I just went down and looked over the older SS good. I can see no discharges from nose, mouth or eyes on any of them, even the one with the swollen eye. The one with the swollen eye, "Squirrelly," evidently doesn't feel very good, but that could be said if she got poked in the eye. It is only that area around her eye that is swollen. If any of the others have swollen heads, I can't tell since this is my first dealing with these birds. Compared to the younger birds they all have chunkier heads, but I'm guessing that is due to age difference. Also, she is shedding like crazy. I picked her up and feathers just fall out of her. I tugged at them and got a few to come out around her bald spot, but the rest are holding okay. This is mainly at the base of her neck and near her tail. One of the other hens has lost a bunch of feathers near the tail also.
I looked over the young birds too which are now separated and they all seem fine. So far. No swelling, no discharges. They are perky and alert. But so are the rest of the big birds.
I read about CORYZA which is treated with SULMET. I went ahead and mixed up a dose for 1/2 a gallon of water and put it in their pen. I had some on hand because I had some chicks get Coccidiosis. I figured it can't hurt. Even if Squirrelly gets better in the next couple of days, it will be hard to say if that was the solution or not. But I took note of how the others look, and if I see something that can only be an improvement in them, then we'll know that is what it was. I did notice that some of the red skin on the heads of some of the hens is a little pale looking. Again, I don't know if that is good or bad health wise. If the skin becomes a more vibrant red in the next couple days, that should be an indication of illness as well.
Question: Should I medicate my entire flock of birds or wait? I read that if CORYZA then you don't want to use any survivors for breeding. How can you know if you have survivors or if they never had it at all if you medicate them all? If it should turn out they have something bad, does that mean I need to get rid of them all? A mixed up rooster flew into their pen the other day, and one of the older SS birds flew into the rooster pen a day before. Today I had two leghorns over in the pen with the young SS. Dang it, I may end up losing it all. Looks like you all might have got to learn a lot more from me than we counted on.
I have to be honest with you all. I'm give out right now. I got to feeling a little better and was trying to fix my new pens up. I got some things accomplished. I probably could have gotten my young SS into their intended places tomorrow sometime since my brothers were going to help me. With the thought of a possible outbreak of some serious disease, the wind has been taken out of my sails. I'm praying for the best, but ready to accept the worst. I'm not going to worry with picture taking nor do anything else until I get this mystery solved. I'll be on here on and off for the rest of the evening to read any suggestions you all may have.
Well, since I feel like crying I guess I better tell a joke. Do you know how Johnny Cash came up with the song Ring of Fire? He got his Ben Gay and Preparation H mixed up!
