Chickens have trouble breathing and have runny noses- Need a solution/cure!

[tp70731]

I just bought some chickens from someone that brought them to my house- they seemed to be fine but after 4 days I noticed one of them not moving much- I looked closely and saw she had a runny nose and was making funny noises when she breathed (kind of like gargling) and the eyelids on one of her eyes were sticking together. I am thinking of returning the chickens, but I am not sure how long they have had this problem. After another day, I noticed more of the chickens were showing the same symptoms. At first, I believed that this is the way I received them- with some kind of problem. However, after reviewing some posts on the forum, I saw that moldy hay can also cause some of these symptoms. I have put a lot of hay on the ground for them- and some of it may have had some mold on it. At this point, I would like to try and figure out who is at fault, but even more, I'd like to try and make sure the chickens are alright. I am not quite sure what to do at this point- do chickens get these symptoms when they are around moldy hay or did these symptoms already come with the chickens? Either way, how can I help them get better and should I return them?

 

[egglicious]

I would bring the sick ones in pronto and put them in a quiet area. Make sure they are warm enough so that they don't have to work to stay warm. I have two batches of sick chickens right now, two are in a cage in the basement with a heat lamp (basement is not heated) and two are in my bathroom.
Get some electrolytes and put it in their water. I am treating mine naturally but they are not as bad off as yours. If I were you I would get some antibiotics. More experienced folks will hopefully chime in and tell you what to get. Is there a bad smell around their head? If you don't get any answers, I would go to the feed store if I were you, explain your symptoms and see if they have the right meds for your chickens.
Also, find them some good treats and tempt them to eat. I fed mine oatmeal with corn, egg, and yogurt today. I also put some raw garlic in it to booste their immune systems.
GOOD LUCK!

As far as whose "fault" it is... You may never know. Do you know the person who sold them to you? Do any of your friends know him? He may not have known they were sick. I would definitely put new hay down as well.

 

[tp70731]

Thanks for the quick reply. Good luck to your chickens. Out of the 15, about 8 of them are making the gargeling noise. 2 of them have one of their eyes closed and a couple of them have runny noses. Do chickens usually make a gargeling noise when they are going to sleep? I have read other posts about moldy hay and most of them say don't use it for chickens, but now that i used it i need to know what symptoms moldy hay causes and if they match the symptoms i explained(runny nose((no bad smell)), sneezing, eyelids closed together, and gargeling noise while breathing). If these symptoms do not match moldy hay, then what diseases could she have and how do I cure it? I know these are very specific but i hope someone will be able to answer them!! To answer your other questions, I don't know him. I found him on craigslist... and he is not npip certified or anything like that. He did say that he got his flock of 200 checked by a vet at 5 months old. They were 1 year when he sold them to me. I appreciate the input!