (it goes in their water). Might be worth giving them some poultry spice too, certainly can't hurt.

Have heard of poultry spice before but not the Citrocidal. Will have a look on line for it. Think I should also look for a book on chicken illnesses and have a good read!

Thanks for your help - I wish this weather would improve for them. They do have a covered run but!!!

[MaureenHall]

Flubenvet is I think the most effective wormer. I got mine from Pet Dispensary online. It's given over 7 days and mixed in with their food, so you need to work out how much food they eat in a day, multiply it by 7 and work out the dosage from that (sounds complicated but it isn't really), then feed them just the medicated food. You can still give them late afternoon/early evening treats if they've eaten all the other though (if you don't eat up your dinner you won't get any pudding )

[Gorsty]

Hi

Have found it on line for around £12 something for a 60g tub. I suppose they are only eating a couple of handfuls of growers pellets per day?! Do you just sprinkle it on dry or dampen the pellets so it sticks to them?

[MaureenHall]

If they're only eating that small amount, and you've only got 3, then it might be best to just put a tiny (tip of a sharp knife) amount onto half a grape each and feed that to them. Do it for the full week though

[RichmondHens]

I just mix it in dry, but you can damp the feed slightly to help the powder stick if you wish. As Maureen says, with only 3 hens you could dose each individually.

[Gorsty]

OK thanks v much - will have a go with the grape idea. Although it sounds far too easy!!

[bluemoon]

Slightly off topic, but can my chickens catch cold from me? I know it works the other way around and we can get flu from them, but I've started with a sore throat this morning and now I'm beginning to feel quite rough. I'd hate to make them ill, especially if it can be avoided. I've looked in my books but none of them even mention colds - though I think I've said before that I have rubbish chicken books, I really must try to get hold of the Katie Thear one.