How to Prevent Chicken Respiratory Illnesses Naturally

Posted by Jennifer - Dine-A-Chook Australia

Jun 05, 2019

How to Prevent Chicken Respiratory Illnesses Naturally

Respiratory trouble is one of the most common reasons a backyard flock goes downhill quickly. Hens are far more sensitive to air quality than most people expect, and the things that set them off - damp litter, dust, still air, crowding - are all things you can change without buying anything.

This guide covers what actually causes respiratory problems in backyard flocks, and the practical husbandry that keeps them from starting. If you are trying to work out what you are looking at right now, start with sneezing, coughing and wheezing in chickens instead.

Key Takeaways

Chickens have a rigid, high-flow respiratory system with air sacs running through the body, so they are unusually sensitive to dust, damp and ammonia.
Ammonia from wet litter is the single most preventable cause of respiratory irritation in a backyard coop.
Ventilation and draughts are not the same thing. Birds need constant air exchange above head height, and no wind blowing across them on the perch.
Most outbreaks follow a stress event - a cold snap, a heatwave, a moult, transport, a show, or new birds arriving.
Quarantine every new bird for at least two weeks. New arrivals are the most common way disease enters a settled flock.
If a bird is struggling to breathe, is sitting fluffed up, or has stopped eating and drinking, speak to a vet.

Why Chickens Are So Easily Affected

A chicken does not breathe the way a mammal does. Instead of a flexible diaphragm and two lungs that fill and empty, birds have small rigid lungs connected to a series of air sacs that run through the chest, abdomen and even into some bones. Air moves through in one direction, and it moves efficiently.

That efficiency is exactly why coop air quality matters so much. Whatever is in the air in the shed - ammonia, litter dust, feed dust, mould spores - passes through a large surface area every minute the bird is in there. A coop that smells sharp when you open it in the morning is a coop that has been irritating your hens all night.

1. Manage Moisture First

Wet litter is where nearly every avoidable respiratory problem starts. Droppings plus moisture produce ammonia, and ammonia irritates the lining of the airway.

The rule of thumb: if you can smell ammonia at your own head height, it has been strong at chook head height for some time.

Keep litter dry and loose. Turn it regularly and top it up rather than letting it pack down.
Clear damp patches as they appear, particularly under the perches and around drinkers.
Fix leaks in the roof, and check where rain blows in during a storm.
Make sure the coop floor is above the surrounding ground so water runs away from it, not into it.
Use a drinker that does not spill or get fouled. Open bowls and troughs tip, get scratched full of litter, and keep the ground underneath permanently wet. A closed cup or nipple drinker keeps the water clean and the litter dry, which is a hygiene improvement as much as a convenience one.

2. Ventilate Without Draughts

This is the part most coops get wrong, usually for the right reasons. People seal a coop up for winter to keep the birds warm, and turn it into a humid, ammonia-filled box.

Chickens handle cold far better than they handle bad air. They are wearing a down jacket. What they cannot handle is wind blowing directly across them while they roost.

Put your ventilation above roost height, so stale warm air and moisture rise and escape without blowing over the birds.
Vent along two sides where you can, so air moves through rather than sitting.
Cover openings with weldmesh, not chicken wire, to keep predators out.
At perch height and below, the coop should be still. Stand in there on a windy day and feel it.
Never close a coop up completely overnight, even in a cold snap.

3. Keep the Dust Down

Chickens generate a remarkable amount of fine dust - feather dander, dried droppings, litter and feed. It builds up on every surface, and it goes airborne every time the birds move.

Choose a lower-dust litter. Fine sawdust and very dusty straw are the worst offenders.
Sweep down surfaces, ledges and cobwebs regularly rather than only at a full clean-out.
Store feed in sealed containers and avoid tipping dusty feed from a height inside the coop.
Keep the feeder outside the sleeping area where you can, and use a covered feeder that keeps feed off the ground and out of the weather.
Do a full clean-out on a day you can leave the coop open to air and dry.

4. Do Not Crowd Them

Stocking density drives everything else. More birds in the same space means more droppings, more moisture, more dust, more ammonia and closer contact.

As a working minimum for a backyard flock, allow around 0.3 to 0.4 square metres of floor space per standard hen inside the coop, plus 20 to 25cm of perch each, and considerably more space in the run. If your coop feels tight when the birds are all in it at night, it is tight.

5. Quarantine New Birds

The most common way trouble arrives in a healthy flock is on the feathers of a new bird - from a sale, a show, a swap meet, or a well-meaning friend.

Keep new birds completely separate for at least two weeks, three is better.
House them well away from the existing flock, not in an adjoining pen.
Feed and water the settled flock first and the new birds last, so you are not carrying anything back.
Watch for any noisy breathing, discharge from the nostrils or eyes, or a bird that is quieter than the rest.
Birds returning from a show should be quarantined too, not just new arrivals.

6. Plan Around the Stress Events

Flocks rarely get into trouble at random. It usually follows something. The predictable ones are worth preparing for:

Moult. Regrowing a full set of feathers is a heavy demand on a hen.
Cold snaps and heatwaves. Both are hard on birds, and both change how you need to manage the coop.
Transport and showing. Confinement, strange air, strange birds.
Introducing new birds. Pecking-order disruption is a genuine stressor for everyone in the pen.
Broodiness and heavy laying. Both take a lot out of a hen.

You cannot stop a hen moulting or stop the weather. What you can do is make sure the coop is clean, dry and well ventilated going into those periods, keep fresh water available at all times, and avoid stacking two stressors on top of each other where you have the choice.

If a Bird Starts Showing Signs

Acting early makes a real difference to how the rest of the flock fares.

Separate the bird straight away, somewhere warm, dry, quiet and out of the wind.
Make sure it is eating and drinking. A bird that stops doing either goes downhill fast.
Clean the coop thoroughly and deal with any damp while the bird is out of it.
Watch the rest of the flock closely for a few days.
Speak to a vet. Respiratory signs in chickens have a lot of possible causes, several of them contagious, and some are notifiable. A vet can tell you what you are dealing with. Guessing costs you time you may not have.

When to Call a Vet Without Waiting

Open-mouth or laboured breathing, or a bird stretching its neck to breathe
A bird sitting fluffed up and withdrawn
Not eating or drinking
Swelling around the face or eyes
More than one bird affected at the same time
Any bird that gets worse rather than better over a day or two

The Short Version

Dry litter, air moving above their heads, still air at perch height, low dust, enough room, and a proper quarantine on anything new. That list prevents more respiratory trouble in backyard flocks than anything you can buy, and it costs nothing but the time to do it properly.

If you are unsure what you are seeing in your own flock, talk to your vet.

In the Dine-A-Chook Range

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