My sick chicken

[Lynnsfarm]

First off I'd like to say hello. I just joined today, I'm Lynn. I have been reading in your site and others for a couple of weeks.
Ok here's some info on my bird situation. I'm in northern California, Modesto to be exact.
The chickens I have came from wild birds that flew into my yard. I have a goose with a pool. I think the water is what drew them to my yard. I ended up with a flock, that the day they hatched (in my yard) no mother would care for them. They were being chased away from food and water by the other birds (about 12), I am a rescuer of many animals so of course. I adopted the 8 little chicks and brought them inside.This was in September so I was afraid of the chilly nights. I raised them in a baby playpen, and a large dog crate outside (wire crate) during the day. They were fine for about 5 weeks. They began pecking one another as I realized they were getting too big to be in house. I had 3 with eye injuries. I treated them and let them outside about 2 weeks ago. A few days later I noticed one that had both eyes swollen shut and was off to itself. I brought it in, and have been battling for 2 weeks now with it.This bird is a fighter. I'm going to put another post with its pictures and everything I have done to it so far. Its pretty bad looking and before hand I want to say I have thought of trying to put it down but I don't know if I can. It is so stubborn and feisty I feel like its trying to live, so I want to not give up on it. I cant afford the 1 avian vet out here either. I took my goose to him and 800 dollars later I am the one that figured out what to do. So unfortunately, vet isn't an option as I also am very poor. I will post its pictures tonight with all the info. I gotta go out and feed all before dark now. Thanks for listening.

 

[Eggcessive]

Welcome to BYC. You may be dealing with a respiratory disease that is causing the eye to swell, especially if you have noticed eye or nasal drainage, or sneezing/coughing. Do you notice a bad odor around the head? Tylan, Gallimycin, and Tetracycline drugs are all commonly used for respiratory infections. Some of those especially the Gallimycin may also help if it is just infection from pecking. I would clean the eyes out and apply either Vetericyn eye gel, Terramycin eye ointment, or plain Neosporin/Triple Antibiotic ointment twice a day.

 

[Lynnsfarm]

Ok I'm back. For 2 weeks I have been treating this chick. It definitely has respiratory problems. Here are symptoms:
1) Eyes swollen shut. Hard crust develops quickly after cleaning and getting open (1 eye only). Cant get large scab off worse eye so far.
2) Has developed yellow film on one side of tongue. I have been wiping roof of mouth and tongue with q tip and bentadine for 3 days now.
3) Chronic breathing troubles. Gurgles sometimes fluid coming into beak witch it re swallows. Labored breathing. Looks like its breathing with a balloon in chest. Almost like air is in its crop.
4) I cannot find its nostrils! In the picture the pink skin on top of beak seems to be almost completely covering them.
5) Wont drink anything but eats like crazy. I have to float water on top of mash mixture I make for it. I also tube feed it water/antibiotic mixture twice a day.
6) Has no bad smell at all from infected areas or mouth. Poop looks kinda dry but good I think. Will post a picture

I have been tube feeding higher dosage of Duramiyacin 10. Also liquid vitamin C in mash every other day. Have been using Terramyacin in eyes for weeks, no change. Wash them daily with warm water, saline, sometimes eye drops.I have used Neosporin many times as well. Have tried bag balm to soften the scabs.
Its energy did seem to pick up when I first upped the dosage of meds and started vitamin C but is gasping again.
Does this mean its Coryza? I have read a lot about it all. Can it have both Pox and Coryza? I have found both Ls50 and Tylan at feed store.
I don't know how to inject it and its fairly thin, but I will go buy one of them if you guys think its gonna do any good. This bird is really trying to live. Its not really improving so far. Here are some pictures of it and what I used so far thanks very much.

 

[Lynnsfarm]

Video of it eating. Trying to show how its breathing. Thanks for looking

 

[Lynnsfarm]

I have done all this already for 2 weeks Can someone please check out the pictures and the post where I explained everything? thanks

 

[BriskRooster]

sorry not very experienced with this kind of condition but all i can say is don't cull it. its seems very strong for a young chick in that condition, keep adding small comments every now and then to bump your thread to the top of the list in hope of getting someone more experienced.

Hope he does well!

 

[BriskRooster]

i would say it is some respiratory infection, as you might know your respiratory system is connected to the back cavity of your eye socket to equalize atmosphere pressure, if the system was to become infected it would firstly effect the most sensitive place - the eye socket. i would keep it away from all other animals just in case it is contagious.

 

[BriskRooster]

you should change your thread title to "HELP, URGENT! My sick chicken" to draw more attention.

 

[Eggcessive]

I have not treated birds with severe respiratory diseases, and may not be of much help, but I think there are a couple of diseases going on. The yellow patches on the tongue and blocked nasal passages could be canker, although wet fowl pox can cause similar lesions. Pox is a virus that doesn't respond to antibiotics, but canker is caused by a protozoa, and can be treated with metronidazole (FishZole, Flagyl.) If it is pox, there could be secondary infection in the eyes. I don't know if there is always a bad odor in coryza, but mycoplasma (MG) or other bacterial infections can cause swelling of the eyes. Duramycin is on the low end of antibiotics for treatment of respiratory infections. Tylan 50 injectable given orally, at a dose of 1 ml twice a day may be a better antibiotic, but viruses have to run their course. Sulfa drugs such as Sulmet and Sulfadimethoxine would help if it were coryza. A veterinarian would be great if that is a possibility, to get the strongest drugs and testing could be done to make sure of what you are treating without the guess work. I think the noises the chick is making is from the blocked nostrils, which sometimes can get blocked and crusted over with food. Have you tried to loosen any of the material on the nostrils with warm water or saline? A toothpick sometimes is used to pick out stuck food. Canker in the nostrils can look like caked feed. You sure are a wonderful person to rescue this little one, and I hope that you can get the advice needed to help it get better. Another BYC member, Casportpony has treated cases of wet pox before , and is more knowledgeable about that and tube feeding. She usually responds to PM's.

 

[Lynnsfarm]

Do ya think that pink skin looking stuff is covering her nostrils? I'm afraid to mess with it too much cuz it looks like its possible that its her sinuses.They are so swollen they are covering them? I will also PM Casportpony thank you