Sneezing hen - Clear mucus, good poop

[GreenRunner]

I'm having a little bit of a stress.

I bought four new hens a couple of weeks ago. All were fine and I integrated them into the flock after 14 days. However, one is now showing signs of illness. She was sleeping with head under her wing, and when I picked up her, she is sneezing a little, has clear mucus from her beak and seems to be snapping her beak a lot - as if clearing away excess snot. She doesn't have a rattle to her breath, and her poop since I isolated her again has been good. She hasn't eaten since I re-quarantined her though; layers pellets, oats or even scrambled egg - nothing. She is drinking though and I added a little tonic as a pick-me-up.

Now I'm looking at the rest of my hens and - probably - over worrying. One has her tail a little lower, another was sneezing this morning (I think it was actually dust) and another was sleeping and puffed up. On their own these aren't anything to worry about but since i have this ill hen, I'm concerned she's spread something through the flock before I've managed to catch it.

Does anyone have any advice on what to do next? The isolated hen, other than not eating and the sneezing, looks fine; no puffiness in face, no bubbles in her eyes or anything. She's a little listless, but is standing and walking around, bright eyes, and red wattles and comb. She laid only one egg since I got her - which she broke and ate - but that's probably down to stress of being rehomed.

I've been online most of the night reading up on respiratory illness symptoms, and it could well be one of those. If so, how fast does it spread to others and show clear signs? Can I expect to be looking at a flock who all have runny noses, or does it present gradually and differently in various hens? To look at, the flock looks happy and showing normal behaviour but, as you can imagine, I'm now quite worried about possible outcomes to this.

 

[teach1rusl]

Yes, it could be something respiratory. Stress always seem to lower the immune system, allowing bad things to happen sometimes. I wouldn't panic about your other birds - I would just wait and see. I've have one girl deal with a UTI that even had the bubble eye, but nobody else was affected. Or at least they showed no symptoms - and they were hatchery birds with me from the get-go - not older outside birds brought in. My girl recovered just fine and it didn't spread (and I did not isolate while treating). Some immune systems are better than others.

Your location shows London. I don't know whether that's England or a town name here in the states, so don't know what meds are available in your area. Here, I used Tylan 50 on my girl - 1/2cc injected into her breast muscle for three days (alternating breasts each time). I would not panic - just keep an eye on the others. In my opinion, since everyone has already been exposed, quarantining this girl again will only benefit YOU if it makes it easier to treat her. I'm not sure it would help otherwise. The injections won't hurt your girl if it's NOT a respir. infect. Do use the smallest needle you can find - maybe 22 gauge (I used insulin needles, which were tiny - probably 28 gauge)...

 

[GreenRunner]

Yes, it could be something respiratory. Stress always seem to lower the immune system, allowing bad things to happen sometimes. I wouldn't panic about your other birds - I would just wait and see. I've have one girl deal with a UTI that even had the bubble eye, but nobody else was affected. Or at least they showed no symptoms - and they were hatchery birds with me from the get-go - not older outside birds brought in. My girl recovered just fine and it didn't spread (and I did not isolate while treating). Some immune systems are better than others.

Thanks for replying.

I kept stressing, so took the girl to the vet in the end. They've taken a swab from her mouth to send off and test but think mycoplasma might well be the problem. It seems it might've passed to the others as I've now got a few sneezing, sad looking chickens.

My plan had always been to breed these chickens, sell them, show them etc. However, I just can't do that if they have MG. I sell fresh eggs for eating, and also eat the cockerels so, if it comes back as MG, I'm going to abandon my plans and use the eggs for eating. I haven't the heart to kill off an entire flock of 30ish chickens!! I can still sell eggs for eating, just not hatching and will refrain from adding any new birds to the flock.

In a few years time I'm going to be moving to the country and starting a smallholding. It's not ideal, but I may as well keep these hens for now and then start out fresh when I move. Still - who knows - maybe it won't be MG!! (wishful thinking!).

 

[teach1rusl]

Well please update when you get an answer!! I'm on alpaca forums too, and know sometimes it can cause issues for paca folks - guess I've never thought too much about it being an issue in chickens because so few people actually have cultures run on their birds...so good info. is scarce.

 

[mg15]

try this site for info

http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/p...nfection_in_poultry.html?qt=mycoplasma&alt=sh

 

[GreenRunner]

Well, the vet hasn't got back to me yet with answers but I'm almost certain it IS myco. I didn't get it in time and its spread to the rest of my flock; my lovely rooster has bubbles in his eyes and a couple of the others are sneezing. So far they don't look TOO bad.

Now I have difficult decision.

I can keep the birds as a closed flock, managed any later bouts of MG and still sell eggs for eating. However, any plans for selling birds and hatching eggs won't be possible. I'll also have to be bear in mind that any other birds brought in will catch it too at some point.

If this was my eventual setup, I'd devastatingly cull everything and start over. However, it's not, and in 5/6 years time we plan to move and set up a proper smallholding. For now, the hens are just in my backyard. So, it's an option to keep my flock, sell the eggs over the coming years and when we make the move, cull any old girls who've made it that far.

It's disappointing as I really wanted to establish a couple of good blood lines; one for my d'Anvers and another for my rarebreed dual purpose Ixworths. The thing is, I've also talked to friends here in the UK who've said its just so common, and with wild birds and even pheasants carrying it, you could cull a flock and then have the same issue a few years later even if you're meticulous about breeding stock. What a hard decision!

Will update further when I see how my feathery friends are doing.

 

[mg15]

My bantam had bubbling eyes for a long time.
I gave her baytril, and Tylan. it took some time
but she is better and is outside.
can you call the vet to get the medicine?

 

[mg15]

I have other birds they did not get any bubbling eyes.
the bantam had a sinus infection, vet thought MG but it was not.

 

[GreenRunner]

I have other birds they did not get any bubbling eyes.
the bantam had a sinus infection, vet thought MG but it was not.

I was hoping it wouldn't be but almost certain now as the rest of the flock are infected. I'm just waiting for confirmation from the swabs, but they've ordered in Tylan for me so I can treat everyone without having to withhold eggs.

 

[mg15]

I was hoping it wouldn't be but almost certain now as the rest of the flock are infected. I'm just waiting for confirmation from the swabs, but they've ordered in Tylan for me so I can treat everyone without having to withhold eggs.

This is good news!