PLEASE HELP - black discharge on face

[ChirpyChicks1]

For the first time my chickens have made me cry I went out to play with them for a bit and every single one of them have varying amounts of black "goo" all over their faces and wattles.

And I'm sorry, I have six pictures of three different birds but my internet access is very bad lately and I cannot get them to upload. I'll keep trying though as I'm very worried about this.

-This happened sometime between 2pm and 7:30pm today
-I was out for quite awhile tonight and I did not hear one single chicken sneeze or cough or gasp, nothing
-I got a bit of slightly warm water and a towel and although I couldn't get it off there was residue on the towel after I tried
-There was no smell

-It's been very hot the past week and a half or so and today alone was 100 (heat index)
-They have water in the chicken run and inside the coop
-I gave them some frozen corn and peas and all of them attacked the treat just like normal
-When they went into their coop for the night they all stood around eating their feed and I gave them some good night raisins and they all were very eager for that treat as well
-I did get my normal 2 eggs this morning/afternoon


Besides this black stuff they are acting completely fine but it's very clear this isn't "normal". Thank you to anyone who can offer information and support.

 

[sourland]

It sounds as if they got into something and it is on their face. There was a recent post that was very similar, and that poster found that they had been digging in her mulch pile. From your description of their behavior, it does not sound as if they are in serious trouble.

 

[ten chicks]

For the first time my chickens have made me cry I went out to play with them for a bit and every single one of them have varying amounts of black "goo" all over their faces and wattles.

And I'm sorry, I have six pictures of three different birds but my internet access is very bad lately and I cannot get them to upload. I'll keep trying though as I'm very worried about this.

-This happened sometime between 2pm and 7:30pm today
-I was out for quite awhile tonight and I did not hear one single chicken sneeze or cough or gasp, nothing
-I got a bit of slightly warm water and a towel and although I couldn't get it off there was residue on the towel after I tried
-There was no smell

-It's been very hot the past week and a half or so and today alone was 100 (heat index)
-They have water in the chicken run and inside the coop
-I gave them some frozen corn and peas and all of them attacked the treat just like normal
-When they went into their coop for the night they all stood around eating their feed and I gave them some good night raisins and they all were very eager for that treat as well
-I did get my normal 2 eggs this morning/afternoon


Besides this black stuff they are acting completely fine but it's very clear this isn't "normal". Thank you to anyone who can offer information and support.

Sounds like they were into something they shouldn't have been. Any oil/grease products they could have had access to?

 

[ChirpyChicks1]

Thank you both your for replies!

No they don't free range. I did spread a bit of Sevin Dust but I've done that 2-3 before and they have never had a reaction. The flies are so (x that by a billion) bad right now.

I just went out to check on them again and they are scratching their faces and dragging their faces on the roosting bars. One who didn't look too horrible almost 2 hours ago is now pretty bad.

I just don't understand where this discharge is coming from! It's too far up on their heads to be their nose, the feathers above their eyes are "wet". Their combs are completely fine. Their eyes look completely fine. The black on their wattles appears to be from this discharge running down their face. Their roosting bars are high enough that I saw under one of the chickens head and the feathers between the wattles is completely black and matted. It's almost like it's sticky. I touched the face of the chicken I just mentioned and nothing came off on my fingers.

I just don't understand. I think I've read about every disease and I can find anything!

 

[ten chicks]

Thank you both your for replies!

No they don't free range. I did spread a bit of Sevin Dust but I've done that 2-3 before and they have never had a reaction. The flies are so (x that by a billion) bad right now.

I just went out to check on them again and they are scratching their faces and dragging their faces on the roosting bars. One who didn't look too horrible almost 2 hours ago is now pretty bad.

I just don't understand where this discharge is coming from! It's too far up on their heads to be their nose, the feathers above their eyes are "wet". Their combs are completely fine. Their eyes look completely fine. The black on their wattles appears to be from this discharge running down their face. Their roosting bars are high enough that I saw under one of the chickens head and the feathers between the wattles is completely black and matted. It's almost like it's sticky. I touched the face of the chicken I just mentioned and nothing came off on my fingers.

I just don't understand. I think I've read about every disease and I can find anything!

I don't think it is a disease,i feel they are into something,no dead animals(could it be blood)no injuries on one of them,no grease in run,look up on inside roof of coop. Try and wash it off,use dawn dish soap,just be careful of eyes.

 

[Egg Yolk]

It may be blood. How old are they? Have they been pecking at eachother? This happened to me, my RIR got pecked on yop of her head and it was black and very sticky. We found out the other hen were picking on her. They like to attack the scalp area.

 

[ChirpyChicks1]

 

[ChirpyChicks1]

There is seriously nothing for them to get into that they haven't already been around for months. They have gravel, straw, pine shavings, water, feed, DE powder, and Sevin Dust. But I've read a ton about diseases tonight and can't find anything like this so you might be right. I used warm water and a towel to try and clean them and only a little bit of residue came off, nothing actually came off of their skin.

They just turned 20 weeks old yesterday. They have never been violent enough with each other to cause blood, just normal pecking order stuff.


ETA: I know 110% that they got into nothing today. But I was just told my family was outside yesterday and had to use some wasp spray near the chicken run. Would it take awhile for the chickens to have a reaction to something like that? How about normal bug spray? I know I put some on my daughter yesterday but I was probably 20ft or more from the run. No idea on wind or direction of wind. Thanks for the replies everyone. This probably isn't a disease but it's still very upsetting

 

[ChirpyChicks1]

Well I guess I'm going to stop worrying about them dying

Thanks to everyone who replied I really do appreciate the help!

This morning I went and tried to clean them up with warm water and Q-tips which worked fairly well. I wish I would have taken a pic of the junk I was getting off of them, yuck. It completely surrounded their eyes, the very front of their combs above their noses, it completely caked their little feathers between their noses and eyes and down their wattles. Even under their "chin" between their wattles was covered in this stuff. It's for sure not blood though, everything that came off was brown. Two of of the chickens seemed to have more stickiness on them than the others.

Kirk was the one I saw late last night who was scratching her face and dragging her face on the roosting bars, she had the most stickiness on her and clumps of it came off on the Q-tips. I just don't get it. There was seriously nothing for them to get into

I'll try again tonight when there are more hands to help me. The meanest chicken, who is basically a rooster who lays eggs, was not pleased by my attempted to help her. I started humming Brahms Lullaby and she finally calmed down

Here is Kirk getting her rub down, she was the only one that seemed to like it, before cleaning and taking this picture you couldn't see any of the red on her cheek area

 

[sourland]

Any updates?