Silkie hen with strange infection *Graphic pics*

[DownARiver12]

I’d like to preface this post with she has been to a vet and is on heavy antibiotics and *seems* to be improving in the last two days.

I wanted to post this because I have scoured this site and can’t find much information on what this could be so I’d love opinions.

Also, I actually took her to the vet initially to euthanize her and the vet asked me to not give up on her just yet so before people say put her down- I tried. Like I said, she is improving slightly and has been on Baytril and smz for two days now.
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1) What type of bird- ****Silkie , age- ****5 years+ and weight *****2 pounds (does the chicken seem or feel lighter or thinner than the others- ****yes.)

2) What is the behavior, exactly.- ****Hen has an infection (pus scabs on the under side of her belly and around one of her legs and several scabs on her back and under her wing. Several toes were also scabby and one toe looks to need to be amputated from infection that has ate away to the bone. She has a terrible smell that has improved since first discovered and she does not walk much. One leg is much worse than the other.

3) How long has the bird been exhibiting symptoms? ****It is possible that this has been going on for at least a month (possibly longer) before it was discovered.

4) Are other birds exhibiting the same symptoms?- ****No.

5) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma.- ****No

6) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation.- ****There was a skunk that got into the coop and killed a bunch of silkie chicks and ate all the eggs that the silkies were sitting on about a month and a half ago. Was thinking she could have been bitten and I never noticed due to her being so fluffy and she has always acted normal.

7) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all.- ****Eating and drinking normally

8) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc.- ****Normal

9) What has been the treatment you have administered so far?- *** She is receiving Baytril once a day (orally) and Smz (orally) twice a day. She is also soaked for 20ish minutes a day in a chlorohexidine bath and any loose scabs removed afterwards. I applied neosporin on the scabs today after the pictures were taken.

When this was first discovered, I had been out of town for 2 weeks and so I immediately sprayed her with bluekote because it stunk so bad and I didn’t have anything else topically. I also gave her penicillin (procaine) for 5 days straight and then decided it wasn’t improving so that is when we went to the vet.

10 ) What is your intent as far as treatment? For example, do you want to treat completely yourself, or do you need help in stabilizing the bird til you can get to a vet?- ***I’ve taken her to a vet

11) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help.

12) Describe the housing/bedding in use-****a mixture of pine shavings and Standlee compressed straw

I think this really first happened over a month ago (maybe even before the skunk incident) because I smelled something funky in my coop and never could figure out where it was coming from. We had rats that I eventually got rid of (poison) so I stripped the coop expecting to find a dead one, but never did. When the hens condition was discovered... I randomly put my hand under her belly to move her while walking into the coop and felt the scabs and freaked out. Thinking back, she never ever really left the coop much and the smell is now gone since she has been quarantined. I’ve checked all of my other birds and they all appear/seem fine. I do have roosters.

Thank you in advance for experiences, suggestions, etc. I’ve searched gangrenous dermatitis and no one else is affected and she’s still alive after at least a month or possibly more of this situation. She seems 100% normal except the horrendous stinky pussy scab and she has a bit of a funky smell. The smell has improved drastically after veterinarian treatment.

Sorry this is long

 

[DownARiver12]

Im having a hard time taking pictures of her because she doesn’t like to be flipped over onto her back and she has so many feathers but these are from when it initially was discovered a little over a week ago...

this was after an initial chlorohexidine soak and prior to me spraying her with blue kote.

 

[DownARiver12]

Today’s graphic pictures.

She pulled a rather large scab off and it has a lot of yellow cheese underneath it and it smells a bit stronger today. She still seems relatively normal for her. Eating, drinking, pooping.

Uggh does anyone have suggestions on the cheesy scabs or the removal? The vet said they’d just fall off on their own but I’m not convinced.

 

[Eggcessive]

I think that I would continue to soak her daily as you are doing. Epsom salts is very good or continue the chlorhexidene. After 30 minutes in the warm water, I would use a clean wash cloth to rub a little at the crusty scabs. Then apply plain Neosporin or Triple Antibiotic Ointment twice a day.

