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[Chooks76]

On the 1st of this month I thought my Speckledy had become broody as it was staying on the nest. Then last Thursday I noticed a bubble come from its nose which the other chickens duly pecked at! I took it to the vet the next day who said the chest was fine but could see discharge from the nose so prescribed 5 days of antibiotics. She also said she seemed underweight.

 

Four days into that course of drugs she is still spending (I believe) pretty much all of her time on the nest. The only time I see her is when I open the eggport and pick her up. I drop her by the feeder and water and she has both. Generally though she is back on the nest within 10-15 minutes. She is also still wiping her beak on the ground.

 

I'm not planning to take her back to the vet so nature will have to decide her fate. I was just wondering if anyone else had seen this behaviour in a chicken. I know the vet said it was likely to be an upper respiratory infection but I'm not sure how much they know about chickens.

[Redwing]

Could she maybe be broody and the illness is red herring?

[Chooks76]

I certainly think there is a broody element. But what would cause her to continually wipe her beak on the ground? The vet certainly saw discharge from her nostrils. She hasn't laid an egg for five days and I remove the others birds eggs as soon as i can - and throw them away thanks to the antibiotics!

[Ain't Nobody Here]

Wiping their beaks is a fairly normal behaviour. I suppose it depends if it's more often than normal?

 

If you want to break her broodiness (if you suspect it is that) there is advice here.

[Redwing]

Which antibiotic is it? Baytril has a bitter taste that will often make a hen wipe its beak after drinking

[Chooks76]

The antibiotic is called Doxycycline. It was the beak wiping behaviour, bubbles from the nose and her 99% occupancy of the nest that led to the vet trip. I've observed my chickens quite a bit since getting them 8 weeks ago and I rarely saw her wipe her beak whereas now she does it several times during her ten minute spell out and about.

 

It's a tricky one because I'm sure there is something wrong with her and therefore don't really want to deny her access to the nest - however she is clearly eating very little if she is cooped up in there all day so it's a catch-22.

 

She is a very nervous bird so up until now I never managed to pick her up. Therefore I can't tell if she feels thinner / lighter than before.

[Chooks76]

I closed the coop door this morning after my other two chickens laid eggs. My speckledy is going back often to try and get in. I thought if she was ill she would just sit down all day next to the entrance, however she has spent a fair amount of time outside in the free range run. So she obviously isnt spending all her time on the nest because she hasnt got the energy to be up and about. She is still wiping her beak lots so I think there are two issues here - respiratory infection and broodiness! The antibiotics run out today so we will see what happens over the next week or so.

 

On an aside I've noticed the other chicken's eggs have got bigger since the introduction of the antibiotics - I wonder if they are performance enhancing drugs?!

[beach chick]

so are you adding the antibiotics to the water or food then, if you are withdrawing all the eggs? or is it that you cant tell which ones your poorly girl lays?

 

I would isolate her (broody coop/rabbit ark/dog crate/whatever) with food and water in there so that you can monitor her and let the others have full access to nest box etc. broody coop would be better, in that if she is broody it will break that and then you can assess whether she is ill or not.

[Chooks76]

Yes I'm adding the antibiotics to the water. Unfortunately I don't have the means to isolate her so the best I can do is to deny them all access to the coop...which shouldnt be a problem as I'll only do it once the others have laid their eggs.

[gongladosh]

It's certainly possible that it could be broodiness. My sussex bantam can often get the sniffles when broody (and I don't mean mycoplasma) - just literally the odd sneeze and snotty nose. we then use a little citricidal in the water.

 

The second we snap her out of the broodiness, she's fighting fit within no time at all. I guess broodiness takes a bit out of her...

[Chooks76]

That's certainly interesting. Well I used the last of the antibiotics today. It's back to cider vinegar in the water tomorrow. I'll continue to deny her access to the coop as much as I can. She certainly seems stable.

[Chooks76]

So, it's now 15 days since my Speckledy started a change in her behaviour. She continues to stay on the nest and wipe her beak on the ground. I checked her the other day and couldn't see any discharge. She is eating and drinking. Since the start of this week I've taken to keeping the Elgu coop door closed as much as possible. As a result she spends a fair bit of time free ranging now - which makes me think the time on the nest is down to broodiness and not because she is too ill to move about. She hasn't laid an egg for ten days. The five day antibiotic course has been and gone.

Someone suggested she might need worming. I had my chickens two months now and have yet to worm them. I know they may need worming....but does any of the above fit in with a chicken which might have worms? She certainly isn't eating or drinking excessively from what I've seen. She still has enough energy to fly up onto the Eglu roof. But she certainly isn't right.