Dr. Williams, the following was a question posted by a new member in the General Forum. I told him I would copy and paste it here to see if you had an opinion on this.
I'm new to the site. Hello to everyone.
I have a question for the biologists out there...
We have a nearly tame, old bearded hen thats been hanging around our home for years.
About 6 months ago, she developed a persistent "cough" or sneeze. This poor old thing coughs all of the time. She was roosted by my driveway last night and I could hear her coughing in the dark.
Any idea what's wrong with her? Does she have some sort of disease that could spread to the rest of the flock? We have about 60 birds hitting our feeders every day.
Another problem she has is her feathers don't shed the weather like a healthy bird. During wet weather, while all the other turkeys look dry, she is wet and haggered looking. I'm expecting her to freeze to death.
I hoping she won't spread the condition to the other birds. Any thoughts?
