Chicken with a growth in his mouth

[Arralana]

I have a little bantam rooster that has sounds a bit gooey when he breathes and the other day we discovered a big lump in his mouth. The brown bit, I think, was where he tried to eat and scraped the lump. He's been on an antibiotic for a couple of days and that's not helping at all. Any suggestions? (that was the best picture I could manage because he was struggling a fair bit, poor guy)

 

[N Sully]

Poor guy, waiting to see what experts think it could be. Hope all goes well.

 

[Sue Gremlin]

Could it be a gapeworm?

 

[Arralana]

Could it be a gapeworm?

I honestly have no idea. I've never had to deal with anything like this before!

 

[Sue Gremlin]

It would not hurt to treat him with an anthelmintic to be sure. Albendazole (Valbazen) or Fenbendazole (Safegard or panacur) would do the trick. All are available at the feed store like Tractor Supply. I think of gapeworm because of his gasping and gurgling, and the fact that he is not improving on antibiotics.

 

[Eggcessive]

I can’t really see the lesion in the mouth in the picture. Gapeworm cannot be seen inside the throat, but only ehen the eairway (trachea) is dissected after death. They are Y-shaped red worms.
Canker is a protozoan infection inside the mouth, common in pigeon, that sometimes affects chickens. Other infections, such as respiratory diseases or wet fowl pox during warm weather, can also look similar. Those are usually yellow in color.
It might help to get s clearer picture with a flashlight into the beak while someone is holding him.
He does have some frostbite on his comb. Extreme cold weather can bring out symptoms of a dormant respiratory disease.

 

[Arralana]

I can’t really see the lesion in the mouth in the picture. Gapeworm cannot be seen inside the throat, but only ehen the eairway (trachea) is dissected after death. They are Y-shaped red worms.
Canker is a protozoan infection inside the mouth, common in pigeon, that sometimes affects chickens. Other infections, such as respiratory diseases or wet fowl pox during warm weather, can also look similar. Those are usually yellow in color.
It might help to get s clearer picture with a flashlight into the beak while someone is holding him.
He does have some frostbite on his comb. Extreme cold weather can bring out symptoms of a dormant respiratory disease.

I've been trying to get a better picture but he starts to have issues breathing when I hold his beak open, whether his head is tilted back or not, poor guy. It literally looks like a big blob of flesh hanging from the upper beak. I'm pretty sure it's at least partially obstructing the left nostril and it looks like food can't really get past it now. I'm sort of wondering if this is causing him to sound watery when he breathes simply because it's in the way of everything? It's my daughter's favourite chicken so I'd really like to try to save him

 

[mew317]

Poor thing! I ain’t a vet but stuff like that is just..... ew.