Pale Face and Droopy Eyes Spreading in Flock

[twobuckchuckfarm]

Two weeks ago we saw our first abnormal symptoms surface in the flock. First it was two incodences of very soft shelled eggs (from the same hen, blue copper maran pictured attached). Then Chipper (our brown Barnevelder hen) had one eye that looked a bit droopy, but showed no signs of weeping or injury. It seemed to get better for a few days but recently flared up again. Now three other hens are showing similar symptoms. Pale face and sometimes pale combs and waddles, along with tired or sleepy looking eyes with droopy eyelids. Tera, our silver penciled Plymouth Rock seems to be the worste as she also exhibits having watery stool. All hens are eating and active. All of them are still laying. This is the first time anyone in our flock has exhibited symptoms of illness other than frostbite.

At first we thought it could be high levels of ammonia in the bedding (which was time to change) so last week we cleaned out the coop and placed fresh pine bedding.

Additional changes that have occurred are...

1. 6 new pullets that we raised from day old chicks to the flock. These were integrated about 2 months ago
2. 1 bantam rooster from a neighbor was added about 6 weeks ago. The roosted has never exhibited any symptoms and I was told by his previous owner that they had no known health issues in her flock.

After doing some research it seems like this could be anything from ammonia toxicity to an STD of some kind. Does anyone know where I should start in terms of treatment? We do not have a local vet that cares for chickens that we know of. I should also add that we free range our chickens and rake their run regularly which is mulched with dry leaf material.

Please feel free to ask any questions! We are desperate to get our girls feeling better asap!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Since it's spreading, likely you are dealing with a respiratory illness.
You can try treating those with symptoms with an antibiotic like Tylan/Tylosin or a Tetracycline.

 

[BastyPutt]

2. 1 bantam rooster from a neighbor was added about 6 weeks ago. The roosted has never exhibited any symptoms and I was told by his previous owner that they had no known health issues in her flock.

It looks like Mycoplasma gallisepticum (MG).

Wyorp is correct, irritation isn't outside the realm of possibility, but the trouble with that comes identical symptoms in multiple birds - which means it is likely more serious.

In the rooster addition to the flock, MG is going to be invisible in a majority of the birds it affects most of the time. Some, won't show symptoms their entire life - and as long as it is treated properly, it won't be fatal in most cases. A bird is also a carrier for life, there is no healing them - just ongoing treatment.

You will generally see flare ups in an infected flock in times of stress - change in weather, adding birds to the flock, etc.

You can start by rinsing the eyes with a saline eye wash. If there is puss in there, you'll want to push it out. You can then glop on some triple anibiotic, or Terramycin. Make sure there is no pain reliever in the former. If it is just an irritation, this should clear it up eventually.

Otherwise, you'll want to try and find Tylan50 or Tylan200 and begin dosing each bird showing symptoms. We can recommend dosing amounts here if that is what you'd like to do. This is something you'll need to continually do as the birds will always be spontaneously symptomatic.

 

[LAstone55]

Since it's spreading, likely you are dealing with a respiratory illness.
You can try treating those with symptoms with an antibiotic like Tylan/Tylosin or a Tetracycline.

Where can you get these antibiotics? Everywhere I've checked in our area won't supply them

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Where can you get these antibiotics? Everywhere I've checked in our area won't supply them

Your thread can be found here.
Hopefully you'll check your hen over and be able to determine the cause of her decline.

Certain antibiotics were taken off the shelves in June 2023, you may be able to order online at places like in the link below. Do keep in mind, antibiotics do not treat viruses.

https://jedds.com/products/tylosin-powder?_pos=1&_sid=bbd0a0c54&_ss=r