Did I Do It Right? Follow-Up Treatment? Plus...

[Reyvaughn]

I noticed a few days ago the Mille Fleur Cochin bantam trio were shaking their heads quite a bit. I assumed it was because they were in the rain for awhile and maybe had rain in their ears. Their ears had a yellowish crust around them... Tonight I pulled my cockerel out to check on his runny nose (he shielded the girls from the rain and got drenched. He ended up with a runny nose and was shivering). I noticed he had a powdery residue on his comb. Niiiiice. I head to town to pick up some Vaseline and Sevin. I already had Poultry Dust. I don't know what kind of mites they have, but I olive oiled their ears, Vaselined their combs and faces, dusted them with Sevin and dusted their bedding with Poultry Dust. Now... It is mites, right? Should I redust in a few days? Or will the dust in the bedding be good enough? They are separate from the other 72 chickens and they aren't showing symptoms, but should I take precautions anyways?

What I don't get is this... The trio was out in the dog kennel and were shaking their heads right after coming in out of the rain from there. The big girls are now allowed to forage in the kennel. Again, they have no symptoms of ear mites. Do ear mites cause a yellow crust around the ear?

I also never got answers on Milton's runny nose. He had clear discharge that is now gone. All three are eating well, drinking well, have normal, solid poop, no chest noise when breathing, no eye discharge, ect. BUT... They are gaping their mouths more now and if I have to make Milton run around the coop as he's trying to stay away from me, he gets labored breathing quickly and then gets a bit of a rasp in his breathing. Should I be worried about something more serious? The girls only have head shaking and mouth gaping, to clarify. Milton had the runny rose for about a day and a half, quickly developing labored breathing with a mild rasp if made to move around a lot, head shaking and mild mouth gaping. All of this started after being in the rain last week during the Katia/Lee rainstorms PA got that caused all the flooding (Tuesday night into Wednesday).

Thanks in advance!

 

[galanie]

Doesn't sound like mites, it sounds like a respiratory disease. They need some sort of antibiotic or Tylan.

 

[Reyvaughn]

I know Milton had/has a respiratory thing. But, since his runny nose lasted less than 2 days and is now gone with no other symptoms of anything (no eye swelling/discharge, no watery stools, no lethargy, no changes in eating or drinking, ect), should I be concerned about something serious - like Coryza. I read chickens don't just get colds. Well, obviously this was caused by getting soaked and getting chilled enough to shiver. But, if chickens don't just get colds, this may be something serious and infectious, right? Look. Here's the thing. Milton is not a fine specimen for my MFC project, but the girls are and they are still in with him because they too were gaping and shaking their heads - with no runny nose. I don't mind having to cull him, but I need to know if this is something serious because I don't want to lose the girls. This is my second time asking about this and other that the well wishes from members, I never got answers.

Yeah, they are on their 4th day of Duramycin-10, btw.

Isn't powdery residue on the combs mites? And I did ask if mites leave a yellow-ish crust in the ears. There are two separate things going on here - I am sure of it. Maybe three. I don't know why they are gaping unless it's gapeworm, too. I can't imagine only those three having it and not the other 73 chickens, though. Unless the gaping is a ear/respiratory related thing. I don't know. None of the ailments on the ailment pages fit what any of them have, so I am at the BYC community's mercy and I am not getting any where fast.

Yes. I am frustrated.

 

[Eggcessive]

You might try looking up oxine on the search engine above. Some members here have had good luck recently treating their sick chickens with a vaporizer containing oxine (without the activator), several times a day. It seems to treat bacterial and fungal respiratory infections, and is good for wet moldy conditions.

 

[Reyvaughn]

I did look into Oxine, but I can't afford to purchase it this week. I am not quite understanding the activated vs. unactivated, either.

Also, I may have gotten confused - powdery residue could be Favus (fungal). I could have swore I read that mites leave a powdery residue, too. And yeah, the gaping, head shaking and ear was is all respiratory signs. I had to do more digging and with dial-up, it's a slow go. I just don't get why the girls show no other signs. More than likely because Milton took the brunt of it for them. Such a good boy.

Still, could they just have an isolated case of a respiratory infection caused by the rain? Again, if this is infectious, these three will be no good to me for breeding, right? That was the point of buying them...