Do chickens catch colds?

[GtheCajun]

Three days ago, my rooster started crowing like he had a sore throat. Then, the next day I noticed one of the hens making the sound of a cough or a sneeze. I know you who are familiar with chickens know the sound I mean. And yesterday, there were more hens making the sneezing sound. Does anyone have any idea what is wrong?

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

There are several respiratory infections that can infect poultry, but no they do not "catch cold".
Do any of the birds have any sort of discharge from their beak, nares, eyes? Are there bubbles in any of the eyes? If you open a beak and look into the mouth and throat, what do you see and smell?

 

[Shadrach]

No chickens don't catch colds. This sounds more like a respiratory infection of some type.
From what you've written it also sounds like it's spreading.
You will doubtless get lots of advice on various treatments but my advice is take the chicken with the most pronounced symptoms to an avian vet and get a proper diagnosis.

 

[Eggcessive]

Have you added any new chickens to your flock recently? It can take only 3-10 days for a carrier to come into a flock and even though they may not appear sick, they can be a carrier of one or more of the common respiratory diseases. Some of the commons diseases are infectious bronchitis, mycoplasma (MG,) coryza, ILT and a few others. Viruses will run their course over time, and bacterial disease may respond to certain antibiotics, but many of the diseases are chronic and may recur. They can be hard to get rid of in a flock, since only one carrier can spread it to the new chickens. Here is some reading about common diseases and symptoms:
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ps044

 

[GtheCajun]

Have you added any new chickens to your flock recently? It can take only 3-10 days for a carrier to come into a flock and even though they may not appear sick, they can be a carrier of one or more of the common respiratory diseases. Some of the commons diseases are infectious bronchitis, mycoplasma (MG,) coryza, ILT and a few others. Viruses will run their course over time, and bacterial disease may respond to certain antibiotics, but many of the diseases are chronic and may recur. They can be hard to get rid of in a flock, since only one carrier can spread it to the new chickens. Here is some reading about common diseases and symptoms:
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ps044

Interesting, thanks. But I didn’t add any to the flock

 

[Eggcessive]

I think my chickens once got infectious bronchitis virus from wild migrating birds. The symptoms included frequently sneezing for a month, and it went through my whole flock, though none was seriously ill. What symptoms are you seeing?

 

[GtheCajun]

I think my chickens once got infectious bronchitis virus from wild migrating birds. The symptoms included frequently sneezing for a month, and it went through my whole flock, though none was seriously ill. What symptoms are you seeing?

Pretty much the same thing, just sneezing with no other symptoms.Most of them are better now, only a few still sneezing. I think they’ll be okay.