Chicken with nose discharge

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(Homestead, FL)

Question

I have 2 Golden Comets, they started laying eggs 1 month ago at the same time noticed a slight clear discharge from nose.

They are active and eating layer feed, free range. They don't act sick but I feel a foul odor from their noses. We don't want to eat the eggs until we know if it is safe.

Answer
The eggs are probably fine, but the hens probably have colds. Sometimes this is more of an allergic reaction or irritation from dust in straw.

I had a similar thing happen with 3 new hens I bought last summer, though I didn’t notice a smell.

The cold didn’t clear on its own and I didn’t want to treat them with antibiotics because the directions said not to eat the eggs for a certain amount of time after treating them.

I had other hens and was concerned that this might spread. I noticed another hen with same rattle sound sometimes and knew I had to do something.

I went to the feed store and looked through all products recommended for respiratory infections and all said I shouldn’t use the eggs for a while.

I found packages of vitamin/electrolyte powder and knew that possibly extra vitamins would help them fight this off and I didn’t need to waste the eggs.

I treated the entire flock with the vitamins according to the directions for dose, but diluted the vitamins in warm water and poured it over their layer mash, an amount I knew they would eat in a day.

I took their water away and just gave the soupy mash fresh for three days. At the end of the three days all signs of this problem were gone and never returned.

I did treat them once a month with the vitamin/mash soup for three days as they began molting and I knew the vitamins would benefit them. We had no colds through the winter.

It’s possible you may need antibiotics, but I highly recommend trying the vitamin/electrolyte powder first.

If you use the eggs or not till they are better is totally up to what you feel comfortable with. We used ours and had no problems, but it’s always better to be safe, than sorry, if you have doubts.

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