Really nasty ear infection in a silkie hen ~GRAPHIC pics~

State labs:
https://www.aphis.usda.gov/animal_health/nahln/downloads/all_nahln_lab_list.pdf

I'm sure that I'm not the only one that checked their Silkie's ears within at most 24 hours after reading this. (I know it's been years, but the pictures in this thread are amazing! So many of us need to actually see to get a better understanding. Thank you all for the informative pics!) I can certainly understand how something like this is missed, especially with those really fluffy breeder quality and/or SQ Silkies. I happened upon this post as I'm looking into treatments for my Silverudd's Blue Rooster. His ears aren't quite like the birds in this thread yet. I thought he had a little smear of mash on his ear feathers. My thoughts kept going back to his ears over and over so I decided to inspect further and discovered that he either has ear canker or some other type of inner ear infection. I remember watching him while he was in the middle of his annual molt and he kept doing yawning motions a lot. At the time I thought he was adjusting his crop, but now I think it was his ears bothering him. Poor guy. I am curious how many people treated with antibiotics and if it was something that became a regular occurrence. Without diagnostics to find the cause, it's probably just a guessing game for me at this point. I started using Animax in his ears in hopes of it helping to soften the matter stuck in his heavily feathered ears and started Metronidazole 250mg twice a day. I feel like I probably should have just started with cleaning out his ears instead of starting 2 meds right away. He doesn't act sick at all but I know how well birds hide any illness until they're very sick, so I guess time will tell.