Help Please Can anybody identify this and tell me what to do?

[ailikat]

Hello, Thank you for your advice. So I wormed with valbazen, treated the 2 as directed for eyeworms, and put everybody on vitamins and electrolytes. They are all doing great except for the 2 birds in question. The eyes cleared up for a few days, but now having problems. 14 week old - rooster? Chronically goopy eyes since hatch. I wiped his eyes daily several times so he could eat and he has thrived and survived miraculously. I am posting pictures of his eyes. Terramycin is not doing anything for this little guy. Treated for eyeworms.... I had him on antibiotics months ago, clears up and then gets goopy again. Tried oxytetracycline and when that didn't cure it, a couple doses of tylan. He weighs 2 lbs and 5.8 oz. He is half silkie. Has been wormed with safeguard and a follow up with valbazen orally and in his eyes. I am still having to clean his eyes daily, sealed shut in morning when I let him out of the coop. The others are picking on him I assume because he is weaker. Appetite is great and he drinks plenty of water. Should I treat him with tylan? I have tylan 50, injectable, but I give orally because I am uncomfortable giving in skin. None of the others in coop with him have eye issues.... I don't know what to do for him. Any advice is greatly appreciated.





and now for this girl.... She is 1 and a half yrs old, silkie hen. Been ill since August. Has been in isolation, have tried many recommended treatments on her. Started out with eyes sealing shut, and respiratory symptoms. Treated initially with tylan in august and terramycin daily - which did nothing for her eyes. Recently had her on cephalexin, thought maybe bacterial skin infection. Tried a 5 day course of flagyl, thought maybe fungal or yeast skin infection. Has been wormed with safeguard, followed by valbazen, treated for eyeworms also with the vetryx and the valbazen. Have been putting vetryx on her face and head to ease discomfort and condition her skin. She has not eaten crumbles since maybe august or september, so I thought maybe she could have a deficiency that caused skin condition. She was on polyvisol w/out iron drops daily. Now she is taking chicken vitamins and electrolytes that I syringe feed to her daily because she is not interested in drinking. However she is eating great. I have been giving her anything she likes, she has been eating scrambled eggs daily along with bananas, blueberries, green peas, red and green grapes, she has eaten a bit of chopped up spaghetti, and pumpkin with the seeds. She is in a crate inside where she is warm, and I have her on newspapers lined with paper towels so she can wipe her mouth when she eats and not get shavings stuck to her. I clean her bedding several times a day and immediately clean up any droppings so she is not standing in them. She was having lots of mucous and respiratory symptoms which have cleared up. I recently put a teeny tiny amount of revolution (selamectin) on the back of her neck up high....in case it could be scaly or mange mites??? Each day that I expect to find her dead, she has pulled through and doing a bit better..... should I bathe her? I don't want to do more damage to her skin. Is this pox? Vitamin deficiency? mange? Canker/trich/roup? Favus? Her eyes were sealing shut daily, but since valbazen and vetryx have been clear. I have been letting her outside for sunshine when the weather is dry and warm. she recently went through a molt. Does anybody have any idea what she may have and what my next course of action should be? please don't say cull, she is fighting to live and has come a long way, also only 1 and a half. Also, we have so many wild birds that keep getting into the coops and eating the feed and drinking their water. We do not have any avian vets around, so not an option.




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[ailikat]

Another interesting symptom both of these birds have.... is a distended or prominent trachea that sticks out much further than the others, making it difficult to feel their crop. I have been reading everything and trying desperately to find out what is troubling my pets. Please any advice or info anyone has to offer will be greatly appreciated.

 

[Jesusfreak101]

Sorry i dont have a clue but hopefully some one will post soon that does.

 

[Sutremaine]

First, find some way of keeping the wild birds out of the food and water. You can keep on treating problems, and the wild birds can keep on bringing them in. I see you have an enclosed pen there -- can it be covered with netting? If it's too large for that, can you partition it and put a cover over the part with the coop?

As for the silkie hen... it does look like some nasty fungal thing. Is her dustbathing area one you can change out easily? If it's a container instead of a depression in the ground, it'll be much easier to try various additives. Sulphur is a fine material to start with.

She probably also needs some good bacteria inside her, to replace the ones taken out by the antibiotics. Live yoghurt is probably the easiest thing to get hold of.

 

[ailikat]

Yes, they are in an enclosure. Never thought of putting netting over the kennel, it is a large area and it has chicken wire over the top to keep the hawks out. The hawks come and land right on top of the kennel. We have cardinals, hummingbirds, bluejays, crows, catbirds, owls, hawks, wild turkeys, wood peckers, sparrows, finches, and other little pesky birds. The wild birds are a huge problem, especially the little ones. There can be at least a dozen at one time sitting in the chicken's food trough eating their crumbles. They also drink their water and sit on their perches. I've tried keeping food and water in the coops, but the birds fly right in. You are so right.... I can keep treating problems, but the wild birds will keep bringing it right back. At least the wild birds have been wormed right along with the chickens because they drink their water. We have several acres of land, some of which are wetlands, and live across the street from an apple orchard. Our wild bird population is very high.
Ok, so you think my silkie hen has a fungal infection, not bacterial? She has not been in with the other chickens and hasn't been able to take a dust bath in quite some time. Where can i get sulfur for her to dust bathe in? Is it used as an additive to the sand? Would DE be beneficial for her as well? I got some oxine, and plan to try fogging her, it is good for fungal infections. As far as anti-fungal meds, I have flagyl on hand. How much can I give her and for how long shall I give it to her for? Thank you for responding, at least now I have some idea of what I am up against.
-Kathryn

 

[Sutremaine]

Yes, they are in an enclosure.  Never thought of putting netting over the kennel, it is a large area and it has chicken wire over the top to keep the hawks out.

