Help! Chicken dying, head and neck swollen

[Wyorp Rock]

@Petra Pancake

Is there a way to separate the sick girls so you can monitor them more closely?
If you have some poultry vitamins add those to the water and see if they will eat something for you...either their normal feed or some egg or fish would be good.

I can't imagine what you must be feeling right now, the losses are heartbreaking. The illnesses that are being considered (AI, Newcastle or other illness) are highly contagious and can be spread easily through shared food/water stations, poop, feathers/dust, bedding, etc.
You may want to clean/sanitize your food and water bowls, destroy and replace your bedding and remove as many droppings as you can.

 

[Petra Pancake]

Update again: another hen is dead. That makes 5 deaths out of 7 adult chickens. This time it was my favorite hen, Goldie, the one in my Avatar picture (taken when she was a pullet). She was the one that was fluffed up and looking ill on Friday. In the evening when I did the roost head count, she looked terrible. Her big single comb and her wattles were - gone. As if burned off. There were only tiny shreds of purple-black crinkled skin on her head and face. Never seen anything like this before. She gave me this long intensive look with her huge orange eyes (probably looking so huge because of the missing comb and wattles) when I closed the coop for the night. I knew she would be gone by the morning and somehow I think she knew it as well. There was no point in isolating her because everyone left in the coop had already been exposed to other dead chickens. So I just left her in her normal environment for her last night. And still no results of the necropsy! I'll call them today.

 

[Wickedchicken6]

I'm so sorry to hear about Goldie.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I'm very sorry to hear about Goldie

Did you happen to take any photos of her comb/wattles?
Petra - what are your temperatures in Israel right now - are you in summer, winter?

 

[Petra Pancake]

Thanks @Wickedchicken6 and @Wyorp Rock. No, I didn't take a photo. When I last saw her alive it was close to sunset and I didn't have my phone with me. When she was dead, she already had ants all over. It's summer here, temperatures between 30-40 Celsius (86 - 104 F). But I don't think that's the problem. I mean, every summer here is like that and my chickens didn't have any serious problems with it last year. And they are/were Baladi chickens, descendants of Middle Eastern barnyard chickens, their ancestors lived in this climate. The roo was a Japanese Bantam, but they are also said to be relatively heat resistant.

 

[Petra Pancake]

My second rooster also has a shrinking and shriveling comb. It's not as bad as Goldie's vanishing comb was but it's getting a bit worse every day. This second roo was never near the other flock, he and one hen have always been in a separate aviary on the other side of the house. But he also seems to have "caught" something. Only it's slower with him. He's stopped crowing and is lethargic. His one hen is broody on eggs right now. Here are pictures, shrivel comb vs normal. (had some trouble uploading the pictures from my phone). Btw, called the pathology institute, still no necropsy results...

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Most diseases are highly contagious and are transmitted on dust, dander, clothes, shoes, etc.

The blue comb, to me is an indication that he is losing oxygen. This could be from respiratory illness and/or organ failure. Does he have any discharge from the nostrils or difficulty breathing?

 

[rebrascora]

Most diseases are highly contagious and are transmitted on dust, dander, clothes, shoes, etc

Or insects..... I'm wondering if this is a form of fowl pox which may be specific to the middle east, or perhaps black head which I know very little about....should have researched a bit more before I posted perhaps . I know it is not generally common in chickens compared to turkeys but wondering if the breed of chicken the OP has may be more prone to it.

I'm just thinking that perhaps this is something that those of us in other parts of the world may not be familiar with, maybe due to climatic conditions. I would chase the laboratory for pathology/necropsy results and stress that this is clearly a very contagious illness, as many of your flock are going down with it

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Could be some type of Avian Pox, but usually some type of lesions would be seen, whether scabs on the facial areas or mucous/oozing lesions/canker type findings in the beak.

This has been ongoing it seems, so hoping the necrospy will shed some light on the matter.

 

[Petra Pancake]

@Wyorp Rock , @rebrascora , thanks. No, he hasn't got any discharge from his eyes or nostrils and all my other chickens, dead or alive, also don't/didn't have any discharge at all. I looked very closely. And no strange poop either. Thinking about it how the disease got spread to the other side of the house, it must have been something like dust on my sleeves. The aviary is too small to walk in, I only put my arms in for refilling food and water and cleaning. To my best knowledge there are no special Middle Eastern chicken diseases. I also spoke on the phone to two veterinarians and they both suspected Newcastle disease or AI. I'll read up on black head. The roo in the picture is a Japanese Bantam.