I received 6 chicks a week ago from a NPIP certified breeder. They were two weeks old (ish) upon arrival - short story, I placed the order in August. The breeder emailed me near midnight (my time) three weeks ago asking if they could ship the chicks the next day. I didn't see the email until after work that next day, and the breeder wouldn't ship again for another week. I was going to be out of town the following week, so I asked them to hold the chicks for one week and ship them after I got back. So because of that, they were shipped at two weeks old.
They arrived in pretty rough condition. Several had bald patches where I assumed they had pecked each other in transit, and one had a bald chest as if she had been laying in unsanitary conditions (unsure if 2 days in the post would cause that, or if it happened prior).
One of the chicks arrived with a little swelling around its eye, and I assumed it had been pecked, as it was also missing back feathers. Now, after I've had these chicks in my brooder for 8 days, the swelling hasn't gone away (it has become more pronounced) and I'm wondering if it's coryza. If so, I'm devastated and don't know what to do. I can't cull these sweet chicks, but I also can't let them infect my other 17 birds (who are all outside, away from the new arrivals). I paid $146 (including shipping) for these six birds, so it would be a fairly substantial financial loss if I were to give them away to someone who would accept an infected flock.
I'm not sure what to do. Does this look like coryza to those more experienced? It definitely arrived with this swelling - can NPIP certified breeders have and ship infected chicks? This is the only unusual symptom on any of the birds, other than the feather plucking that I described earlier, which I assume happened while in transit.
This picture was taken the day the bird arrived (10/28):
They arrived in pretty rough condition. Several had bald patches where I assumed they had pecked each other in transit, and one had a bald chest as if she had been laying in unsanitary conditions (unsure if 2 days in the post would cause that, or if it happened prior).
One of the chicks arrived with a little swelling around its eye, and I assumed it had been pecked, as it was also missing back feathers. Now, after I've had these chicks in my brooder for 8 days, the swelling hasn't gone away (it has become more pronounced) and I'm wondering if it's coryza. If so, I'm devastated and don't know what to do. I can't cull these sweet chicks, but I also can't let them infect my other 17 birds (who are all outside, away from the new arrivals). I paid $146 (including shipping) for these six birds, so it would be a fairly substantial financial loss if I were to give them away to someone who would accept an infected flock.
I'm not sure what to do. Does this look like coryza to those more experienced? It definitely arrived with this swelling - can NPIP certified breeders have and ship infected chicks? This is the only unusual symptom on any of the birds, other than the feather plucking that I described earlier, which I assume happened while in transit.
This picture was taken the day the bird arrived (10/28):
Not certain, but I doubt that the bird has Coryza. To me it looks more like irritation and possible inflammation from a injury.
