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We've come down this morning and one of the chickens is really poorly. She looks like someone has poured a bucket of slime all over her head. Her eyes look like they are full of cukoo spit, one of her nostrils is swollen, scabby and looks infected. Her crop is empty, her comb is floppy and the feathers around her head and neck are matted - and she smells like pus. Sorry to be so graphic first thing in the morning but she really isn't well. We've given her a gentle bath to wash off the yuck. Does anyone have any ideas?

Too late

Oh, I'm so sorry. I hope someone can give you an idea of what it was. Sounds very odd.

Unfortunately it looked very like "Mycoplasma infectious sinusitis "
I'd looked at her yesterday and thought she wasn't looking quite right, but her comb and tail were still erect, but this morning her face was puffy, discharge from one nostril and the other TOTALLY blocked with a foul smelling ick! Also comb drooped, tail almost straight down, wheezing, and foaming from both eyes. She looked totally miserable and was just hunched up against door to the run. The feathers around her neck and under her wings were all matted too.
Brought her in and cleaned her face, nostrils and eyes and then gave the poor thing a bath. The odour was not nice at all. On close examination it looked like her feather were totally matted where she had been TRYING to clean and groom herself, probably from the discharges. Dryed her off with the hair dryer which she really loved, but after 1/2 an hour she really deteriorated and I decided she was suffering too much.
Needless to say, the corpse has had to be disposed of as it was not suitable for consumption!!!!

At least she had something she seemed to enjoy before the end.

Needless to say a furvent eye is continually being cast toward the chickens and will be for the next week.

I think the thing is, as a responsible animal owner I have to be prepared to take the appropriate action and protect the animal and any others in my care and ultimately the health of myself and the other members of my family.

Chris (and Helen)

Oh dear - is it contagious? Are the others likely to get it? Sounds grim.

You can innoculate against it but to actually treat it becomes very expensive. If we had a huge flock and were keeping chickens for profit then we could do that, as it is we have a few for our personal joy and eggs! We are keeping an eye on the rest of the ladies, keep your fingers crossed for them!

hope the others are alright

Thank you 3M and Red - we've kept a close eye on the others and they seem to be fine - in fact we had great amusement at Henny Penny who slid very stylishly down their ramp like a dancer coming on stage - this was after she's barged her way out of the pop hole knocking Brhenda flying!! We have the hen house in the back garden and can watch them out of the kitchen window- it's much better than telly!!

Oh Milims I am sorry. You did the right thing.

Zoe