What does my chicken have HELP!

[HannaDolly]

Is this Sour Crop, Fungal or a Respiratory infection???!

Symptoms:
Fowl Breath
Sneezing
Gooey Eyes
some slight gurgling sounds while breathing.
Egg production- None- but my girls didnt lay prior to these other two hens the reason why i took these two was for egg production.

Coop environment:
Muck soil in both outdoor areas, indoor coop has hay and some saw dust. Could moldy hay cause all of this?

This has been going on for a few weeks. I culled the two hens that i believe brought it into my coop. 1 of those hens showed symptoms the other did not. If they are not the source of this, i feel bad but i felt i had no other choice.


I have a total of 5 Chickens.
2 bantys
1 Silver dorking
1 silver laced
1 production red

The only two out of those 5 showing symptoms are my bantams.
1 has all symptoms above the other only has the Fowl Breath and thats it.

The rest act completely healthy. Im at a loss.

If this a respiratory thing i know i cant treat with antibiotics, but they would be carriers and i don't want my flock to be carriers of this as i intend to Raise and sell Chicks.

I will cull if necessary (even though it will break my heart) Do i only need to Cull the sick or all of them even if they are healthy?


PLEASE HELP ME SOMEONE I NEED TO MAKE THIS CHOICE TODAY.
I DONT WANT IT PASSING ON TO ANYONE ELSE!!

Im ready to go home from work and Strip my coop of everything and bleach the heck out of it.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Moldy hay is extremely toxic to chickens, as is anything moldy. You must be in a wet environment? I personally don't treat illnesses anymore and will cull sick birds to remove carriers. Even if they improve they will always be compromised and potentially a means of spreading diseases.

Many diseases can cause your symptoms, to me it does sound like potentially it's Aspergillosis, or brooder pneumonia, which is caused by inhaling fungus put off by moldy bedding, there's no treatment and it's recommended to cull.

That's what I would do. Than clean things out and address why everything is wet and damp and fix that. Sorry, it might help to post this in the emergency and disease section to see if you get a better opinion, good luck.

 

[HannaDolly]

Moldy hay is extremely toxic to chickens, as is anything moldy. You must be in a wet environment? I personally don't treat illnesses anymore and will cull sick birds to remove carriers. Even if they improve they will always be compromised and potentially a means of spreading diseases.

Many diseases can cause your symptoms, to me it does sound like potentially it's Aspergillosis, or brooder pneumonia, which is caused by inhaling fungus put off by moldy bedding, there's no treatment and it's recommended to cull.

That's what I would do. Than clean things out and address why everything is wet and damp and fix that. Sorry, it might help to post this in the emergency and disease section to see if you get a better opinion, good luck.

Is it contagious or is it subject to the bird that is sick? I removed all hay out of the coop and replaced with clean Sawdust bedding.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

From my understanding it's not contagious and only affects those that breathe in the fungus. You could separate out the sick ones and than cull as necessary, watching the healthy.

Here's a link to some information about it.
http://www.beautyofbirds.com/aspergillosis.html

But this is just my guess, there are lots of different respiratory diseases, I only thought this because you mentioned moldy hay. I would use something like barn lime to dry out the coop, spreading it over all surfaces.

 

[HannaDolly]

I have read that garlic may help so I will try this with the one showing the symptoms and see how she progresses. I am now beginning to feel a bit terrible for culling those two hens if they were not the source of my problem. But at the end of the day the health of my entire flock is worth more then two hens that i was going to send to auction in the fall anyhow. Thanks for your opinion. I am really beginning to think this is the culprit to my problem. The coop stays realities dry and we have had little rain yet when I removed it the hay/mold dust was terrible. It was just placed in a month ago. Never again will I use anything but sawdust!

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I use hay but only in the winter. Unfortunately we sometimes learn stuff the hard way. You made the best decision you could at the time. Hopefully that's the source of it and things improve from here.

 

[aart]

With respiratory symptoms it's hard to pin down the source without testing via an avian vet or lab necrospy after death.
The only way to know is to remove the suspect hay bedding and see if it clears up.
Garlic is not necessarily going to help and too much can be toxic.

 

[HannaDolly]

With respiratory symptoms it's hard to pin down the source without testing via an avian vet or lab necrospy after death.
The only way to know is to remove the suspect hay bedding and see if it clears up.
Garlic is not necessarily going to help and too much can be toxic.

I have only given it in her wate, the others onky get little bits just to boost them up a little. Definitely am not over doing it. I'm always careful with not over feeding any treats they go nuts over. I am hoping things clear up I put a fan in for ventilation and better air circulation and removed any and all hay inor around the coop. I hope she turns around.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Is this Sour Crop, Fungal or a Respiratory infection???!

