Cream colored lumps in beak, vet can't diagnose

[Sue Gremlin]

I agree with your vet's initial diagnosis of Trichomonas gallinae. Her symptoms match up quite well.

If you have a microscope, try mixing a small amount of very fresh feces with saline and looking at it under high power. If the feces are not very fresh, it's going to be unrewarding.

I would want to treat her again, possibly with something slightly different, and I'd want to treat all chickens in her posse. She may have re-infected herself, as this thing, while not terribly environmentally stable, can be easily passed around among a flock in the food and water, and can be subclinical so you may not see it anyone else. (I just posted about how I found a heavy infestation today in my own chickens while learning diagnostic techniques).

 

[lookatmyhen]

Hi Sue,
What are we looking for with the microscope? I thought trichomoniasis wasn't found in faeces at all (I'm checking, not contradicting): the vets always use swabs from inside the beak or tissue just under the site of the yellow material to look as under a microscope.
Also, what power microscope do you have & where are you learning about diagnosis? It could be so so useful for us to learn about that too!

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Have you eliminated Wet Pox?

 

[lookatmyhen]

Hi,

We took her to the vet to ask for denagard or oxi today (we were meant to go last week but the car broke down).

He said that they're both antibiotics and denagard in particular is powerful, but canker isn't treated with antibiotics so it wouldn't help if that's what she's got (antibiotics treat bacterial infections, canker is a protozoal parasite).

We've left with the plan to keep checking her beak each week to see if it changes as the lumps have started the same for quite a few weeks now.

 

[lookatmyhen]

Have you eliminated Wet Pox?

We're in England so Wet Pox seems unlikely as it's usually spread by mosquito as far as I can see - but no, we'd not considered it.
Looking online, I've seen far too many upsetting images while trying to find out if there' a link and - well, I have to say that I have found one image which looks too close for comfort, which is here on The Chicken Chick - those look like they're in the same place as on our hen.
She's had the two lumps now for a month and they've not changed since appearing, so I don't know if we should be worrying still or what.
I think I can't rule out wet pox without speaking to my vet now. Is there anything else we could look for? There's no smell, no other lumps / plaque forming, and she's as healthy and hungry as ever. She's just laid eggs 5 days in a row and is full of bounce - but I've lost too many close feathered friends so I'm terrified of ignoring warning signs.

 

[CCUK]

My hens had mycoplasma aswell. The denagard cleared them up. This may help. Wet pox has been found in the midlands recently.
http://www.chickenvet.co.uk/health-and-common-diseases/fowl-pox/index.aspx

 

[Sue Gremlin]

Hi Sue,
What are we looking for with the microscope? I thought trichomoniasis wasn't found in faeces at all (I'm checking, not contradicting): the vets always use swabs from inside the beak or tissue just under the site of the yellow material to look as under a microscope.
Also, what power microscope do you have & where are you learning about diagnosis? It could be so so useful for us to learn about that too!

It is found in the feces, but you won't see it on a regular smear. The organisms are very delicate and will fall apart quickly in any hyperosmotic solution. It is probably a better practice to swab but I was just screwing around and was lucky enough to have a chicken gift me with a slightly slimy poo in front of me.
I have a standard light microscope with 4, 10, 40 and 100x objectives. I am a grad student at Cornell.

 

[Sue Gremlin]

I posted this video in a different thread, but this was taken under oil at 100x of the fecal smear. The bright dots are T. gallinae, if you focus on a few individuals, you can see the undulating membrane, but you have to look for a while.