Mucus, lots of Mucus

[partsmaster1]

Well I am new here and new to raising chickens. For several weeks I had been building my coop and preparing for birds when a neighbor gave my three Rhode Island Reds. She had purchased the three birds and the other chickens she already had were very aggressive to them. One of the RIRs ended up with a broken beak and was beaten up pretty bad.

She wanted to separate them but had no way in her coop so she gave them to us. This was the Wednesday before last so they have been with us for 10 days.

This bird that had the broken beak was not acting well at all when she around the birds that were attacking her but she cheered right up once here at my house. When we brought her over, you could see that her beak was broken and she was oozing mucus all over the place.

Since she has been here, she has been eating and the beak has scabbed over and seems to be healing. She is a sweet girl and the nicest of the bunch.

I am concerned though that she continues to produce this mucus. This morning she shook her head and it reminded me of a scen from "Turner and Hooch"

Is this something I should be concerned about?

 

[realsis]

She could possibly have a respiratory illness. Listen closely to her breathing any wheezing or coughing? With that much mucus I might be concerned its respitory. Many poultry owners including myself have successfully treated respiratory issues with the use of Tylan50. Large birds dose is 1/2cc small birds dose is 1/4 cc its given once daily into the breast muscle for 5 days. Tylan 50 is the antibotic Tylosin. It is specifically geared for respitory. If what she has is a virus antibotics won't knock a virus but they WILL prevent a secondary infection which often comes with the virus. I have had excellent luck with tylan 50 curing the symotoms of respitory illnesses. I perfer using the injectable because the dose is much more consistent than with a water soluble antibotic who's dose is contigent on amount drank. Also it gets into the bloodstream faster. you can get tylan50 at the feed store along with syringes. Do not worry that the bottle says for cattle and swine as I said many poultry owners successfully treat with tylan50 for respitory symptoms.i would keep this bird seprate from your flock while she's healing in case what she has is contagious. I really hope this helps. If you suspect the mucus is being caused by a respitory illness I would treat with the Tylan50. Hope this is helpful and wish you the very best.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

There are respiratory diseases in chickens (they don't get colds like us- only diseases).

There is chronic respiratory disease, as well, that can render a bird an asymptomatic carrier and even pass through to the chick inside the egg (mycoplasma gallisepticum).

I don't know what the cause of the mucus is, but here is a link so you can read more if desired (diagnosis charts at bottom):
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ps044

I have never dealt with a broken beak and thus don't know if the mucus could somehow be related to that. However, I would not buy your chicks yet, as if you end up culling these birds over respiratory disease, you will have saved infecting your new chicks. Be sure to sanitize your setup (feeders, coop and so on) carefully.

Some people give antibiotics and others cull for respiratory disease. The safest places to get new chickens are from hatcheries and from respected breeders (as these places cull for disease and try to maintain healthy flocks).

I hope this helps.
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/diseaseinfo/121/respiratory-disease-complex

http://poultrykeeper.com/respiratory-problems/respiratory-disease-in-chickens