Whitish something in/around eyes, neck feathers odd

[mmcspadden]

1. Black australorp, 9 months old, seems the same weight and size as others

2. Behavior seems relatively normal, perhaps a bit slower.

3. I noticed this hen 2 nights ago had some issue with her neck feathers on the back of her neck. They did not want to lay straight and seemed stiff, rather than soft. I could not see any sort of injury, so in my ignorance I chalked it up to an overly amorous rooster. Last night I noticed she looked awful with this whitish stuff around and somewhat on her eyes. She looked terrible, but during feeding time, jumped in to eat like normal.

4. No other birds showing signs that I can see.

5. No injuries visible

6. No known event that caused this

7. Have not been able to observe her drinking due to time constraints, but feeding, she is eating the organic layer pellets like the others.

8. Unknown what the poop looks like.

9. No specific treatment yet. Was planning to try some ACV in their water as a bit of a boost.

10. I need to treat this myself, and would highly prefer natural options.

11. This was the best picture I could get on short notice, they were all tucked in for bed.

12. The chickens are currently in a hoophouse for some additional protection during winter. Bedding is a mixture of straw and pine shavings that I keep adding to. They have a dust bath I made with half and half sand and ashes, but I think it froze before it finished drying, and they are still digging holes and do not appear to have used it.

I do not have capacity to isolate her right now, due to the extreme cold, there is no where else to put her, but I also don't want this to spread to the other chickens. It appears like some sort of respiratory infection I have seen on other posts, but i do not want to use antibiotics if i can possibly help it.

Help?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Looks like she has an eye infection. Does she also have a bad odor about the head?

The pus in the eyes needs to be pressed out. Flush the eye with saline, press out the pus, flush, then apply an eye ointment like Terramycin or you can use plain Neosporin in the eye.
An antibiotic like Tylosin can be used to treat symptoms of disease like Mycoplasma.

Ensure that the housing has adequate ventilation even in cold weather.

 

[mmcspadden]

Thanks. Seeing about getting antibiotics. No odor that I noticed, but I will check more carefully tonight.

I do need to add some more ventilation, but there is some. The end with the door, has cracks around the door, and the other end is a mix of various sizes of plywood I used to close it up before it snowed. There are quit a few cracks around all those pieces too.

 

[Myrshine]

Eye infections in poultry and other types of birds are caused by a respiratory infection. Is there any foul cheesy smell coming from her face, eyes or nares?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Thanks. Seeing about getting antibiotics. No odor that I noticed, but I will check more carefully tonight.

I do need to add some more ventilation, but there is some. The end with the door, has cracks around the door, and the other end is a mix of various sizes of plywood I used to close it up before it snowed. There are quit a few cracks around all those pieces too.

I would work on more ventilation if possible.
Let us know how she's doing.

 

[mmcspadden]

Sorry for the delay in the update. I have not been able to get antibiotics yet, but she is doing better (not great, but better). There is no smell that I notice, but she doesn't like to be held, and my nose is a little stuffy, so its possible there could be a smell. There seems to be less puss around the eye, but its not gone entirely. She continues to be active, gets a prime spot on the roost at night, and jumps in for food in the morning. No other chickens are exhibiting any signs. Here is what I have done so far.

1. I did add ACV to their water, figured it couldn't hurt.
2. I had been a bit lazy about washing their waterer, and got back to scrubbing them more thoroughly to help reduce the spread.
3. Any time I'm out there, I try to leave the door open to increase air exchange until I can build something more permanent.
4. Due to work being crazy, I had also gotten behind on adding new bedding (it wasn't terrible, but it's amazing what some fresh pine shavings will do to the smell and moisture problems.
5. I know the pellets are supposed to have everything they need, but I'm been trying to make sure they get a few greens every day, including some oregano that is supposed to have some antibiotic properties.

 

[Myrshine]

It really sounds like Infectious Coryza. Coryza is a bacterial infection of poultry, affecting all different species of birds. Infectious Coryza is known for it’s foul smelly cheese smell that comes from the face, mouth or nares, followed by thick harden pus to form in the sinus cavities, creating a “swollen bulging like eye”. Infectious Coryza infected birds may or may not have thick sticky yellowish colored discharge from the nares or eyes. This disease is most commonly by being exposed to new or other carrier birds. Coryza is a chronic disease meaning, that you can treat or have the symptoms go away, but whenever the bird gets stressed again, the symptoms will keep coming back or get worse. All “recovered” like birds, remain lifetime long carriers of the Infectious Coryza bacteria, spreading and shedding it through their feces, feathers, dander, respiratory secretions and other bodily fluids. This is a lifetime disease of poultry and is incurable. Since Infectious Coryza is a bacteria, antibiotics can help keep symptoms at bay until next time. Keep in mind as well that constant over-use of antibiotics can create antibiotic-resistant bacteria, making the disease harder to treat than before. It’s critical in poultry to get sick birds tested to find out which specific disease they have as soon as possible.
Here’s more information about Infectious Coryza:

https://www.thepoultrysite.com/disease-guide/infectious-coryza

https://tvmdl.tamu.edu/2019/11/25/infectious-coryza-in-chickens/

https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/infectious-coryza-could-be-a-concern-for-poultry-owners
https://m.facebook.com/story/graphql_permalink/?graphql_id=UzpfSTEwMDAxMDY2NzcwMjkyODpWSzozODIwODU4NTY1Mzg1MzM=
https://m.facebook.com/story/graphql_permalink/?graphql_id=UzpfSTEwMDAxMDY2NzcwMjkyODpWSzozOTY5NDkxMzUwNTIyMDU=
I hope this helps! Good luck!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

There is no smell that I notice, but she doesn't like to be held, and my nose is a little stuffy, so its possible there could be a smell. There seems to be less puss around the eye, but its not gone entirely.

There seems to be less puss around the eye, but its not gone entirely. She continues to be active

No other chickens are exhibiting any signs

The pus in the eyes needs to be pressed out. Flush the eye with saline, press out the pus, flush, then apply an eye ointment like Terramycin or you can use plain Neosporin in the eye.

I'm glad to hear that she is still active, eating/drinking.

If you can, work on removing the pus from her eye and get some ointment into the eye to help it heal. Once pus is removed you may see a big difference.

Still hard to know what's going on there - since she's the only bird that has the infection and no one else has gotten sick, it may be localized infection instead of a contagious disease which usually spread through the flock.