Ameraucana Breeders Club
The Official Forum of the Ameraucana Breeders Club => Housing, Health & Hatching => Topic started by: Russ on June 27, 2013, 08:23:41 PM
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Hello everyone was just out looking chicks over and noticed some chicks from last hatch had there eyes glued shut. One had both eyes and two others had one eye, they are a week old. When I took a warm wet paper towel to wash them I noticed some liquid/puss come out of the ones eye. Question is what could be causing this??? Second what do you all recommend or have done to treat this??? I have been using pine shavings and have not had this problem before. They are all three bantam and I am wondering if they might have got chip's in there eyes. They are mixed in with some L.F. chicks also. I immediately separated them from the others just in case it might be something contagious. Thanks for any input or suggestions..........Russ
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I would cull them immediately.
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I have a few adult birds with this problem to. I also use pine shavings. My adults just got this way also.
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Question is what could be causing this???
I believe stress brings it on. We humans get viruses and try to deal with them, but many folks expect our flocks to be free of them. Many years I've seen young birds that are out of the brooders doing well until a few cold and wet days bring them down and sickness abounds. We don't live an ideal warm dry climate where chickens do best. Putting roofs over most of my outside pens has kept the birds dryer and reduced the problems. I'm to the point where I like to expose all my flocks to whatever pops up in one and let the strong survive.
Dormant viruses are part of life. Keep stress to a minimum to reduce flare-ups. Once activated it has to run its course.
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As John said, eliminate potential causes of stress to avoid flareups. You are probably dealing with one of the mycoplasma infections. My advice is to isolate the affected birds, give them clean, comfortable quarters, and give them two weeks to show improvement. If there is none, the ax is your best friend. It seems hard at the time, but your flock will be better off in the long run.
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Well my adults with this problem have cleared up by their selves. :)
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Did you bring in some new birds anytime in the past 6 months? If so they may have been carriers of some infection your birds had not been exposed to before. If they are recovering that fast your best bet is to just breed for resistant strains, and cull the ones, if any, that exhibit chronic symptoms. Eventually you will have a flock that may be totally resistant to whatever it is. To find out the exact problem you would have to have a necropsy done - don't know what that costs in your area.
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Well I don't know if separating them from the others has helped (stress), or wiping there eyes with the warm towel helped. All I know is all three of the Bantams eyes are still open and starting to look better. Maybe the humidity played a part along with the stress? I will continue to keep a close eye (no pun intended) on them to see what happens. Oh yeah thanks for all the suggestions and help, and Harry I would have culled them when I noticed them except they are B.B.S Bantams. Which I am just getting started with so I need all I can get, getting a late start on hatching only allowed me to hatch 43, I was hoping to get at least 75 before my wife gave me the ultimatum that always comes with hatching ;). I will probably hatch a few more in fall, she just doesn't know this yet :-X..... Oh yeah I got some really nice prospects growing out now thank's again Mike for such a great start should have a few to show at Fowl Fest in the fall ;D ;D ;D ;D
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Russ, I understand the situation. I just found one with an eye infection sure it would be OK since it is free ranging with it;s foster mother but I can not take any chances and had to cull it immediately. To me one bird is not worth the entire flock. I am in a better situation than you are and one bird will not affect the outcome of my breeding program.
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I think Mike is correct and it's probably some form of mycoplasma infection such as MG. I have found that this will show itself most often in cold and wet conditions. Something we have NO shortage of here in WA. It was 90 here today. Last week it was 60 and raining and I noticed one of my EE's with a swollen eye. From what I've seen this may start out as CRD and then comes from sinus infections that back up into the eyes.
I stopped medicating my birds a few years ago because, frankly, I found it did little good to treat them with antibiotics and the sickness was spreading to other birds. So I started out culling any sick birds. Then I talked with someone (and later read about it on the web) that said to put bleach in the water. Since doing that I rarely see a bird with a runny nose and puffy eyes. When I do, it only gets worse and the bird is culled BUT none of the others seem to get it.
