Chickens tongue keeps almost going down her throat

[OwO]

It's hard to explain, it's not her throat but like under her beak? She is quite old and it happened the first time about a week ago, now it's happened about 5 times in the last hour.

It is getting caught under the inside of her beak and she cant get it out unless I open her mouth really wide and push the bottom of her mouth. When I first open her beak you can't see her tongue at all, as if it's missing

I found these threads from a while ago and I think this explains what happened in those threads. I can literally see the tongue poking her skin so I am worried that it will eventually push through

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/help-my-hens-tongue-is-hanging-out-under-her-beak.1037420/
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...g-something-sticking-out-from-throat.1198930/

 

[azygous]

Looks like thrush, a yeast infection of the mouth. Look over this article and see if her symptoms fit. The treatment is nystatin. A vet should be able to help you get it. https://www.dineachook.com.au/blog/chicken-thrush-candidiasis-treatment-and-prevention/

 

[OwO]

Yeah her breath doesn't smell great, she also has favus which I've been unsuccessfully trying to treat for the past month. Will call the vet tomorrow as soon as they open and hopefully get her seen later this week. Hoping she will make it to then as she has gone downhill the last couple of days. Thanks everyone.

 

[Eggcessive]

That is a lot of amoxicillin. How much does she weigh? Most people give 125-250 mg twice a day orally. Some vets use 57mg per pound of weight twice daily. You can split the tablet into 2 or 4 pieces. They can swallow a piece whole. Or you can crush it and hide it in just a bit of food. I use scramble egg, but cream cheese, peanut butter, or cat food pate work well. The miconazole may help if the skin problem is fungal or favus. Some also use coconut oil for dry or scaly skin.

 

[azygous]

Seriously, crushing pills is wasted effort. Chickens can swallow things we would choke on. Put the pill well back on her tongue, close her beak, and the pill magically disappears. Ever wonder why chickens don't have teeth? They don't need to chew like we do in order to swallow stuff.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I too wonder if she has canker or thrush.
Is there a bad odor?

 

[OwO]

Really smelly poop can indicate bacterial infection. The antibiotic should take care if it.

If you take a sample of her poop to the vet, they can test it (fecal float) to see if it has worms eggs in it, also coccidia. It would be good to rule both of those out. If she's positive, then you'll know which to treat for.

Gave her the other part of the tablet a few hours ago into her beak and she swallowed it, was a lot easier than I thought Also she started doing normal poo now which is good, so hopefully she's on the road to recovery, I will still worm her and carry on with the medicine to be sure and give a sample if it goes badly again

 

[azygous]

Worming can sometimes make a chicken with a heavy worm load suffer some shock from it. The symptoms manifest as weakness and imbalance. If the worm load is especially heavy. All the worms dying inside her can overwhelm her system if absorption of the dead worms is too slow. This can be countered in two ways.

One is to treat for shock. One cup of water with one teaspoon of sugar and a pinch of salt stirred in. The second is a molasses flush if it's suspected the worms are forming a clog in the intestines or gizzard. But this is not indicated as her crop has reverted to functioning normally. If it were still full in the morning, then that would indicate she has a blockage, which is not uncommon following worming.

So, I suggest the shock treatment for the next 24 hours. It's simple and easy, and can work miracles, helping to return her to normal.

The ear swelling could be from fungus, but it more likely is bacterial. An antibiotic such as Tylosin is the best one for this purpose if you can find it there in UK. Or, you can go the cheap, easy route and stuff the affected ear with an all purpose antibacterial ointment such as Neosporin twice a day until it clears up.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Did the vet run a culture to see what the infection was from - was it bacterial or protozoal?
Ear canker comes to mind for the ear, but hard to know.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

No, I did ask them about that but they said it would take a few weeks for fungus. I got the impression they didn't think she would survive long enough to get the results. Kinda wish I persisted and asked them to go ahead with it anyway :/

Also there is nothing visible in either ear, so I'm thinking it's something to do with her inner ear. Just read online that it's usually from a viral issue and generally gets better on its own within a few weeks... so maybe the eardrops aren't actually helping at all and I should just focus on pain relief? Not sure

Can you get some updated photos of what her face and ears look like now?

If she's really itchy, then I'd continue with which ever ointment seems to give her the best relief, whether it's something like vaseline, anti-inflammatory, anti-fungal, etc.

I too would get her on vitamin E and see if that helps with her balance. Won't hurt anything.