Foamy Eyes

[laurelwill4]

Today I noticed that my Easter Egger has white foamy material in the corner of both of her eyes. My research points to Chronic Respiratory Disease caused by a bacterium, usually introduced from new birds or visitors. I am treating her now and have her quarantined from the rest of my flock.
My question is this: This is a closed flock. The last birds I introduced were chicks that are now five months old (I've had them since they were 3 weeks old). I have not introduced new hens, nor have we had any visitors. If I am able to treat this hen, should I keep her separated from the flock forever? How can I prevent the spread of this to my other girls and how can I prevent this from occurring again? My frustration is that I am very careful with my girls and we still got a bad disease!
I will post pictures if anyone would like to see. Thanks for any help or advice you can give.

 

[Whittni]

Actually this disease is quite common. It comes from wild birds and bugs, which can give it to chickens one way or another. Sparrows are huge on it. You should make your run bird proof.

 

[ChickenMommaG]

I (and my poultry vet) thought my flock had a microplasma infection - foamy eyes, wheezing and sneezing, symptoms showed up a day and a half after exchanging two cockerels for three hens from the same supplier we bought the chicks from. They turned out to be positive for infectious bronchitis (IB) and they were negative for the CRD-causing organisms and a host of other diseases they tested for. I had a poultry tech come out to take blood and throat swabs to get to the bottom of it (7 weeks after initial symptoms - which I was told is plenty of time to develop antibodies), since I too was concerned that the whole flock would be CRD carriers and make exchanging chicken-sitting favors with neighbors way too risky. IB is also apparently carried by wild birds, according to my avian vet (though in my case I suspect it was brought back from the supplier at the time of the swap). If it is CRD, she would likely eventually share it with other birds she comes in contact with, even after she gets better, potentially making the whole flock a microplasma flock. I was told by the poultry vet that one can manage a microplasma flock that is for the majority of time generally healthy, but then they all come down with the respiratory symptoms from time to time (at change in temperature, molting, stressful condition, etc.), and of course share it with any new birds introduced thereafter. If it is something like IB, my understanding is that this is a virus they get, get over, and develop an immunity (for that particular strain) if no complications.

I feel your frustration having been through it, and I wish you the best! If you want to know for sure, your local extension office should be able to tell you where to get a test done for a diagnosis, but you may need to wait a while for her to develop detectable antibodies so you get useful results back.

 

[laurelwill4]

Thank you for the information. I really appreciate it.
At last nights and this mornings check, she looks completely normal. Although I don't see foamy eyes, I have a hard time believing that all is ok with her just yet. I will continue with what I'm doing and also give the vet a call.