Sick Duck, worried about the rest of the flock

[BlackberryAcres]

Tonight I noticed one of my Silver Appleyard hens was breathing with her mouth open like she was panting, but it wasn't hot. She also seemed to be limping. My kids helped me catch her, and it seemed like she might have bumblefoot- the back fleshy part of her foot is black and scabby looking. I tried to wash it with water but nothing was coming off and she was making a rough noise when she breathed (and my kids wouldn't leave me/her alone) so I stuck her in the brooding room so I could go do some research and she would be isolated. I'm now realizing that was probably one of the stupidest things I could have done because I have a mama hen on 14 eggs that should be hatching soon that will need to be using the brooding room, and if it is contagious I just made them sick.

I went back out to move her to a cage in the garage, and noticed that when I was carrying her she was dropping very loose, reddish stools. The reddish could be because she was raiding the goats' food this morning, but then one of the droppings seemed mucousy. And there was lots of poop dropping out of her.

We got 4 Buckeye chickens, a Pekin drake, and a Polish crested chicken from a friend who couldn't take care of them anymore 2 weeks ago. They were in a very bad environment with no clean water or anything. On the way home the drake kept throwing up mucous, but once we got home and gave him water he seemed fine. We thought it was probably the lack of clean water and maybe some motion sickness. I had his poop tested- no coccidosis or worms, and otherwise he seemed fine, so we let him join the flock earlier this week. Now I'm afraid that he was carrying something and has passed it along and all my birds are gonna die!!! (Yes, I'm panicking!) The Buckeyes are with everyone else too and they have always seemed healthy. The Polish Crested is still in the bathtub because she seemed very "off" when we got her and would only poop white, but we had it tested and didn't find anything so we thought it might be kidney problems from the lack of clean water. Two days ago when I gave her cut up veggies then she had normal poop and perked up (guess she just doesn't like the crumbles?) but I still haven't let her out with everyone else.

How do I figure this out? Any ideas what she might have and what I need to be watching everyone else for? My instinct is to just cull the sick one in the garage and have her tested for things, but who would I have do that? The vet? Health department? And I guess I need to completely clean out the brooding room and bleach the walls and floor just in case? The entire bird barn? We have a sand yard and they free range, so there is no way I can clean up all the poop. Any advice would be MUCH appreciated!!!!!

Kathryn

 

[BlackberryAcres]

Could it be a systemic Staph infection from Bumblefoot that I didn't realize was there? I read that can look like Fowl Cholera, which is what I was leaning towards? She's still alive this morning, her cage is a crazy mess from the diarrhea, and she laid an egg that I think we're not going to eat. Out of 35 birds, when I'm only getting 4 eggs per day, of course the sick one has to be one that's laying.

 

[casportpony]

Do you have any antibiotics, Corid or wormer? Or can you take her to the vet?

-Kathy

 

[BlackberryAcres]

So, I found an avian vet an hour away and got her in today. She found a kernel of corn in the duck's nasal cavity. She said when I saw her breathing weird she could have had the corn stuck in her trachea and that she finally got it up but it got stuck there. I didn't notice any weird breathing noises today. But to be safe she gave me a wormer for lung worm. The duck has lost weight since I first separated her, and has been having watery diarrhea. It HAS been brownish red, but today it was normal greenish color. That didn't occur to me until we were on our way home, though. The vet did a bacteria smear (I think she called it?) and detected clostridium, so she gave us Tylan for that. When I got home I looked it up, though, and I can only find clostridium botlinium online. She doesn't have ANY of the signs of botulism, though, and she's still alive 6 days after I noticed the breathing issues and diarrhea. So I really have no clue what to think there!

She got enough poop to do a coccidosis test before we left and said she'd call with those results. She gave me coccidosis medicine, and also Bene-Bac to help with her bacteria balance.

She also confirmed that the duck does indeed have bumblefoot, but then with finding the clostridium we kind of stopped talking about staph being an issue. I wish I'd looked up the clostridium when we were still in the office.

So, I have some answers but I'm still not completely sure what's going on!