Symptoms:
Fowl Breath
Sneezing
Gooey Eyes
some slight gurgling sounds while breathing.
Egg production- None- but my girls didnt lay prior to these other two hens the reason why i took these two was for egg production.

Coop environment:
Muck soil in both outdoor areas, indoor coop has hay and some saw dust. Could moldy hay cause all of this?

This has been going on for a few weeks. I culled the two hens that i believe brought it into my coop. 1 of those hens showed symptoms the other did not. If they are not the source of this, i feel bad but i felt i had no other choice.


I have a total of 5 Chickens.
2 bantys
1 Silver dorking
1 silver laced
1 production red

The only two out of those 5 showing symptoms are my bantams.
1 has all symptoms above the other only has the Fowl Breath and thats it.

The rest act completely healthy. Im at a loss.

If this a respiratory thing i know i cant treat with antibiotics, but they would be carriers and i don't want my flock to be carriers of this as i intend to Raise and sell Chicks.

I will cull if necessary (even though it will break my heart) Do i only need to Cull the sick or all of them even if they are healthy?


PLEASE HELP ME SOMEONE I NEED TO MAKE THIS CHOICE TODAY.
I DONT WANT IT PASSING ON TO ANYONE ELSE!!

Im ready to go home from work and Strip my coop of everything and bleach the heck out of it.

Can you post some photos?

@oldhenlikesdogs and @aart have both given you some great advice and insight and their suggestions are good possibilities.

Do they have mucous coming from their beak as well as the eyes?
Is it the mucous/goo that is smelly or is it just the breath?
How does the crop feel, is it emptying properly?

Since you have 2 that are showing symptoms, it could be a respiratory illness. There are several and they are all contagious and most will make them carriers for life. Those exposed, even if they never show any signs of illness can be carriers as well.
Mycoplasmas, Infectious Coryza, Infectious Bronchitis are a few of the most common. Since you detect a fowl odor, then Infectious Coryza is a good candidate.
That said, as pointed out by the above posters, without testing/necropsy there is no way to determine exactly what illness you may be dealing with.

Separate the sick ones, provide some poultry vitamins in the water and offer their normal feed. If they don't want that, then you can try some egg, tuna, mackerel, etc. for protein. Keep them hydrated the best you can.
If they have gooey eyes, you can flush those with saline and get all the gunk out. Apply some Vetericyn eye gel or Terramycin eye ointment in the eyes.

Since you intend to raise and sell chicks I do recommend that you have testing performed.

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ps044
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/diseaseinfo/82/infectious-coryza/

 

[HannaDolly]

Can you post some photos?

@oldhenlikesdogs and @aart have both given you some great advice and insight and their suggestions are good possibilities.

Do they have mucous coming from their beak as well as the eyes?
Is it the mucous/goo that is smelly or is it just the breath?
How does the crop feel, is it emptying properly?

Since you have 2 that are showing symptoms, it could be a respiratory illness. There are several and they are all contagious and most will make them carriers for life. Those exposed, even if they never show any signs of illness can be carriers as well.
Mycoplasmas, Infectious Coryza, Infectious Bronchitis are a few of the most common. Since you detect a fowl odor, then Infectious Coryza is a good candidate.
That said, as pointed out by the above posters, without testing/necropsy there is no way to determine exactly what illness you may be dealing with.

Separate the sick ones, provide some poultry vitamins in the water and offer their normal feed. If they don't want that, then you can try some egg, tuna, mackerel, etc. for protein. Keep them hydrated the best you can.
If they have gooey eyes, you can flush those with saline and get all the gunk out. Apply some Vetericyn eye gel or Terramycin eye ointment in the eyes.

Since you intend to raise and sell chicks I do recommend that you have testing performed.

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ps044
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/diseaseinfo/82/infectious-coryza/

Thank You for your input. it is hard to say, id have to say its the mouth and goo coming from her nostrals. The goo is a clear liquid no distinct color. Her eyes seem to water up more around roost time. I have sense isolated her from the rest of the flock. Everyone else is a pitch perfect health at this point. appetite great, drinking great. running around bothering each other great. My girls are older and have not laid eggs sense I've owned them and the silver laced is to young yet. As of now she is the only one showing any signs of being Ill.

If it were a respiratory Illness would it have run through my Flock on a rampage already? The sneezing has been going on for a few weeks. My little hen didnt start getting really bad till i put a heat lamp in the Coop. Im wondering if this created a greater amount of Funal Spores in the air?

I will definitely start her on some high protein snacks, i'm sure she will like that. CoCo isn't to happy about being locked up away from the rest of them. Before i separated her she acted Normal aside from the above symptoms as far as eating and drinking went.