[D]

Bad start to the weekend unfortunately. I went to the coop after work on Friday and did an egg check to discover that Zeus, my Aracauna cockerel of about 23 weeks of age, was laying in one of the nest boxes. I picked him up and to him out to find bubbles in the corner of his eye and a very runny nose. Also his comb and face had turned a very dark red colour which deffinately turned on the panick signals. We quickly put the other birds in the coop whilst it rained and put Zeus in a box to take him to the vets. I got there eventually - no thanks to slow drivers - and got to see a vet almost straight away. While we was in there the vet had a look at him so he sneezed and blew snot on her arm, then pooed all over the table had a coughing fit and unfortunately died 
I brings little comfort to know that when I had said we had best put him down it was the right thing to do. I was thinking I couldn't give up on him if he had a chance of survival. Fortunately he helped with the decision.
The vet took faecial and mucus swobs to be sent for analysis. Hopefully I should get results this week some time and get treatment for the other birds.
I'm absolutely gutted since he was my first cockerel and I can't help but feel that this was a complete failure on my behalf. I had been sure that I had heard sneezing through out the flock, even after a couple of weeks of two other birds recovering from an illness - presumably mycoplasma or something similar. However over people had told me I was being paranoid and hearing things. Its hard to be right especially when you're playing with life and death.

[joyfull]

so sorry to hear this, hopefully the samples will shed some light onto the nature of his illness. Don't beat yourself up as you did what any caring pet chicken owner would do and rushed him to the vets, often chickens hide their illness so well until it is too late. xx

[D]

I can't help but feel I should have done something sooner knowing they were sneezing especially after the other two birds came down with something, although Zeus came down with it a hell of a lot quicker than the others - at most it took two days judging by symptoms other than sneezing, whereas the other two had it for one or two weeks, granted they are about a year and a half old.
What confused me was yesterday I had a phone call from the vet mainly saying about egg withdrawal periods for the lice and mites treatment - which were crawling all over his body  - but she also said that they would need samples from an alive bird to test for mycoplasma if the other tests don't show anything. Zeus was alive when he was there and he was alive when he manured on the table. Is this right or is there a chance she's got it wrapped around her neck?

[joyfull]

perhaps your vet wants to see if they have the same infection - always best to be safe. He may have died from something unrelated.
What lice/mite treatment are you using?

[NormandyMary]

Aah Poor Zeus. So very sorry for your sad loss.

Mary.

[rachelr]

i am sorry it is very hard to be confident when all around seem to think you are being paranoid. go with your gut intincts you know your birds better than any one else. twice now i have saved one of mine because of these instincts the rest of my family believed i was being an over protective mum

[D]

The vet gave me some Ivermectin to apply directly onto the birds, I've also got some other stuff that I spray in the house. The Saturday after he died, I scrubbed the whole house out with disinfectant and then sprayed every nook and cranny of the house. I think I've even found roughly where the mites are now living - they've moved since I last desemated them!
I think I will have to start ignoring people who say theres nothing wrong especially when they don't spend as much time up there as me. It just still seems a bit odd taking a chicken to the vet - granted I have know problem with it, its just when it doesn't seem like much. You can't help but think as well that the vet just thinks you should have just despatched it. I suppose times have moved on and hopefully I'll catch up soon.