Funky things on comb and earlobes and sneezing and loose stools.... :(

[kryptoniteqhs]

ok first off i hope msbear doesnt freak when she sees this.....ok so i just got the little guy and i put him in the coop with my redsexlinks and he was fine until i let him free range with my other banties....then he learned how much he liked being outside with them and became quite the little escape artist...he got out of his coop...i finally figured out how he did it just didnt really know it was possible...luckily this time i noticed him on the roof of the coop talking up a storm just before i left...he let me catch him east...i think he was just saying "Look what I did!" Then I put him in with my other banties because they seemed to be getting along so well...so i checked every nook and cranny of that place! NOWAY NOHOW could he get out...well somehow...he did....i THINK he may have flew up to the top of the coop (probably 8 feet high) and theres a little tiny little place at the top of the door where it doesnt quite meet the ceiling....that may be it....i will be fixing that before he returns...didnt even know it was like that until i was searching the place for an explanation.....everyone else has been fine in there...well he was out all night and when i found him the next day this is what he looked like. >black things on comb and yellow stains on earlobes< He has been inside for 2 days now and I just noticed that he is sneezing and has pretty loose stools?? help?! i cannot believe I just got him and he's already sick!!! note: normally his earlobes are not this wrinkley either...i think thats the part that freaks me out the most! from farway, though, they are not noticable

oh and the worst part is he is in the basement where my baby chicks are!!!!! theyre only 5days old!!

update!!! just FREAKED out and moved him in my room and AWAY from the chicks!! I hope he hasnt caused too much damage to them yet!! Hes been in there for 2 days....but hes been in a big plastic bin with the lid 3/4 of the way closed....but still he wasnt the first day. I only just noticed the sneezing..although that doesnt mean it wasnt happening the whole time!

 

[Enchanted Sunrise Farms]

Perhaps it's avian pox? Always a good thing to quarantine any newbies for at least a month. If it is avian pox, it is highly contagious. Dry pox causes marks on their wattles and combs. Wet pox causes lesions inside their throat which must be wiped out with a q-tip soaked in iodine every day or they can suffocate. i am not an expert, just someone who adopted a chicken who happened to have this.

Please do a search on fowl pox or avian pox and see if this sounds like it might be what your little guy has.

 

[kryptoniteqhs]

no i already looked all that stuff up and thats definitely not what he has...I was originally thinking frostbite when I found him, but I now learned that its just dried blood or a scab from where he had been injured or picked on when he escaped...im not worried about that part anymore....but now i just wanna know his little yellow stains on his earlobes are and what kind of medicine I can give him for his cold and where I can get it

 

[Attack Chicken]

He's cute! Sometimes my roo gets scrapes on his ear lobes and thats the color of the scabs. They fall off within a few days. Hope he gets better for you!

 

[skand]

His earlobes are fine. Ours does that every now and then. The sneezin, give him a couple teaspoon fuls of apple cider vinegar in his water.

 

[kryptoniteqhs]

ok thanks for the reassurance guys!! his earlobes were really freaking me out....even them getting wrinkly is normal?

 

[Msbear]

He's just got some scabby going on from excaping. Make sure there is no sharp edges and no nails sticking out where he can cut himself. The sneezy part surprises me because they are known for being winter hardy...but the move probably stressed him out.

Keep him indoors for 7 - 10 days and give him antibiotics in his water. Southern States has it in Ranson...It's $5 and ask them how much you should add in your waterer.

Keep a close eye on him and he should be fine.

 

[Msbear]

I just the the other gal suggest cider vinegar...That may work. Try that first. I hate medicating when they don't need it. Make sure you don't put too much in there or he won't drink it....just enought to barely taste it.

Keep me posted

edited to say: I know you're a newbie so I want to make a couple things clear. I've been amazed before with how little some people really know about chickens and their needs while keeping birds so here's a couple things that you need to be aware of. #1 he is a rooster and cannot be housed with any other roosters. They will fight and he, being a little guy, will get beat up really bad if not killed. #2 You've been bringing in other chickens and you need to know that chickens can carry nasty diseases even if they appear healthy. When you get new birds, they MUST be quaranteened before introducing them to your exsisting birds. This means that for two weeks (some say more) they need to be in separate living quarters and their feed and water containers cannot be exposed to your other birds. #3 Chickens need adequate housing with no drafts. They can handle freezing temps as long as wind and wet cannot penetrate their feathers and make contact with skin. This means any gaps where wind gets through, needs to be blocked or insulated.

I hate sounding picky, but there is only one way to make this point and that's bluntly

and you may already know all of these things, but I've learned not to assume.

I hope he hasn't caught anything nasty. Keep a close eye on your other birds he was in with. Pick a few of them up and watch them breathe. Are they gasping or have runny noses? If so, then they need to be treated. I really hope this is something that goes away, never to be heard of again but chickens don't get colds. They get respitory infections and diseases.

 

[kryptoniteqhs]

i know all that stuff and that they need to be quarantined, i didnt with him bc I knew where I got him...I also looked him over for lice and mites and he didnt have any...same as the first ones i got from you....also...i knew with him being so tiny....he would FREEZE by himself...I normally wouldnt want to do that and I know you shouldnt "trust" anyone or "assume" anything, but this one time, i figured I should be fine...He was up at my house for several days before going with the other birds (my version of quarantining him without making a rosecomb icicle out of him)...he seemed perfectly fine, but i didnt want to keep him up at my house too long or i thought, go figure, when he does go back out he'll be used to the warmth and get a cold. I DO, in fact, quarantine all of my birds (hes the first not to be)...I have some right now that are in quarantine still.... sexlinks were quarantined, slc banties were (pretty much still are), all my rirs were. I did my roo at my house, but didnt worry much about him bc of his size and he is fine! And my dellies are in quarantine now.

 

[kryptoniteqhs]

also you should know that ive had chickens for over a year (yes, still not that long) and ive never had any health problems. No illnesses, diseases, injuries, nothing...... i must be doing something right....i hear of waaaay to many people on here with bad things happening ALL the time! All mine are fat and happy and healthy, even he is better now.