rooster with puffed up face! HELP! (UPDATE: we culled him :( )

[dawg53]

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Unfortunately these things happen. I've had runs of bad luck like you. Your biosecurity practices are good. However, sometimes 3 weeks quarantine just isnt enough. There are diseases out there that have a 3 week incubation times even BEFORE symptoms show up in your birds. Some people quarantine for 30 days, sometimes even that is not enough as there are diseases with even longer incubation times...not to mention wild birds flying in on a daily basis possibly introducing something, it's a chance we take. Some people never quarantine and dont have problems...YET.
I believe you are dealing with a chronic respiratory disease (CRD.) I hope you seperated your roo away from the others. There are various antibiotic treatments, but they will only mask the symptoms, no cures and your roo will be a carrier for life. Most CRD are contageous. I recommend that you maintain a closed flock...none in, none out, no exception. Your other option is to cull. Here's a link that you can read to help you figure out which CRD you're dealing with. I suspect possibly infectious bronchitis, swollen head syndrome, MG or MS. I highly suspect the later two....but dont know for sure. http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ps044

 

[tinychicky]

i don't want to cull unless he really seems to be suffering. but then again, maybe he is. he's not coughing or wheezing and his nostrils aren't crusted up, his face around his eyes is just really swollen up. could it be infectious coryza? he is the only bird in the flock to have it (so far). should i put him on duramycin or terramycin?

 

[tinychicky]

do these help?

 

[dawg53]

It it was coryza, you would smell a foul odor about his head/nostril area. I would cull if that's what it is.
Otherwise, you can use tylan 50 injectable. You can give it to him orally, dosage is 1/2cc once a day for 5-7 days.

 

[RedRoosterFarm]

Looks like CRD but maybe have it tested? Tylan 50 is what I have used for respitory issues and might use it for this but if it is crd it will be in the flock forever. seperate until you know. Good luck!
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[tinychicky]

i think it is CRD. he started making a gurgling noise everytime he breathes in and his face is swollen up even more. his eyes are crusted together. his poop is green (i saved a sample to have tested). no other chickens show syptoms. what do you mean it will be in my flock forever? does that mean that one by one my chickens will get sick and die? or does it just mean they're carriers and can't have contact with other chickens without spreading the disease? can i vaccinate all the others against it? i show my birds several times a year and take them to all sorts of 4-h events. i also get new birds nearly every year. does that mean i can't do any of that any more? could my friends' flocks already be infected because of me? i don't want to, but i will cull him if i have to. if it means keeping the rest of my flock safe. i'll do more research and i'll try the tylan 50 injectable. for now he will stay in a box in the basement several hundred feet from the coop with a heatlamp and i will wear gloves when i handle him, take care of my healthy birds first, wash my hands before and after, and change my clothes and shoes beween coops. that is the most i can do for now

i hate having sick birds, i feel so helpless and worried it will spread to other people's flocks

 

[tinychicky]

we had him put down today. the other birds are showing no signs of illness, but we bleached all the coops, feeders, nest boxes, waterers, etc. and i gave every single one of the chickens a bath. we are trying to keep things very clean and isolated. we're also going to put them on an antibiotic (i don't remember the name at the moment) to help keep the rest of the flock from developing the infection.

 

[dawg53]

He was a very pretty rooster tinychicky, it hurts to put them down. Sorry it came to this.... but you did the right thing. I wish you the best.

 

[tinychicky]

thank you.