Jean, I\'m sorry I didn\'t see this sooner. Things have been pretty hectic around here later. But I finally made some money yesterday! Woo Hoo! That is if the guy starts work on the 1st like he\'s supposed to.
Anyways, I saw the same thing in several of my birds this year. It started back in September when we had that freak storm come thru with the temps dropping below freezing and the rain at the same time.
I have to agree with Mike, John, and the others with regard to it probably being MG/CRD. The problem with CRD is that it\'s so highly contagious and once the potlickers get it, you can\'t really help it from spreading to other birds. The dip their beaks in the waterer and that\'s it. Now everybody gets it. Not to mention it goes airborne too.
I\'m trying to just build a disease resistance flock so really didn\'t want to treat it but I was losing so many birds that I finally broke down and bought some Tylan 200. One drop in the eye and an injection did the trick for most. I did have to retreat a couple of birds more a few days later. I still, even today, have a few birds that I hear sneeze from time to time and we\'ve been having temps in the 60\'s! This year I\'m going to breed a lot more chicks for myself and only keep the most hearty.
Also, I will say that according to Peter at 1st State Vet, Coryza does not always exhibit the foul (pun intended) \"rotting flesh\" type smell. Especially in the early stages.
And this is one of the problems I\'ve found over and over again with trying to diagnose an illness in my chickens. It seems that so many diseases carry the same symptoms.
Anyways, that\'s my experience with what sounds simiilar. I never saw any of the bleeding from the mouth that Paul spoke of.
Oh, Mike I think you\'re right about MG being spread by wild birds. Seems to be that I read that a year or so ago when I was talking with someone else about MG and Barnevelders. From what I recall, MG is pretty much everywhere and impossible to control or isolate.
God Bless,