Help! I don't know what's wrong! Faces swollen??!

[LittleMoon]

My chicken's are getting sick, whatever it is, its infectious. Three or four already have it. My rooster's face is swollen, so is my hen. My hen is also losing feathers fast!! And its really really cold outside :'( I dont know what to do!! PLEASE HELP ME! Should i give them all benedryl, what is causing such heavy feather loss? My chicken looks abused its so bad D:

 

[mhwc56]

OH i'm soooo sorry!

i would get them all on an antibiotic right away..maybe a broad spectrum type?
do they have sinus discharge ?

 

[LittleMoon]

One did, i gave her benadryl and it cleared off, but she acts real sleepy and she sits off by herself.

 

[mhwc56]

i would get yourself some SULMET and start them on it right away....most feed stores carry it and it's not terribly expensive.

 

[LittleMoon]

We don't have any money, only food stamps right now which wont buy it

But i will try my best to see what i can do!

Thanks

 

[Kaelinstorm]

It sounds like pnuemonia. Mine recently had this.

I was able to take the two that had the swollen faces to a vet and they put them on a regimen of Tetracycline for two weeks. They were really bad so I had to personally give it to them. The other chickens started showing signs so I went to TSC and bought a packet of Duramycin-10 (Tetracycline Hydrochloride Soluble Powder) Those guys I poured it directly into their 3 gallon galvanized waterers and did a colour guesstimate. You want it to be a light yellow colour like (Not to be gross but about the colour of healthy urine) The packets cost me $4.99 each. I bought two of them and in the two weeks (with 8 chickens being treated) I went through a packet and barely into the next. It worked well. With the ones with the swollen faces you may want to try isolating those (if possible) and if you have a syringe you can try to make sure those guys are getting the meds. There is a possibility that they wont get treated enough if they are only receiving it through their water.

If you are able to borrow the $5 its totally worth it. It worked for me. All my guys and girls are good now. Bad news is after treating them with antibiotics for the two weeks, you cant eat the eggs for another 2-3 weeks (you cant eat them while treating either if they are laying still - meds and illness sometimes cause them to "lockup" anyway)

I hope your chickies get better soon

EDIT: Oh yeah the two that I was treating by syringe it was about a mL per pound. My bantam (2lbs) got 2 mLs and my RIR (4 lbs) received 4 mLs