Have you ever heard a chicken sneeze? Neither had we until this week, but now Gerry has a cold and every time she sneezes she shoots herself backwards across the coop. It’s quite endearing. She’s wiping her nose on the grass.

Margot doesn’t like it at all. She’s keeping well away from her and yesterday evening kicked up a big noisy fuss in the hen house. We were in the human house at the time, and despite having the radio on we could still hear her carrying on.

Anyhow, I’ve looked up what we should do, and it seems that apple cider vinegar will clear up her snotty nose. It’s running down her beak, but it’s not bubbly, which our guide assures us is a good thing as it means it’s not infected. It will probably do the other two some good to be drinking the vinegar, too, as we put it in their water: it might help them stave it off.

It’s quite magical stuff, apple cider vinegar. We use it in salad dressings, but it says on the side of the bottle that you can drink it as a tonic, which I guess is what it’s doing for the hens.

But at least none of them has a swollen head or neck. That would be very bad news as it’s a sign of avian influenza.

Related posts:

1. The chickens and their cold
2. The chickens and the cold
3. What do chickens eat?