January 13, 2009

Respiratory disease

Even though we don't introduce new birds, the cold weather recently brought with it an unexpected side effect. Several of my hens came down with a respiratory disease. They looked a little peaked, and they were sneezing. Chicken sneezes are very cute. But I was worried.

I took the girls out of the general population and put them into an outbuilding that was a bit warmer, though still with lots of fresh air. As I show in the video, I dosed their water supply and then kept them separated from the rest of my flock for a week.

By that time they were not sneezing any more, and were back to laying.

I removed the medicine and kept them apart from the rest of my flock for another ten days, waiting for their systems to clear and not eating any of their eggs. My dogs were very happy to get egg drop soup every day!

Now they're all back to the flock, pecking order has been re-established, and things are going well in the henhouse once again.

Cheers for Chickens! And Happy New Year!