chooks with a cough

[Hilary]

my swedish tart (appenzeller) and wyandotte have both developed coughs.
i have separated them from the others into a house on their own but what can i give them to put them back on the road to recovery?
should i bring them inside near the aga (not in it!) to keep them warm, or could that just make things worse?
many thanks.

[Nicos]

I googled this for you and found this site...

http://www.thepoultrysite.com/forums...ead.php?p=2243

Notice the last bit which someone suggests a natural antibiotic 'citrocidal'-grapefruit seed extract. This apparently is a 'natural antibiotic'. It is used for poultry & humans.

I suppose it's worth a try if you feel it's too soon to get a vet in.

[Birdie Wife]

I know a lot of poultry keepers use Respite to ward off nasty bugs. Ascott Smallholding supplies (good online shop) carry it. ACV (apple cider vinegar, specific formulation for livestock not the stuff from the supermarkets!!) is also good as a general tonic. I don't think bringing them in is necessary at this stage, I've only done it as a last resort when the hen has been so poorly and bedraggled that I thought she could do with a hand to keep her warm and quiet - but it can be stressful for them to be by themselves, plus if you put them too near the Aga they can overheat and you can kill them with kindness

Hope your girls recover soon. Most chickens recover from sneezes and snuffles without too much trouble at all. If they get a rasping chest with it, take them to the vet because it could be mycoplasm, nasty and infectious.

[lynda66]

i'm not sure if this works with chickens, but when we bread mice for showing, every now and again one would get a raspy clicky chest, ....... the best thing we found to work was to put them in a tiny cage inside a box, and put a bowl of steaming water with a bit of vicks added twice a day till it cleared, and also to put blobs of vicks on the roof of their cages or the liquid stuff over their bedding,

worked really well ......... maybe you could put a bowl out of reach in the cage with them and shut the door?? guess it depends how big the cage is that they are in .... sure you can probably get menthol in a big bottle from somewhere to reduce the cost.

[pipscariad]

A few weeks into getting our 3 girls, one of them developed a cough. I'd read about Citricidol (sp?) on the Omlet web site (I have an eglu), so thought I'd give it a try. Didn't buy it from omlet though but from my local wholefood shop, where it was half the price. I put a few drops in their water, and it worked really well - coughs and sneezes cleared up in just a couple of days (it's a while ago, but I'm pretty sure it was quite quick). One of my sons now calls it 'Anti Dusty Sneeze' (Dusty being the one with the cold) - I gave it to him actually when he last had a cold, and it seemed to work there too, although he did complain that it was vile! I tried it myself actually, a few weeks ago, and I would agree, bitter isn't in it!! The hens didn't turn their beaks up at it though.

Good luck with whatever you decide, and hope the coughs are soon cleared up.

[Hilary]

thanks for your help - i got some respite and put it in their water in the ICU !
also mixed them a warm mash breakfast with a clove of garlic in and some ACV, blueberries, bran, oats and groats and fed them that for a couple of days. both right as rain and back with the pack. no rattle or wheezing - but have sourced the citricidol and will keep that in the sick box.

[Birdie Wife]

Excellent, I'm so glad to hear it! Blueberries... wow, your chickens are way luckier than mine!! I'm not going to tell them, they'd be packing their bags and off to your place

[Hilary]

i hestitate to tell you the blueberries were for my daughters favourite breakfast - but the chooks win every time in our house!!!