Hope that helps.
God Bless,
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Royce, what concentration of bleach do you use? My issue isn't with eyes but I'll try anything - we've had 2 solid weeks of rain, and the heat, humidity & mud are taking it's toll on the younger birds. I try to keep them on dry ground, but after the first week dry ANYTHING ceased to exist. Knock on wood, the older chicks are holding their own, but of the ones hatched after May 1st I've lost more than half. I knew better and I'm kicking myself for trying to hatch that late, but I got off to such a late start I tried to get a few more birds and it was just a waste of time & feed...
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Beth, sorry to butt in, but when you mentioned wet conditions I couldn't help but think of coccidiosis.
Have your chicks been on a good medicated starter? Amprolium in the feed controls the cocci while the chicks build up a natural immunity to it. We had the wettest spring in memory here, probably on record, and I don't think I lost more than a couple of chicks.
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Sorry for the delay, Beth. I get those clear plastic squeeze bottles for a buck at Wal-Mart and then drop about a half dozen drops or so per gallon. I've never been one to pay much attention to directions or recommended dosages. LOL So I just kinda wing it. Basically, if I can barely smell the bleach, it's strong enough. I'm pretty sure that I saw someone online about a dosage though. A Google search should come up with something.
Having said that, I would echo Mike's comments. If you're not seeing runny noses, bubbly or swelled eyes, my bet would be on Coccidiosis. It's fast acting and deadly. Cold and damp/wet litter is a deadly combination!
Do you notice the chicks standing in one spot, head withdrawn into their shoulders, and feathers all puffed out? If so, that's Coccidiosis for sure.
God Bless,
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Do you notice the chicks standing in one spot, head withdrawn into their shoulders, and feathers all puffed out? If so, that's Coccidiosis for sure.
I think that when a chicken acts like that, it's more of a sign that something's wrong, not necessarily a sign of Coccidiosis. A couple of mine acted that way when I had a mite issue.
But having said that, I just had my first issue with what I "think" was Coccidiosis. I have all of my chicks on PenPal medicated 18% chick starter/grower and have been happy with it other than the fact I'm seeing quite a few of my chicks trying to eat feathers. I found out that the company has taken out all of the animal protein from the feed and I thought they may be lacking something in their diet. I personally think chickens need some source of meat. I had also heard that corn could be a contributing factor with purple showing up in black birds...not that it causes it, but that it might be bringing the color out more noticeably. After checking with the companies of different poultry feed, I found that most chick feed and layer feed all have 40-50% corn in them so I decided to go back to mixing my own feed and lowering the corn amount.
3-4 days after I had them totally switched over (I spent a few days mixing in the other feed to get them used to it) I noticed a couple of small tbs sized puddles of fresh blood in one of my pens that had 4 two month-old chicks in it. I thought it was an injury, but after looking them all over, I noticed a little blood around two of the chicks vent feathers. None were acting sick so I wasn't sure what was going on. I grabbed up those two and put them in quarantine, then ran back to the house to google what could be the problem. My coops are very clean and dry so the thought of Coccidiosis didn't seem logical. After much reading and a long conversation with the PenPal nutritionist, he explained that you don't "have" to have wet and damp conditions to get it and he thought that it was indeed Coccidiosis if I couldn't find any injuries. The amount of fresh blood had him a little concerned and baffled though.
