Hi,
I have kept posting about sick chickens this past 2 weeks. They always like to get sick at the same time!
A little bit of background:
I lost a lone chick I had to impacted crop that turned into sour crop I think? On Monday. The Thursday before that I had brought our now 5month old black copper maran cockerel inside as he was covered in mucas and it was a lump in his throat soon after bringing him indoors the mucas cleared ups and he perked up, then he seemed to have a sour/doughy crop that’s now all gone. We had caught him choking on about 2 feet of silicone seal a few days before. Then on Thursday I caught my cockerel and a sassy hen fighting badly. I stopped them as they were drawing blood. The hen came off worse with blood dripping off her comb. But I then noticed her face seemed swollen this was immediately after the fight. The next day she had a swollen wattle and ear lobe but still a swollen face. On the photos I have attached i have a red arrow pointing to her. I then looked at everyone else and they seem to have swollen faces too. I could be paranoid after the cockerel was sick and all that google was saying was respiratory infection because of the mucas. I have a silver laced polish that is moulting. I have a barred bird that has a bald head and seemed to get thinner quite a few months ago. I am currently looking after a neighbours flock and cat, when I went to check the hens the second day (Thursday) I noticed one had a badly swollen face, so I have been disinfecting my boots with detol when I come home, and trying to remember to leave my crocs at the gate so I can change shoes when I enter the garden 2x have forgotten and busy tiptoeing across the garden. But I haven’t entered the neighbours chickens run since Thursday that I think they might not be staying in as I’ve seen them free ranging before.
About my flock,
I have 14 birds ranging from about 5months -2 years. I have a lot of different breeds so see the labels on my profile for the list. The last time I added a new bird in from elsewhere was just over a month ago. This was the one that had mucas, it was a clearish whitish colour coming from his mouth. I tried quarantining him but he managed to escape somehow the day after we got him so i left him as he was scratching with the other birds when I found him. He seemed fine 2 weeks later.
Questions:
As far as I know they have had the swollen face for a few days to a week.
I think all the birds have swollen faces.
They don’t have foamy eyes or noses.
They do sneeze sometimes when they eat but that could be layers mash going up their noses.
A few of my birds make a little bit of a noise that sounds like a nose unblocking when they breath but they always have done that’s so I have put it down to weak respiratory tracts.
They all seem to be eating and drinking fine.
The poop seems to be really smelly all of a sudden, I did think I saw a bit of blood in one poop the other day, but haven’t seen any since. A few have had a really stinky brown diarrhoea but when I went to find one I couldn’t. The rest of the poop I see looks normal.
I haven’t really wormed them.
One of the houses they are in leaks down the sides so it is damp, we are currently wanting to save up to get a new one but I might post something to see if anyone has any ideas how to fix elsewhere.
I use wood shavings in the coops.
I have no avian vet anywhere close, the birds would be dead by the time I got to one.
I have a vet that maybe could do a sample to send to a lab to diagnose a respiratory infection but I prefer to treat myself as vet bills are expensive.
A few questions:
What do people use to worm? Does yogurt and ACV work? Is there a way of telling if they have worms without getting a fecal float done?
If this is a respiratory infection is it better to just cull and start again?
Thank you so much!
I have kept posting about sick chickens this past 2 weeks. They always like to get sick at the same time!
A little bit of background:
I lost a lone chick I had to impacted crop that turned into sour crop I think? On Monday. The Thursday before that I had brought our now 5month old black copper maran cockerel inside as he was covered in mucas and it was a lump in his throat soon after bringing him indoors the mucas cleared ups and he perked up, then he seemed to have a sour/doughy crop that’s now all gone. We had caught him choking on about 2 feet of silicone seal a few days before. Then on Thursday I caught my cockerel and a sassy hen fighting badly. I stopped them as they were drawing blood. The hen came off worse with blood dripping off her comb. But I then noticed her face seemed swollen this was immediately after the fight. The next day she had a swollen wattle and ear lobe but still a swollen face. On the photos I have attached i have a red arrow pointing to her. I then looked at everyone else and they seem to have swollen faces too. I could be paranoid after the cockerel was sick and all that google was saying was respiratory infection because of the mucas. I have a silver laced polish that is moulting. I have a barred bird that has a bald head and seemed to get thinner quite a few months ago. I am currently looking after a neighbours flock and cat, when I went to check the hens the second day (Thursday) I noticed one had a badly swollen face, so I have been disinfecting my boots with detol when I come home, and trying to remember to leave my crocs at the gate so I can change shoes when I enter the garden 2x have forgotten and busy tiptoeing across the garden. But I haven’t entered the neighbours chickens run since Thursday that I think they might not be staying in as I’ve seen them free ranging before.
About my flock,
I have 14 birds ranging from about 5months -2 years. I have a lot of different breeds so see the labels on my profile for the list. The last time I added a new bird in from elsewhere was just over a month ago. This was the one that had mucas, it was a clearish whitish colour coming from his mouth. I tried quarantining him but he managed to escape somehow the day after we got him so i left him as he was scratching with the other birds when I found him. He seemed fine 2 weeks later.
Questions:
As far as I know they have had the swollen face for a few days to a week.
I think all the birds have swollen faces.
They don’t have foamy eyes or noses.
They do sneeze sometimes when they eat but that could be layers mash going up their noses.
A few of my birds make a little bit of a noise that sounds like a nose unblocking when they breath but they always have done that’s so I have put it down to weak respiratory tracts.
They all seem to be eating and drinking fine.
The poop seems to be really smelly all of a sudden, I did think I saw a bit of blood in one poop the other day, but haven’t seen any since. A few have had a really stinky brown diarrhoea but when I went to find one I couldn’t. The rest of the poop I see looks normal.
I haven’t really wormed them.
One of the houses they are in leaks down the sides so it is damp, we are currently wanting to save up to get a new one but I might post something to see if anyone has any ideas how to fix elsewhere.
I use wood shavings in the coops.
I have no avian vet anywhere close, the birds would be dead by the time I got to one.
I have a vet that maybe could do a sample to send to a lab to diagnose a respiratory infection but I prefer to treat myself as vet bills are expensive.
A few questions:
What do people use to worm? Does yogurt and ACV work? Is there a way of telling if they have worms without getting a fecal float done?
If this is a respiratory infection is it better to just cull and start again?
Thank you so much!
