Bulge under hens beak.......any thoughts on how to proceed

[Wyorp Rock]

I have some good news but still very too soon to tell. I reached my breaking point and considered cutting open her throat area to see if I could squeeze something out but I also noticed I didn't see her tongue when I pried open her beak to place the eyedropper. I decided to swab the throat again then I started digging in her bottom beak area and I noticed it started to loosen up. I ended up pulling out a chunk of something but more important she stopped gapping for air.

This hen has not slept in 3 1/2 days solid. I didn't think that was even possible but she needed to stay up as she was gapping every 5-10 seconds. Right now she is exhausted so I will let her rest and hope she survives. She can now at least close her eyes and rest. I am just as stressed having to watch all of this the last few days.

She actually started cleaning herself when I brought her inside. If she makes it, it will be amazing for sure.

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Wow! Nice job!
I hope that really helps. It's good that she is not gaping anymore. You may find that you need to dig more out tomorrow after she rests (and you too )

Thank you for the photos and update.

 

[chitownhens]

The only issue now is she is having trouble swallowing food and does not appear to have a tongue. The inside of her mouth is messed up not sure she can recover from this and the bulge is about the same size. Maybe its some kind of tumor just don't know. She was shaking her tail feather yesterday and cleaning herself. She just needs to be able to eat at this point.

The white stuff on the right side of the picture might simply be wet bread. I don't want to scrape it off as I did that earlier today and her mouth started bleeding. She has what appears to be a deep wound on her left side after I removed that large chunk yesterday and most of that came off from the right side of her mouth. She seems to have a bump on the right side with a the deep wound (darker color) on her left side.

She wants to eat it's just taking forever for small pieces to go down. She has access to watermelon, cantaloupe, and wet bread

 

[Eggcessive]

You may need to learn to tube feed her. That would be wuick and more simple. But if she has a cancerous tumor, then it might be better to put her down. Many times these types of infections inside the beak, which look like canker, may turn out to be cancer. The infection and pus do confuse things a bit.

A 15 inch length of aquarium air tubing from Walmart fish and pet aisle will work temporarily as a feeding tube if connected to a 35 ml syringe that you can buy at most feed stores. Just melt one sharp end slightly so that it does not cut the inside of the throat. KayTee baby bird feed is good to use or finely ground chicken feed, baby food, etc. A proper feeding tube and catheter tip syringe can be found online or purchased from a vet. Here are some threads to read about tube feeding:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...res-under-construction.1064392/#post-17271576

https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...d-pics-for-visuals-very-detailed-post.805615/

 

[chitownhens]

A 15 inch length of aquarium air tubing from Walmart fish and pet aisle will work temporarily as a feeding tube if connected to a 35 ml syringe that you can buy at most feed stores. Just melt one sharp end slightly so that it does not cut the inside of the throat. KayTee baby bird feed is good to use or finely ground chicken feed, baby food, etc. A proper feeding tube and catheter tip syringe can be found online or purchased from a vet. Here are some threads to read about tube feeding:

Okay I might go that route to give her some time..........thank you

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I agree, try tube feeding to see if that helps/makes it easier for you to get most of her nutrition into her. Of course, I would still leave a little melon, food/water, etc. for her to pick at as she pleases.

I'm so sorry that you are dealing with this. You have done well in taking care of her. I wonder if her tongue is under all that swelling or if it's just gone. Poor girl she's hanging in there.

 

[chitownhens]

Picked up some 3/16" airline and a food syringe from bed, bath, & beyond which fits the tube perfectly. Measured from the crop to the end of the beak and marked it off with a piece of tape. Gave her a mixture of the listed baby bird food, egg yolk, coconut oil, watermelon juice and honey. See how it goes maybe she will make it only time will tell. She seems to be doing good outside of not having enough food/sleep.

The bottom picture is from yesterday after I removed that piece of growth or whatever it was and then she stopped gapping starting cleaning herself and as previously posted started shaking her tail feather quite a few times. She seemed very relieved will hope for the best.

No one here to help me at the moment so I wrapper her in a towel then wedged her into a foot bath with more towels around her out on the deck. She couldn't move but was comfortable. Will update as it goes thanks for the advice and help.

 

[chitownhens]

Quick update 2 feedings so far and she seems a bit more energized but it takes about 15 minutes after the feeding. It appears like whatever is in her mouth is starting to break away but too early to tell at the point. Maybe her tongue will eventually appear. Pulled these 2 pieces out this morning before feeding her so we will see.

 

[chitownhens]

The hen didn't make it. Guess it was expected & she is better off. She took a turn for the worse after I gave her the second feeding today. I had the medication mixed in and for some reason whenever I gave her the medicine she would start gapping violently shaking her head during the week and same today. This would have been the last day but judging by the inside of her mouth it looked like too much damage was done.

So the timeline was I knew something was wrong when I was able to pick her up because she was one of 2 hens that are not easily held. When I did her weight felt like it was half of what is should been really light. I observed her appetite it was huge. It's only when I picked her up a week or so later and starting seeing all the mites on my own arm that i realized she was infested. Each time I picked her up I needed to change clothes and shower. I sprayed her with Electro PSP checked her later in the day and they were still all over her. I use poultry dust on her towards the evening. The next day she had that huge lump under her beak.

I believe it was brought on my the poultry dust. I could be wrong and only guessing here. There was something I read about the mites weakening the system so maybe that is what made her susceptible to canker. Once again just guessing.

I treated the other hens with spray to be safe but none of them had mites on them. Same with the coop I treated it. These mites were very small kind of brown in color and I needed a magnifying glass to see them on my own arm.

Thanks everyone for the help.

 

[Eggcessive]

So sorry that you lost her. If you want to keep her body refrigerated overnite you can take or send it to your state vet for a necropsy. It would be good to know if it was canker, cancer or whatever, just in case it happens again. Here is a list of state vets:
https://www.metzerfarms.com/PoultryLabs.cfm

 

[Wyorp Rock]

The hen didn't make it. Guess it was expected & she is better off. She took a turn for the worse after I gave her the second feeding today. I had the medication mixed in and for some reason whenever I gave her the medicine she would start gapping violently shaking her head during the week and same today. This would have been the last day but judging by the inside of her mouth it looked like too much damage was done.

So the timeline was I knew something was wrong when I was able to pick her up because she was one of 2 hens that are not easily held. When I did her weight felt like it was half of what is should been really light. I observed her appetite it was huge. It's only when I picked her up a week or so later and starting seeing all the mites on my own arm that i realized she was infested. Each time I picked her up I needed to change clothes and shower. I sprayed her with Electro PSP checked her later in the day and they were still all over her. I use poultry dust on her towards the evening. The next day she had that huge lump under her beak.

I believe it was brought on my the poultry dust. I could be wrong and only guessing here. There was something I read about the mites weakening the system so maybe that is what made her susceptible to canker. Once again just guessing.

I treated the other hens with spray to be safe but none of them had mites on them. Same with the coop I treated it. These mites were very small kind of brown in color and I needed a magnifying glass to see them on my own arm.

Thanks everyone for the help.

I'm sorry that she didn't make it.
You did what you could for her.
I hope the rest of your flock continues to do well and you have no further problems.