Snotty chicken

[ckhd]

Let me preface this by: I recently decided to get chickens after not having any since I was a kid (30+ years).

About 5 days ago, my cousin gave me six hens to go with my single surviving pullet (thanks neighbors, for not following leash laws).

Anyway, one of the hens is (I believe) an older Buff Orpington. I have seen twice where she goes to peck something off the ground, and a glop of mostly clear snot/mucus drips out. Other than that, she seem 100% normal and healthy. She moves fine and doesn't show any other signs of illness.

They say you shouldn't look up your symptoms on WebMD, because you'll be convinced you're dying, and the same is for Chickens. Just about everywhere on the internet I looked, including here, the common conclusion to almost all chicken sickness was to kill the flock, and burn the coop (well, at least bleach the heck out of it and leave it empty for months).

There is one vet in the area, who doesn't want anything to do with it unless it's a horse or a cow.

My co-worker's husband raises chickens and has for years. She seems to think that it's nothing to worry about, just give the flock some oral anti-biotics and all will be well.

I did mix in about a pound of "medicated chick starter" in the feed today because it does have antibiotics.

Should I worry? Should I kill the flock and burn the coop? I don't know what to do.

Here are some pics of her. I have zoomed in ones too, because it seems that a lot can be determined by appearance.

 

[silkiemother]

she might just have a small amount of water in her lungs from drinking,but do not worry you will not have to kill the whole flock or her and plus she looks very beautiful and healthy.maybe try adding a small pinch of ground cinnamon in her water because cinnamon helps aid breathing.

 

[Eggcessive]

If she has any water in her mouth, she may drip water from her beak. They also may spit up crop contents if their crop is not emptying properly. Her nostrils appear clean and dry. They will usually appear dirty from dirt sticking to moisture if there is mucus draining. I would watch for sneezing more than once every now and then, rattly or wheezy breathing, bubbles or foam in an eye, gasping, or shaking the neck and swallowing mucus. Those are the usual signs of a respiratory issue.

Medicated feed usually means that it has amprollium in it, and that is a small amount of coccidiostat to help build up resistance to coccidiosis. It doesn’t contain antibiotics, unless they are feeding something like aureomycin, that used to be used in animal feeds, but is now banned and no longer for sale.

Chickens do suffer from illnesses, especially crop problems or reproductive issues after they are a few years old. But hopefully, this hen is healthy.

Here is a good link with symptoms of the most common chicken diseases:
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ps044

 

[ckhd]

You guys made me feel better. I was afraid she had some awful disease. After looking at that common chicken diseases chart, I could tell that it likely isn't any of them. All the ones that mentioned mucus had a TON of other symptoms she just doesn't have.

One of them sneezed the other day, but I'm not sure it was her. I've been out with them a lot, because I'm still finishing their coop/enclosure. If she was sneezing, I'd have heard it.

Like I mentioned, she seems perfectly healthy/normal other than the two times I saw stuff run out of her beak. I've seen many times that she put her head down to peck something and nothing has run out.

I'll put a pinch of cinnamon in the water, and my co-worker is bringing me some of her antibiotics, so I'll dose her and watch her, but I'm not so worried about her or the flock anymore.

Thanks!

 

[ckhd]

Just wanted to add an observation in case someone else has this problem and is searching...

I have a young Buff Orpington pullet Bar-b (yes, her last name is "Q"), maybe 5 months old. She is the outcast, and I often have to come 'guard' her so she can eat and drink. When I do, she understandably eats and drinks as much as she can, because when I leave, the other chickens run her off the feed.

Bar-b is my pet. She is more excited to see me than my dogs are, and acts much like a puppy in following me around, so naturally, I pick her up and pet her a lot. Two times now, after she has got her fill of food and water and I was holding her, I bent down to pick up something up and she had similar looking stuff leak out her beak. I think that what I saw with Buffy was that her crop was full of water and other miscellaneous chicken consumables, and some leaked out when she bent over.