Respiratory illness

[Qualien]

I've got a strange respiratory illness moving through my flock. So far none of my chickens have died from it. it started with one of my roosters. He was fine that morning, running around picking as usual. 20 min. Later he was falling over, couldn't stand up, he was wheezing, and had thick ropy saliva coming from his beak. He also had crusty yellow drainage from his eyes, ears, and nose. He stayed that way for a couple of days, then started to recover. He never lost his appetite, but did lose weight. Now he's back to normal. After he recovered, another of my roosters caught it, though not as severely, he recovered healthily as well. Now one of my hens is showing symptoms. A week and a half ago I found some mites on the first sick chicken, so now I've treated them all with a spray down of permethrin. My hen started showing symptoms two days after that. I'm not sure what this is. My crevocuers (the ones that have been showing symptoms) are 6 months old, and my ameraucanas who have yet to show symptoms are 4 months old. They've been together since 4 weeks (approximately 3 months) after my ameraucanas hatched, and the illness started about 4 weeks ago. How concerned should I be? Is this a start the whole flock over illness, or should I be fine since they appear to be recovering with no relapses? Also I have my quail in off the floor pens above the chicken scratch area in the coop. Are they safe? I have no poultry vet in my area, and no way to get them tested with the funding we currently possess. Should I cull the sick ones, and the ones that have been sick? How serious is this? I can't find a whole lot of reliable information on the internet about this, and couldn't find anything other than general respiratory illness/disease that fits all of the symptoms. First two pictures are of my currently sick hen, next two pictures are of my recovered roos

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

@Eggcessive , can you help?

 

[Qualien]

@microchick I read a previous post you wrote on marek's disease. Can you tell me if this sounds like marek's to you?

 

[Eggcessive]

Can you get a couple of your sick birds tested by your vet, state poultry vet or through a private lab, such as zoologix? Zoologix with send swabs to collect and send back, and will test for one or 8 different respiatory diseases if you contact them:
http://www.zoologix.com/avian/Datasheets/PoultryRespiratoryPanel.htm

 

[Qualien]

Thank you @Eggcessive I don't have a vet nearby, and so far have been unable to find information on state testing in my area. I'm in SE Oklahoma. I checked the website you linked, and couldn't find any information on pricing, or how to order one. (I'm significantly bad with electronics. ) Also which of the poultry diseases do I have them test for if I don't know which one it is?

 

[Eggcessive]

Can you get a couple of your sick birds tested by your vet, state poultry vet or through a private lab, such as zoologix? Zoologix with send swabs to collect and send back, and will test for one or 8 different respiatory diseases. They will test for less, but the 8 are listed in the first link, and include MG, coryza, ILT, and others. In the past it was $90 for the respiratory panel. Here is a link for contacting them probably easier on weekdays:
http://www.zoologix.com/avian/orderform.htm

 

[microchick]

@microchick I read a previous post you wrote on marek's disease. Can you tell me if this sounds like marek's to you?

Thank you for mentioning me, @Qualien.

Something tells me that you are dealing with something other than Marek's disease, although MD can leave birds susceptible to other bacterial and viral infections. The bird's eye looks normal, no gray eye or misshapen pupil. The loss of balance/neural problems could be Marek's but the recovery doesn't sound like it. Birds can recover from MD but they usually succumb later to tumors/cancer.

I definitely agree with @Eggcessive and recommend that you get a necropsy done or at least bring a vet into the mix and have him or her see one of the birds when they are sick so you can get labs ran and try to figure out what is going on with your birds.

Having sick birds is bad enough, but not knowing what is wrong is sheer torture.

 

[Eggcessive]

There is a state poultry lab in Stillwater, OK. You can find the number in this link, explaining that you have backyard chickens with an illness that you are trying to identify, and ask how to get a couple of birds tested (or a necropsy)
https://www.metzerfarms.com/PoultryLabs.cfm