Can chickens get colds?

[petal]

Our light sussex hen, 'Snowdrop' seems to be sneezing with a slight snotty nose- what can I give her?

[Bramble-Poultry]

Chickens can get colds - there are several posts on here about it.

The general consensus is galic in one for or another, we use it in a pre prepared forumlation called respite, others add it as a powder or give as a tablet - all as good as the other.

Like us they will be little affected by a cold, they will still scratch about and eat their food, resting more often but generally ok. They will get over it in a couple of days and it is very rare a bird will die for a cold.

If your bird is not generally ok, goes off its food, spends most of the day huddled up or starts to show other symptoms other than a bit of a sneeze and a cough occasionally then its time for the vets for anti-biotics because it is then more likely to be a repiratory infection (there are lots) A bird with a respiratory infection will go downhill quickly and without treatment is highly likely to die within a couple of days.

[HayleyB]

As above but mine get leftovers that contain garlic or bits of garlic here and there, in fact it is said that garlic deters mites too but I'm not sure if that's true or not.

[southern softie]

Please make sure that it doesn't have a respritory infect as the poor thing won't last long untreated. This happened to mine recently and found out it was caused by me using damp straw in the nesting box.

[pdblake]

As above but mine get leftovers that contain garlic or bits of garlic here and there, in fact it is said that garlic deters mites too but I'm not sure if that's true or not.

I keep a few cloves in a two litre bottle of water and add a splash to their drinking water each day.

[petal]

Going to add cloves to their water - she seems better today - must of been an autumn sniffle.