A lady up the road from me is having some horrible issues with her young brood. History: A couple of times late in the summer, she hatched a bunch of different birds all at the same time, including chicks, poults, keets, peachicks and ducks. Hatch rate on the peachicks was very low, but everything else seemed normal. The first batch hatched are all seemingly healthy and doing well. The second batch, not so much. At about 4 weeks old, she moved them from brooder in with the older batch, and all was well for about a week. Then the one young pea chick got a bit of a runny nose and snicking, but not enough to alarm, and she didn't separate it thinking they were all exposed anyway if it was contagious (OOPS). Another week went by, peachick no better but no worse, and all of a sudden the young batch of turkeys all get swollen sinuses under eye, POOF!, runny noses and snicking, then sneezing, then hoarseness. She's all-natural organic, and starts treating the whole lot with various remedies to seemingly little avail. A month goes by. Symptoms are all still there...poults' sinuses are now so swollen that two can hardly see, noses all running clear mucus, sneezing, constant snicking now, hoarseness. Everyone is still eating and drinking well though, still active. No symptoms in older group at all, or in ducklings, keets or chicks, just youngest peafowl and turkeys. One poult suddenly starts losing weight and just sitting there, and on my advice, she gently tries to express some mucus out it's nostrils to give it some relief...which works, but also large chunks of white pus come up out of it's eyes. Uh oh. It dies two days later, and she opens up the swellings to find the sinus cavity under and around it's eyeball packed full of loose (not adhering to any tissues seemingly) cheesy white pus. Another has since died, same thing, sudden weight loss and listlessness, same pus-filled sinuses. Through all this, appetite and
has been normal except right before the end when they just suddenly stop eating. She tried Vet RX which seemed to give some very temporary relief each time it was given by mouth, and they have been on some various herbs and compounds including oils of thyme, oregano, garlic and various others she's adding to their oatmeal. Three young poults and the peachick left, the peachick is still the same. One of the turkeys must now be hand-fed and watered because his eye swelling is so huge he cannot open them, and the other two poults are unchanged...but judging from the two that died, that could change very suddenly. She really wants to save these guys and is ready for the big guns but funds are severely limited and will put them down before she spends money on a vet or $60 on a bottle of Tylan, which are the only real options I could think of. I'm out of ideas, and earlier today she texts me and says one of the young turkeys is now so hoarse no sound is coming out. I say Buckley's?? Like I said, I'm out of ideas, I have no idea what it is she's actually dealing with, and my thoughts are that they are all going to die, as it has been about two months and they're only getting worse, however slowly. She droppers Buckley's down their throats and reports back an hour afterwards that they all have their voices back to some degree and are sneezing much less!!! Holy crap, well, at least I didn't kill them though I'm not sure I'm doing them any favours. Eye swelling the same though, as there's thick cheese in there with no way to get it out. I really don't want to suggest treatments without knowing what she's dealing with. My best guess is Mycoplasma, but if it was something pheasant specific, wouldn't the guinea keet get it as well? And why wouldn't the older group catch it? There is apparently no unusual smell, either in mucus or feces. Mucus remains clear and pus bright white. I can offer her some injectible Proc Penicillin LA, but if it's Myco it won't touch it, and may even hurt the turkeys no matter what's causing the infection. I can't think it's fungal, since it doesn't appear to be infecting their lungs, and plus the newer group was kept in exactly the same conditions as the older group, the only difference being The older group had the coop to themselves until the sickies were added. But I really don't know. Does anyone have any insights? Since the older group haven't caught anything, could it maybe be some weird presentation of coccidiosis? I can sort of understand why she wants to save the peachick, but honestly were it me, the poults at least would have been culled long ago--they look awful, and whatever it is, it's pretty clear it's not going to just go away. Here is a pic of the worst poult, taken earlier today...when I saw the brown crust, I thought Coryza, but apparently it's mostly food she missed when wiping him off after a messy feeding (obviously, he's blind at the moment)--any pressure on his eyes hurts him, and anyways, the lack of smell and the chickens not getting it, doesn't fit with Coryza, nor does how long it's been lingering...unless there's something I'm missing. I'm wondering if it would help if she could cut a small opening in the swellings and flush the pus out, but again, without knowing what's causing it to be there in the first place and treating for it, it will just come back
Some additional information, they do not appear to be heat-seeking, even when they start to go down. No huddling together or staying under the lamp at all. No weakness or wobbliness, and except when eyes are swelled fully shut or in the two that went down suddenly, they are running and jumping around as young turkeys and peachick tend to do.
Pet quality wheaten/blue wheaten ameraucanas, welsummers, barred rocks, light brown leghorns; Projects on the go: rhodebars, welbars
Neither of us managed to make it to town today to get the crotchie crawlie medicine,, ,and neither of us have ever had a yeast infection so nothing on hand 
