suspected mucus covering nostrils on silkies

[ally mcbeal]

I am a new chicken owner and am very worried about 2 of our silkies who seem to have developed a dry, straw coloured coating on their beaks appearing to cover their nostrils. It has been suggested that I bathe them and try to loosen the coating. Any advice would be very welcome please.

 

[terra]

That was the first of many symptoms I started with. Now I just recieved a test back that my birds have myco plasma. Have them test if it lasts.

 

[dlhunicorn]

how old are your silkies? Are you feeding them a mash (if so this is not helpful and it would be wise to switch to a crumble or pellet)
You can use a Q-tip drnched in hydr peroxide to gently loosen the crusted gunk on their beaks and the nares (nostrils).
Vit A deficiency accompanies many conditions like this and you can give three drops of Polyvisol enfamil (no extra iron) formulation in beak once a day for two weeks to deal with that.
Without more information it could be any number of things in addition to that (are there any respiratory symptoms for instance or watery eyes etc.... is there a possibility of wet pox (mosquitoes)