Mycoplasma or Injury?

[krthaymp]

Daft me left my phone in the house when I put the flock up, so I’ll have to get a picture tomorrow, but I noticed today one of my polish hens had some drainage on her feathers where she would tuck her head. I finally got my hands on her and her eye is a tad swollen, watery, a little crusty and had some bubbles.
I’m worried it’s mycoplasma.
However, she’s acting fine - eating, drinking, pooping, being bossy. There are no respiratory symptoms I could hear. No sneezing or coughing or wheezing.
Her feathers and skin look good, her color is good.
So… how do I tell if she scratched her eye or got it pecked maybe, or if it’s mycoplasma?
There are vets that will see chickens about 2 hours away and hoping to avoid that.
If it’s mycoplasma though… that means there’s no use vaccinating at this point and I’m guessing the whole flock will get it and I’ll be a closed flock from here on out for those who survive it, right?

Edit: or pox. No other lesions or anything that I see though.
Will get terramycin tomorrow and start flushing it with saline and putting that on it. Her crest totally obscures it and the other chickens don’t seem to have noticed anything.

 

[Eggcessive]

It sounds like it could be MG, but without testing, it would be hard to know. I would get Tylosin powder online and use 1 tsp per gallon of water for 5 days as her only water. Since Terramycin now may require a prescription, you can use a small dab of plain Neosporin or triple antibiotic ointment in the eye twice a day after cleaning any crust or drainage. Here is a link for Tylosin:
https://thecanaryfinchstore.com/product/tylosin-powder-for-birds/

 

[krthaymp]

I’ll try to get a picture in the morning, and maybe a vet visit could be worth it for the script, if more come down with it.
Will start a compress and neosporin in the morning.

 

[krthaymp]

Safe to say, Lemon is 0% on board with being a house chicken, but I managed to nab her anyway and get her inside for a better look and some care. Other than her eye being goopy and foamy she looks fine I think. I’ve never had a sick chicken though, so y’all tell me what you see. Both eyes, nairs, and mouth.

I did wipe out a stringy bit of feather from her eye, so wondering if it’s just agitated.

 

[Eggcessive]

The swollen bubbly eye with crusty drainage fits symptoms of MG (mycoplasma gallisepticum) and she might have gotten pecked on her comb.

 

[krthaymp]

This looks like it’s in the same family as terramycin.

https://a.co/d/ehqhPzw

Would this be better than neosporin?

I also found a website where I can send off swabs for respiratory illness testing. Has anyone done that?

https://www.zoologix.com/avian/Datasheets/PoultryRespiratoryPanel.htm

At least I’d know for sure what I’m dealing with.

 

[Eggcessive]

That is not terramycin but a knock off that contains no oxytetracycline. There are several of those brands of ointment being sold to sound like terramycin/oxytetracycline.

Yes, zoologix and RAL labs (vet dna) can do pcr testing for many diseases when they send you materials to collect swabs from the nasapharynx.

 

[krthaymp]

That is not terramycin but a knock off that contains no oxytetracycline. There are several of those brands of ointment being sold to sound like terramycin/oxytetracycline.

Yes, zoologix and RAL labs (vet dna) can do pcr testing for many diseases when they send you materials to collect swabs from the nasapharynx.

Thank you for explaining the difference! I think I’m going to continue monitoring and isolating with the neosporin and tylosin, and try the pcr testing. My sister and mom have home flocks too and I really feel like I need to positively confirm if this is MG.

 

[Eggcessive]

The testing on live birds by getting some swabs can be helpful. If you ever lose a bird, your state vet can do thorough testing with a necropsy.

 

[krthaymp]

Update - she's looking good this morning. Eye still a little goopy, minimal crust. Acting normal, no respiratory symptoms. Waiting for the Tylosin to get here, and trying to figure out how to do the testing for now.