Chicken has gunk in mouth and can't close it

[artsygirl]

My girl who is a Easter egger was holding her mouth open and has what almost looks like gunk in her mouth. She looked fine before but I saw this this morning. I want to know how I might treat her and try to fix her issue. Milicent is about 5 years old and is a smaller chicken, one of my smallest. She can still breath and make noise.

 

[AidKD]

Have you tried pulling it out?

 

[artsygirl]

It's really hard and dry and almost from under her tongue. She won't let me open her mouth for a picture.

 

[Penpal]

Use a dropper and drop salt water into her mouth. If it gets softer use a toothpick and tweezers to pull it out.

One of my chickens ate a slug and had mucus in her mouth. I moved quickly to get it out, but I think she would have ended up like your chicken.

 

[nuthatched]

It could be canker.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/canker-in-chickens.78133/

 

[Eggcessive]

How long since you last saw her before discovering this? She could have canker, if you can see any yellowish material along with a stinky odor. I would try to remove some of it, and it may bleed. Have you had any cases of fowl pox? That is usually seen in summer and fall, and is a virus from mosquitoes. The wet form leaves similar yellow plaques inside the beak and throat. Canker can spread down into the crop, and may may breathing and eating difficult.