Chicken sneezing and swollen around eye

[Koekoek]

Hi guys,
I haven't had my flock for very long and got most of my birds from the same place.
Because they came from the same store
and I pretty much got all the birds at the same
time or within a few days of each other I didn't quarantine any groups from any other - they just all went together.
My buff Orpington hen, 2 Potcheftstroom Koekoek hens and a silkie hen were all bought on the same day and about 2 days after the original chickens which were all from the same store.
I was really annoyed with the store because they had put the silkie in the same box as the Orpington and the Orpington had pecked it's head quite badly during the journey home - it was quite dazed when I took it out the box.

I noticed also that the silkie was gurgling almost like she had a phlegmy throat and that her face, especially round the eyes was very swollen. The eyes were also very watery and had a horrible discharge.
Because the silkie was so badly injured I had to cull it.

I noticed that my Koekoeks were sneezing but didn't have any other symptoms besides that and thought it may just be a bit of dust or something making them sneeze.

The sneezing hasn't gone away although it had become much less frequent. Aside from that there are no other symptoms that the Koekoeks are showing.
What really concerns me is that in the last few days I haven't been getting any of my usual eggs from the only 2 birds that are laying - the Orpington and the Australorp.
I noticed today that one of the Orpingtons eyes is swollen and this makes me worry as I had previously seen swelling in the silkie.
Apart from that there are no obvious symptoms - only the Koekoeks continue to sneeze a bit.

I am so worried now that my flock has a chronic respiratory disease or something like that.
I have a book on raising poultry that explains that sometimes the whole flock has to be culled and I've read some posts about mycoplasma which really scares me
I breed finches too and have a huge collection worth thousands and lots of rare species it took me years to collect - I'm do worried of transferring something to them to.

Help please - what should I do?

 

[Puddin Fluff]

sorry to hear of your problem. I am no expert but my birds brought home something after they were shown at the fair last year that sounds very similar. If they were human I would have said they had a cold. Wattery eyes, runny nose, sneezing, swolen around the eyes. I wish I could locate the Poulty disease chart that I had located to pass on to you. I can't remember what I decided that they had but I went to the local Co-op and got some liquid Sulmet to put in their watter. It did pass through the flock and about hald of my birds went through it but none died. Don't know if the antibiotic did the trick or if it was just time.

Do a search on here as well as on google and you might come up with the avian disease chart.

Hope this helps. good luck.

 

[Koekoek]

Thanks Puddin Fluff, that's exactly how I thought of it at first - like a human cold.
All my baby Leghorns, the juvenile Boschvelders, and the rooster seem to not have any symptoms - the Koekoeks don't have any swelling around the eyes or any discharge from it. I haven't caught them to have a close look but there doesn't appear to be a nasal discharge, just sneezing.
The only other bird with a symptom is the the Orpington - I caught her to have a close look this afternoon and noticed that the one eye or more accurately eyelid was swollen - she's not
sneezing or coughing or anything - I wouldn't say the nose was really running but there did seem to be a slight bit of a yellowy brown discharge.

 

[cnterfld21]

Typically the symptoms you are describing means some sort of respiratory issue. As you said above it is scary when they show these type of symptoms and there literally are tons of different strains that it could be. Do the eyes appear to have "Bubbles" in them or just a discharge? Are you hearing an actual "rattling" sound when they breath or does it just sound labored? I've had a similar issue but mine only had the sneezing, bubbly eyes and head shaking.

Here is the link to a good site that covers lots of different diseases:

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ps044

 

[Koekoek]

Cnterfld21, at the moment only one eye of the Orpington is swollen, there's no discharge that I can see. It's sort of the upper eyelid that's swollen.
The Silkie that was culled (it was kept away from the flock after being pecked in the box) was kind of gurgling and coughing but no sneezing and had a lot of yellow discharge from the eyes and very pronounced swelling around the eye sockets. I don't know if this is related or 2 separate incidences?

The Koekoeks are sneezing but don't appear to have any other symptoms - no swelling, breathing seems normal.
The Orpingtons breathing also sounds normal, it's not labored, nor is there rattling.
The only symptom with her is the swollen eye - she is not sneezing either.
I've had no eggs for the past few days although there is the possibility that a rat could be stealing them as there is apparently a bit of a rat problem in the area where I live at the moment

 

[cnterfld21]

The swollen eye can be a sign of conjunctivitis which is typically associated with Infectious Bronchitis or Laryngotracheitis (LT). You need to get them on some Tylan 50 or a similar antibiotic. make sure you've separated the affected ones so that it doesn't spread any worse. Sorry for the trouble you're having and you certainly can't discount the possibility that rats are bringing something into you coop.

 

[Koekoek]

Today I rat proofed the coop. The chickens are being kept in an old 3 car garage with windows that is no longer in use.
I stood for a while today watching the chickens.
The 2 Koekoeks are still sneezing but don't seem to be doing so as much as before.
They aren't very tame and won't let me get very close but I can see a clear discharge form their noses like when a human has a cold.
They don't act sick, they're still very alert and active and eating well.
The swelling of the eyelids of the Orpington seems to have gone down a bit too, either that or maybe it just seemed worse to me when I first noticed.

She also has the runny nose but is alert, active, eating well and otherwise normal.
The problem I have is that the only other coop is occupied by my second rooster so I don't really have anywhere to separate them.
They've all been together quite a while so I think they've all been pretty much exposed already.
I'm thinking that maybe I should take the Orpington and a koekoek to the vet tomorrow to get an exact diagnosis.
They don't act sick but my plan was to get a decent egg production from my flock - just so worried now from what I've read - that egg production is always worse after a disease and that in most cases it's better to cull the entire flock as survivors can be carriers.
It would be devastating to have to cull them - I've managed to get a flock of all the breeds I wanted, now to start again will be so dissapointing.
All the birds have been well and truly exposed to whatever it is, yet none of the others, incl the 13 Leghorn chicks show any signs of any sickness

 

[cnterfld21]

Yeah It's a tough decision. However, you have to decide to either permanently close you flock or to cull them all. Your best bet is to have them tested, then you'll know what you're dealing with and perhaps wont have to cull. Denagard is excellent for respiratory diseases if you want to blindly treat, but you can only find it online. QC supply carries it and it can be used as a treatment or for prevention. But remember that as you've read some can become life time carriers and will probably pass it to any new addition.

 

[Koekoek]

Good news! - It's almost gone completely.
When I went to feed and check on the chickens I noticed that the swelling on the Orpington's one eyelid had gone down a lot, not quite gone but almost.
The Koekoeks aren't sneezing any more and the runny noses are gone.
The rest of the flock remains unnaffected.
The day before I had put some vitamins in their water - I wonder if that helped, it certainly couldn't have hurt.
The weathers really been fluctuating a lot here - nights and mornings are freezing and days are hot.
I wonder if they weren't feeling a bit run down and needed a bit of a pick-me-up.
I don't know what you think but I'm thinking not to worry about going to the vet or getting them tested, it doesn't seem to have been anything serious and besides the Koekoeks, who came with it, giving it to the Orpington, none of the rest of the flock caught it.
Getting eggs again too - I don't know if that's because my Orpingtons better or because I did a better job at rat proofing the pen.

 

[cnterfld21]

You still need to keep a close watch on them over the next week at least. Symptoms have a way of fading in and out. I would still invest in at least some duramycin (which can be bought at your local TSC) just add it to there water for 5 to 7 days. 2 tsp per gallon (if I remember correctly). Some may disagree, but I always prefer to be cautious instead of just assuming that it mysteriously disappeared. Best of luck my friend