Canker metronidazole/ronidazole?

[nestleaver1]

How much does your girl weigh?

She's a dainty Black Rock, only just over a kilo unlike her coop-mate Manson who is massive more like 2.5 kg. I got hold of her today to see if she has lost weight and she still feels normal weight. She's still energetic and stubborn - refused to go back into their run when I needed to go to work yesterday so she spent all day out in the garden having fun scratching and dust-bathing. She runs for food as fast as the others but is slower to eat. Always has a full crop at end of the day.

 

[nestleaver1]

One more question: I have had a good feel of her neck (was trying to get her beak open to (A) look down her throat and (B) attempt to put a tablet down her throat). I could feel a small lump at the top of her neck, directly behind wattles where I guess trachea would be heading away from back of throat. Should there be an anatomical lump there ( I can't find reference to anything at that point - syrinx way down in chest) OR could this be the physical obstruction I suspected?? If it could be a lodged seed, I will attempt to massage it free but really don't want to do that if it's a bit of my chicken!

Thanks again for being there and for such sensible help!

 

[casportpony]

What your probably feeling is the top of the trachea (glottis).

 

[nestleaver1]

Ooo, nice pic! I shall not massage it then. Thank you.

Pomegranate was a false dawn (predictably) and she is still gurgling/shaking yet seems so healthy. Laid a somewhat chalky, thin-shelled egg today. Is very fond of black sunflower seed as well as the pomegranate. Marilyn is my top chicken (with Manson as her enforcer) and very robustly resists being controlled in any way. I've tried to tell her I'm in charge but...

I realised after I posted that I could check one of the other chickens for anatomical structures. Edgy, my rescue brown hen is much more malleable and yes, seems to have a similar lump there.

 

[nestleaver1]

Hi all,

I wanted to update this thread in case people are searching for help. It's a good news story!

So Marilyn started to get worse and eventually she had not eaten for a couple of days. I had tried to give her the Metronidazole in food but it tastes so bad she would not eat it. I cut 250mg tablets into quarters, coated them in lard so she couldn't taste it and managed to force them into her beak. As soon as I let her go she would flick the medicine out again. I decided to get serious with her. I crushed the tablet and slurried it up with veg oil, then caught her and used a plastic pastette to squirt it into the right side of her throat. She did not like it but had no choice but to swallow it. I did the crazy pigeon thing (desperation...) and she was getting about 100mg each day. The vet had said to treat for 3 weeks: I managed 20 days during which she had a poor appetite as metronidazole apparently makes everything taste horrible. On the 10th day she went into moult and lost her tail/neck feathers so looked awful. She was still gurgling and shaking her head throughout so I really thought it was not working. But her appetite came back OK; I fed her alone so the others couldn't dominate and scoff it all.

It's now three weeks since I finished the treatment. I have not seen her shake her head for at least a week and her breathing is clear. She would appear to be better! The vet had said it takes a while to shift the plaques so I guess that was it. She's still getting her own special breakfast (sweet corn, pomegranate, BOSS, grain porridge and yoghurt), feathers have almost grown back in and looking lovely. I was worried the medication/lack of appetite might ruin her moult but looks fine. She's not laying but that's normal for this time of year. After almost a year of violent head shaking, the chicken is cured. And if it recurs, I have plenty more Flagyl and a delivery system!

Thank you everyone for your help/support; it's really so helpful that you are there.
Love from Marilyn too!

 

[Kiki]

Good news, congrats.

I forget, if you mentioned it before but do you not have a complete poultry feed available to purchase?

 

[nestleaver1]

Yes! They always have layers' pellets adlib but she was not eating them and I needed to keep her calories up somehow! She is back on the chicken feed now for the rest of the day and has a full crop at bedtime (4pm these days...) so def getting everything she needs.

 

[Kiki]

Yes! They always have layers' pellets adlib but she was not eating them and I needed to keep her calories up somehow! She is back on the chicken feed now for the rest of the day and has a full crop at bedtime (4pm these days...) so def getting everything she needs.

Oh ok great.

 

[HealingHens]

Is this canker? It’s been 3 days since I found her not normal and this yellow has grown. Do I scrape it? Is this the highly contagious stuff and I need to cull her? She’s not eating, laying, smells like death in her breath! I gave her 1cc of ls200 yesterday and put vetrx under wings . Tried cleaning nose. She’s not breathing well still this morning. I just don’t want her to suffer or if she’s a carrier I’m going to have to cull her just want to confirm what this is. Tia

 

[Eggcessive]

Canker is contagious to the other members of your flock. If you can seek vet care, they can confirm that it is canker, a protozoan disease. A necropsy by your state vet if you cull can confirm the disease. Other diseases can cause the yellow plaques inside the beak , and they include wet fowl pox, ILT, and some bacterial diseases. But the description of them having a bad odor and spreading or growing, sounds like canker, which I have never dealt with. It may have already exposed to other members of the flock, since it is spread by pigeons usually via water sources. I would scrub out and bleach your feeders and waterers.

Metronidazole (Fish Zole, Flagyl) and ronitazole are medicines to treat it. Fish Zole is available online, and the dosage is usually 259 mg daily for 5 days. Sources say that removing plaques can cause bleeding, so be cautious removing them. The plaques can grow so large in a short time to block the airway and make it hard to eat.

Acidified copper sulfate may be used 3 days a month to help control the spread of the disease. Dosage is 1/4 tsp per gallon of water.