Since she has been on many antibiotics, her intestinal bacteria flora is really destroyed. To help get it back to normal, use a probiotic, or a good plain yogurt such as Fage or Chobani, and give a tsp of that daily mixed into her food. Chicken vitamins and a balanced chick feed with some cooked egg or tuna would be helpful.

Did she ever have any maggot larvae (flystrike) on the big wound under her vent? That is a popular place for flies to lay eggs during hot weather. Hopefully, you can get her back to good health soon. Does she seem to be suffering? Or is she befinning to act normal again?

 

[DownARiver12]

Ok, thank you so much for responding!

Would activia yogurt be ok? I live far from a grocery store but they had that at the dollar store, which are everywhere.

I am also giving her probiotic sav-a-chick and nutridrench in her water too. She has a mix of medicated chick feed and laying pellets with a treat mixture and some meal worms/soldier worms to keep her interested in eating.

Should I try and scrape the white cheese material out? Also can I mix Epsom salts with the chlorohexidine? I don’t want to make it worse.

Surprisingly no fly strike. The vet was surprised and so was I about that especially with the way she smelled.

She does not seem to be suffering. Her respiration is normal appearing and when I put her in the bath she starts preening.

 

[Eggcessive]

The probiotic in the water is enough. If the cheesy material is pus or infection, then yes I would try to wash it off. What did the vet say about that? The scabby material needs to be removed so that the healthy tissue underneath can be exposed.

 

[DownARiver12]

Warning pictures below are kinda gross.

Ok, thank you. I did a lot of work on her last night removing loose scabs after her soak. It does smell better today, but man, it’s a little alarming to see it without the scab on it this morning. She was preening away this morning while I took pictures and reapplied the neosporin. We are camping so I have her with me, which my husband wasn’t too crazy about, but he is so supportive of my crazy chicken lady status.

I’m going to post update pictures to see if y’all think it is actually healing.

Eating, drinking and acting normal still. She is moving a little more today too. She wasn’t able to stand properly without flopping over three days ago. She now is stable upright but still isn’t laying down. I don’t blame her.

Warning- look away if you don’t like open sores!!

 

[DownARiver12]

What do y’all think about this being a brown recluse spider bite? She has two sores on her back (pictures above) and a tiny little circle hole under her right wing. Just trying to figure out what caused this.

 

[DownARiver12]

I’m gonna keep documenting this because this has to be the worst skin infection of a chicken on the internet right now.

I texted a few pictures to my vet to get his thoughts on the progress and he told me to try and debride the wound twice a day. I went by and picked up Silvaklenz spray from the vet to spray on the wound twice a day. Not sure which antibiotic was mixed in with it.

These pictures are after last nights soak and me trying to remove the larger cheesey scab chunks that were under her belly. It started bleeding so I resoaked her in the chlorohexidine bath and sprayed her with the silvaklenz and then applied neosporin.

I used the blow dryer to dry her and put her back in her triage cage with a friend next to her. She started to preen and eat some food. Still pooping normal and acting normal. This bird is amazing. If she survives this, I’m building her own coop to live in.

Still can’t figure out what could’ve caused this. Sorry the pictures seem to look worse with every post. Smell has subdued significantly from yesterday. Still there though.

 

[Curnow]

I wouldn't give up on her either. One of my best/favorite little chickens, a Sultan rooster named Nester was attacked by a Great Horned Owl and stripped of ALL the skin off his neck. Not a patch...ALL the skin all the way around! He had several injuries. He was the only one to survive an attack from the Owl. That was a few years ago. His neck stays partially bald now and he has a foot that is somewhat deformed now too. I think because of solidified infection that was in it. But he is happy and loving life! He free ranges and does everything a little rooster should do!
We kept him with the flock and just kept packing on triple antibiotic ointment. It took time, but he healed.