Chick with watery eye - how to swab for testing

[PNWchkns]

Hello 1

I have a chick with one watery eye and possible sneeze. Sounds more like a pfft and not like a sneeze I saw on YouTube.

The chicks are roughly 5 weeks old and have been in quarantine.
I have decided to get them tested but they told me to swab them And bring in a sample ... how the heck do I swab a chicken throat? Like how far down do I go?
Also I read some put col. silver on their eyes. I have a spray would that work also? Would it burn?

help! Thank you!

 

[boskelli1571]

Hello 1

I have a chick with one watery eye and possible sneeze. Sounds more like a pfft and not like a sneeze I saw on YouTube.

The chicks are roughly 5 weeks old and have been in quarantine.
I have decided to get them tested but they told me to swab them And bring in a sample ... how the heck do I swab a chicken throat? Like how far down do I go?
Also I read some put col. silver on their eyes. I have a spray would that work also? Would it burn?

help! Thank you!

Ask whoever told you about swabbing how to get the swab, they should be able to give you some instructions.
Personally, I would use some simple saline drops in the eye foe now until you know what you are dealing with. I am not familiar with the use of colloidal silver and yes, I would imagine it would sting like crazy.
Keep us posted

 

[Eggcessive]

Who is doing the testing? Are you getting help from the state vet or a local vet? Do you you have the swabs already? They should be able to tell you where the the chick should be swabbed. If they want it from the throat, you would need to have someone hold the chick while you opened the beak and quickly swab the back of the throat. The roof of the mouth has a slit and that area can also be swabbed, plus the back of the throat. The choanal slit may have mucus or pus from the sinuses. They might also ask for nasal drainage or eye drainage to be swabbed. Let us know what they say.

If your chicks have any bubbles in eyes or swelling around an eye, they might have MG an infectious respiratory disease that they can carry with them all their lives. It is treated with certain antibiotics such as Tylan, oxytetracycline, or doxycycline. It also could be a virus, or from dust or poor air circulation in your brooder. Do you have any pictures?

 

[PNWchkns]

Ask whoever told you about swabbing how to get the swab, they should be able to give you some instructions.
Personally, I would use some simple saline drops in the eye foe now until you know what you are dealing with. I am not familiar with the use of colloidal silver and yes, I would imagine it would sting like crazy.
Keep us posted

i was told there’s a video on their website but I couldn’t find it. I tried the silver and today his eye is open and he’s not keeping it shut the whole time. Hopefully it actually helped? But I also found some small feather fluff in his eye that I pulled out so maybe they was the irritation. I’m not entirely sure.

 

[PNWchkns]

Who is doing the testing? Are you getting help from the state vet or a local vet? Do you you have the swabs already? They should be able to tell you where the the chick should be swabbed. If they want it from the throat, you would need to have someone hold the chick while you opened the beak and quickly swab the back of the throat. The roof of the mouth has a slit and that area can also be swabbed, plus the back of the throat. The choanal slit may have mucus or pus from the sinuses. They might also ask for nasal drainage or eye drainage to be swabbed. Let us know what they say.

If your chicks have any bubbles in eyes or swelling around an eye, they might have MG an infectious respiratory disease that they can carry with them all their lives. It is treated with certain antibiotics such as Tylan, oxytetracycline, or doxycycline. It also could be a virus, or from dust or poor air circulation in your brooder. Do you have any pictures?

View attachment 1953686

It’s a state avian health lab. They just told me to use synthetic swabs and ask my vet for some but my vet was being difficult of course.

If it is MG I don’t really want to have a carrier and potentially infect others. These chicks have been in quarantine the whole time.

i use a hemp bedding that seems to be fairly dusty. So I will be switching it out tonight/tomorrow morning.

thank you for the throat swab help!

 

[Eggcessive]

If you are paying for the state lab to do the testing, they should send you the sterile swabs. How much are they charging? There is a national lab called Zoologix that does testing with 3 swabs mailed to you, that you mail back in, that performs a respiratory panel, but it is expensive—about $95. Many state vets, if they will agree to help with testing would be less expensive.