Shouldn't the chicken wire keep the other birds out...? Or do you have a bird-secure coop / small run with a larger unroofed area where the food and water are?

Ok, so you think my silkie hen has a fungal infection, not bacterial?

It looks more like a fungal infection, with the peeling and the chunks and the dry surface. Also you've treated with four different antibiotics and it hasn't gone away.

Where can i get sulfur for her to dust bathe in?  Is it used as an additive to the sand?  Would DE be beneficial for her as well?

A gardening place would probably have some. Ebay definitely will. You add it to the sand, yes. I've seen 10% suggested as a figure. If you're worried about adding too much, give her a plain sand dustbath as well as the sulphured one.

I've read quite a lot of back-and-forth on the effectiveness of DE on parasites. I remain unconvinced either way, but given its effects on bees I'm staying away from it.

As far as anti-fungal meds, I have flagyl on hand.  How much can I give her and for how long shall I give it to her for?

Flagyl's an antibiotic and anti-protozoan. Did you like the results you got when you gave it to her last time?

Have you read about brooding chicks outdoors? If you can leave little chicks outside with their heat pad cave, an adult chicken who's currently in the house but not on any additional heat should cope just fine.

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

Shouldn't the chicken wire keep the other birds out...? Or do you have a bird-secure coop / small run with a larger unroofed area where the food and water are?

Many wild birds can, and do, go right through the openings in poultry netting.

 

[ailikat]

Thank you for responding. The chicken run is large chain-linked kennel, not sure of the exact dimensions, but the panels are very high and huge. It was a major undertaking to cover the top with chicken wire to keep the hawks out. The little birds go right in through the chain-links. There are 2 coops enclosed in the kennel, and I keep their food and water in them. I like to let the chickens out into our fenced in yard when I am home to keep an eye on them. Yes, you are correct that I have treated with 4 different antibiotics which should have cleared up any bacterial skin infection, so this must be fungal. I thought flagyl (metronizadole) was an anti-fungal, at least that's the impression I got from reading about it. I know it is used to treat canker/trich, and thought possibly this was her issue due to all of the wild birds. I was thinking that maybe I didn't give her a long enough course of flagyl to effectively treat canker..... She certainly displays many of the symptoms. Thank you for the information, I certainly don't want more antibiotics because that will just feed the fungal condition. I do have liquid nystatin on hand as well, I gave her 1 ml by mouth this a.m. So.... should I not give her metronizadole, and just go with the liquid nystatin? I read on the poultry medicine chart that the dosage for Nystatin is 1ml 2x daily, is this accurate? She is a banty silkie and weighs only 1 and a half pounds. What would you recommend? Any ideas on my 14 week old with chronic eye issues? There was an egg that exploded in the incubator just before he hatched, and I am almost certain he was affected by the bacteria since his eyes were glued shut since day 1. Terramycin has done nothing for him. Shall I try a 5 day course of tylan? Thank you so much for your time, I know I have much to learn.

 

[MrsBachbach]

Yes, they are in an enclosure. Never thought of putting netting over the kennel, it is a large area and it has chicken wire over the top to keep the hawks out. The hawks come and land right on top of the kennel. We have cardinals, hummingbirds, bluejays, crows, catbirds, owls, hawks, wild turkeys, wood peckers, sparrows, finches, and other little pesky birds. The wild birds are a huge problem, especially the little ones. There can be at least a dozen at one time sitting in the chicken's food trough eating their crumbles. They also drink their water and sit on their perches. I've tried keeping food and water in the coops, but the birds fly right in. You are so right.... I can keep treating problems, but the wild birds will keep bringing it right back. At least the wild birds have been wormed right along with the chickens because they drink their water. We have several acres of land, some of which are wetlands, and live across the street from an apple orchard. Our wild bird population is very high.
Ok, so you think my silkie hen has a fungal infection, not bacterial? She has not been in with the other chickens and hasn't been able to take a dust bath in quite some time. Where can i get sulfur for her to dust bathe in? Is it used as an additive to the sand? Would DE be beneficial for her as well? I got some oxine, and plan to try fogging her, it is good for fungal infections. As far as anti-fungal meds, I have flagyl on hand. How much can I give her and for how long shall I give it to her for? Thank you for responding, at least now I have some idea of what I am up against.
-Kathryn

It does look like a fungal infection of some sort with the girl. Maybe some pus (which solidifies in chickens) in that eye socket area, possibly secondary. Just my guess based on the vet show I saw on tv where the vet had to push the solid pus out of the poor chickens eye. That chickens eye was practically swollen shut though.
Try a different fungal approach. Oil of oregano is mentioned here:
https://sites.google.com/a/poultrypedia.com/poultrypedia/chicken-fungal-infections
Maybe you could bring pictures to the vet and they might be able to prescribe an antifungal for her?
It may need to be applied to the skin or internal, idk. Has she been scratching the eye? Maybe she picked up a secondary bacterial eye infection and that might be why the swelling
Almost looks like a yeast growing on her skin to me, but I'm not an expert.
The rooster may also be suffering from some type of internal fungal infection. I was going to say Vit A needed but you said everyone on vit/min additives. So, you may try a fungal medication for him also. Fungal infections are very difficult to treat and some cannot be treated successfully is my understanding. Most tend not to be contagious(but some can be) so that would explain no other birds displaying same symptoms in your pen.
Hope you can solve this for them. Keep us updated.

 

[ailikat]

Thank You Mrs. Bachbach, I will definitely look into the oregano oil.