Bleeding ears, swollen eyes, can barely walk

[ralgal]

Hello, I own about 50 chickens 10 of which are 1 year old the rest are under 6 months.

Yesterday evening i noticed that one of the 1 year old chickens couldn’t move a leg(seemed paralyzed) and was staying on the ground with flies around it. Tried to see if it was dead, it wasn’t and she got up and limped to get away from me. I isolated it from the other chickens but she was strong enough to struggle (she developed the symptoms in under 3 hours since i last saw her).

At 22:00 when i went to close the sheds i noticed 2 other chickens on the ground exhibiting the same symptoms. The symptoms are:
- bleeding ears (not much but enough to be noticed)
- wet, like sweaty wet all over
-could barely walk
-swollen eyes and a bit of liquid coming out of the nose.
-barely breathing and staying on the ground

1) What type of bird , age and weight (does the chicken seem or feel lighter or thinner than the others.)
- Normal chickens +1 Brahma chicken
- my chickens are fat, they have a large area to explore and i feed them twice daily

2) What is the behavior, exactly.
- bleeding ears (not much but enough to be noticed)
- wet, like sweaty wet all over
-could barely walk
-swollen eyes and a bit of liquid coming out of the nose.
-barely breathing and staying on the ground


3) How long has the bird been exhibiting symptoms?
- the first chicken started the sympthoms at aroung 17:00 and at 13:00 it was perfectly fine
-in the morning the 1st chicken seemed to be better raising its head and trying to move
-the 2nd and 3rd chickens started exibiting the symptoms at 22:00.
-Chicken number 2(Brahma whose pictures i have attached here) had a swollen face in the morning but seemed fine otherwise. Tonight after 18 hours since the symptoms started she barely walks
-chicken number 3 is feeling a lot better and is moving around but i can still see the puffy eyes

4) Are other birds exhibiting the same symptoms?

-yes 6 out of my 10 1 year old birds seem to be starting on these symptoms

5) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma.
-i checked to make sure no dog/cat/rat/other wild animal bit them.No sign of bite
-Checked for lice( i think they are called) -flies roaming around there

6) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation.
- its been very very hot these last 4 days yesterday and today reaching 45 degrees Celsius during the day (104 degrees Fahrenheit )
7) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all.
-I changed the water every 3-4 hours during the hot day,they have plenty of shadow to stay in
- wash the recipients with water every day with dish washer
-I fed them what I normally do a combination of corn, sunflower seeds and wheat (sunflower 30%,40% wheat and 30% corn)
8) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc.
The poop looks normal, I’ve seen chicken 1 and 2 both having normal poop
9) What has been the treatment you have administered so far?
Its Sunday and I had no way of getting any treatment
10 ) What is your intent as far as treatment? For example, do you want to treat completely yourself, or do you need help in stabilizing the bird til you can get to a vet?
Stabilizing the symptoms if I can until I will take them to the vet tomorrow.I am not sure if its contagious
11) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help.
-attaching the picture of the 2nd chicken
12) Describe the housing/bedding in use
- They sleep in wooden sheds about 10 in a shed(with plety of room to chose from)
- I wash/clean the sheds once every 2 days.

I would like to know if this is because of the heat and them being a bit fat or an infection, or some type of leech that is feeding off them

Thank you for your answer.







This is the chickens sister(they look the same) that has no sympthoms- this is how the sick chicken looked like yesterday

 

[CayugaLover]

! sorry that your first post is in such a bad situation! i can tell you this much... the chicken is definitly sick. it isn't being fat, or the heat. some of my chickens caught a cold, too. they looked just like yours does, except mine aren't buff brahamas. if you didn't separate the sick chickens from the healthy ones, than you need to as fast as possible. i hate to say this, but sometimes you have to use antibiotic water. i don't really like to use antibiotics, but i would rather have to use an antibiotic treatment than to lose the chicken. i hope your chickens get better!!!

 

[ralgal]

Update: The liquid coming out of the chicken's ears was not blood, it was pus. Now 3 chickens have developed this and as far as i can tell they all have small wounds/cuts/lacerations around or inside the ear. My brahma chicken (the one with the oldest simtomps) also developed worms inside the ear. I suspect fly worms eating the infected tissue. Any help would be apreciated.