I read that Corid was the best medication to use, so I set out to find that and eventually had to drive 20 miles because every place around here was out of it. I read that you don't usually see blood until day 3, the worst days are days 5-6 and by day 8 they are usually on their way to recovery or dead. I started medicating those two on day 4 and was still seeing a lot of blood. By this time they were acting very sluggish and weak and passing a lot of fresh blood. They wouldn't eat and was barely drinking. I remembered having 3 puppies (years ago) that had Parvo, and I was told that dehydration is the real killer so I treated the birds like I did those puppies. I got a syringe full of the medicated water and my son and I dripped it into each of their mouths 5-6 times a day to keep them hydrated until the medicine could have a chance to work. A third bird from that same pen started acting the same way with blood and one chick from a different pen (although that one wasn't bleeding, just acted slow) so I decided to medicate them all. One of the original chicks was so week and boney it could barely walk. I also dripped in some watered down Nutri-cal for some kind of nutrition. In addition, I also decided to dust them with Sevin just to make sure no mites could contribute to the problem.
Long story short, keeping them all hydrated worked, and all made it and are doing fine and pretty much back to normal. I added a tsp of Caro syrup to their water for one day, just to add a little sugar to their diet for energy and treated them all with a little yogurt for a couple of days and just bought some probiotics to add to everyone's water.
The real weird thing is, all 4 of the ones that acted sick were all from the same hen and rooster (blue on blue, BUT just in a specific color. Those 4 were splash, but the blacks and blues from that same combo (and same age) didn't seem affected. Go figure!
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Oh, and I might add, I switched them all back to the original medicated PenPal feed and decided not to experiment with that right now. Just sayin'.
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put bleach in the water
Bleach is great for some cleaning proposes, but I would consider using Oxine in this situation.
Oxine (http://www.foyspigeonsupplies.com/sanitzers-cleaners/750-oxine-ah-sanitizer-and-disinfectant-1-gallon)Aids in the control of Pathogens, Salmonella, E-Coli, Avian Influenza, PMV, other viruses and Asperqillus. It is also an aid in the control of upper respiratory and fungal infections. It may be sprayed on eggs, in incubators, on birds, misted in the loft, added to the drinking water or used as a disinfectant. 7 - 15 drops to a gallon of drinking water. 6.5 oz. per gallon as a disinfectant or mist. Helps control infections, PMV and other viruses.
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Update on the 3 chicks I had with swollen eyes. Unfortunately I ended up culling all 3 of them after a day or two of them showing improvement, only to see them start to swell shut again. Like Harry said/reminded me it is better (in my case) to have 45 vigorous/healthy chicks than to let 3 possibly cost me my whole flock. Granted i have 3 separate pens I am growing chicks out, all spaced a good deal apart. The reality is I could not justify putting the rest of the chicks (around 375 between the various varieties) in jeopardy over 3 chicks with issues. Thanks for all the information and reaffirming what I needed to do. Sometimes you need to hear it from other people even though deep down you know the answer, man this is a great club and forum. Oh yeah great info on the adding bleach or Oxine in the water Royce and John.
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when you mentioned wet conditions I couldn't help but think of coccidiosis.
I'm pretty sure that's what I'm dealing with. I use a medicated feed, but when it gets this hot it doesn't seem to be enough, so I add Corid to their water every couple of days. But the last 2 weeks have been extreme - while "official" rain totals from this system are much lower, my vet recorded 17 inches at her clinic, and that was Monday, the rain didn't stop until yesterday. Sounds about right to me. I don't have a rain gauge but I forgot a 5 gallon bucket in the pen and it was full by the next night. And it hasn't been continuous rain, blazing hot sun through the day with torrential downpours at night, so it's like a sauna. Or a giant incubator, with my pens as the petri dishes... :o
John: I keep hearing about Oxine, I need to get some. Don't know if it will help in this case, just trying to cover all the bases, in case I have something more than coccidiosis going on.
Did I mention I loath summer...
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http://www.twincitypoultrysupplies.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=34&products_id=661
http://www.twincitypoultrysupplies.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=34&products_id=450
Also the only disinfectant that kills cocci oocytes.
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Thanks, Jean!
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If you are shopping around...Cutler's Supply (http://www.cutlersupply.com/cart/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=3_82&products_id=391) has it and the link in my reply #15 is to Foy's. I like Victor and buy some stuff from him, but these are both cheaper. Remember to figure shipping. :)