Ear mites? Vitamin deficiency? Dizzy/stumbling hen, abscess

[zinnia_flower]

Hello! We have a 5.5 year old Wyandotte hen who is presenting with some baffling symptoms. We are wondering if it is ear mites causing an ear infection?

Her name is Pale Rider, since her comb has always been on the pale pink side and more anemic-looking. Been this way since she was a chick, and she is bottom of the pecking order for our flock of 10 Wyandottes. We have 5 x 5 year old Wyandottes and 5 6-month old Wyandottes in a mixed flock. They free range in our backyard and have regular access to grit, oyster shell, layer feed, and receive fermented feed every morning. Another hen passed away two weeks ago - we think it was old age, she declined slowly over 6 months and passed peacefully. This hen was Pale Rider's 'bunkmate', poor thing.

Mites have not been a known issue in the past. This past week, Miss Pale Rider has suddenly been stumbling and showing signs of vertigo. She lists to one side (her left side) and is a little more 'talkative' (a sign of discomfort?). I've been getting her out of the coop in the mornings since going down the ramp often leads to her face-planting. She can take off in a straight direction to follow the other girls, but changing directions, going up/down, or trying to specifically peck at food makes her tend to lose balance, and she tries to catch herself with her wings. Her appetite has been slowing and she is drinking less water. Today, I brought her inside because she had fallen and wasn't able to get her legs back underneath her to get up. It was hard to tell if she was weak from eating less, or struggling with balance. Either way, it was rainy and cold all day, and being out there was not helping her improve, so I put her in a cat carrier here inside and wrapped some towels underneath her to prop her up comfortably by the window.

Additionally, she presented with an abscess-like bump under her right eye yesterday. Bump is squishy, like pus, and just under the size of a dime. We tried to gently lance with a sterilized needle and did not have success draining it. We may try again with a very small knife tomorrow. It's directly under her eye - not directly under her ear, but I wondered if the pus was related to an ear infection. We've coated it with bacitracin/triple antibiotic 3x daily. I don't have access to antibiotics - can't find anything for oral support that will get here quickly, so we've tried a little bit of oil of oregano (not essential oil) orally in our 'throw everything at the wall' attempt.

She does not shake her head or scratch her ears excessively, but she has scratched her head occasionally. She's taken some mealworms and scrambled egg today along with a few bites of mash, and is only taking liquids when we gently syringe some electrolyte water by/into her beak. 'Seeing' the food/water seems a little challenging - there's more hesitation to engage with it. (But, if I had a miserable earache, I would probably not want to move my face much either...)

We took a peek at her ear canals this evening - clear, if not a little swollen on the same side as the abscess, but definitely no obstructions or debris in the canal that we could see. Both have some mild crusty/debris material on the outside of the ear/on the ear lobe. Interestingly, we found two tiny brown mites on our hands after handling her this evening. Could these be ear mites, or are those invisible to our eyes? I dropped a couple of drops of peroxide in both ears as well as a couple of drops of vegetable oil, just in case. The right ear, same side as the abscess, has more white/powdery debris in the feathers obstructing her ear. This led me to suspect ear mites...

Could ear mites be causing the vertigo, stumbling, weakness, abscess? What are we missing? What else can we do to help this sweet older girl?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Do you have photos of her, the eye and ears?

If I suspected Mites were causing an issue with the swelling of the ears, I would treat with Ivermectin. Dosing is in this Post https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/mites-lice-now-hen-growling.1242981/page-2#post-19965544

If you are seeing pus under the eye, you may be able to press it out, hard to know without seeing. I may need to be lanced. Chicken pus is a semi-solid material and generally can't be drawn through a needle. https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/sinus-surgery-video.1081042/

Depending on the cause of the inflammation, swelling and pus, treating with an antibiotic may be helpful. You may want to try to order something and have it on the way in case you need it.

If there is infection in the ear, it could cause some loss of balance. There are numerous conditions that can affect balance, but it would be good to keep her eating/drinking and you can also give supportive care through vitamin therapy too. Give 400IU Vitamin E and 1/4tablet B-Complex daily.

 

[zinnia_flower]

Do you have photos of her, the eye and ears?

If I suspected Mites were causing an issue with the swelling of the ears, I would treat with Ivermectin. Dosing is in this Post https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/mites-lice-now-hen-growling.1242981/page-2#post-19965544

If you are seeing pus under the eye, you may be able to press it out, hard to know without seeing. I may need to be lanced. Chicken pus is a semi-solid material and generally can't be drawn through a needle. https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/sinus-surgery-video.1081042/

Depending on the cause of the inflammation, swelling and pus, treating with an antibiotic may be helpful. You may want to try to order something and have it on the way in case you need it.

If there is infection in the ear, it could cause some loss of balance. There are numerous conditions that can affect balance, but it would be good to keep her eating/drinking and you can also give supportive care through vitamin therapy too. Give 400IU Vitamin E and 1/4tablet B-Complex daily.

Thank you so much. I'll work on photos tomorrow AM.

Any preferred antibiotic varieties?

 

[zinnia_flower]

I have two pictures - one of each side of her face, and the abscess on the right side. Good news, abscess has not gotten worse.

This is fairly good color for her - she has never been a bright red comb girl, nor a very strong layer. Bringing her in where it’s warm has brightened her up, and she remains perky. The two black dots on the abscess are where we tried to lance with cauterized needle.

Bad news - we definitely have some kind of mite issue. Poor girl. I swapped out her potty pad this AM and suddenly realized my arms, hands, and the pad were COVERED with mites. The picture is not of dirt - it’s all creepy crawly mites.

They are SO active this morning, and I still can’t find any evidence on her or any other bird (ran outside and frantically starting checking everyone). Can’t identify any movement in the coop either. No debris by her vent or on her feather stems or anything out of the ordinary. SO strange, unless I’ve managed to miss other signs (which could’ve happened).

But - this very much makes me wonder if she is anemic/unwell due to the mites. We are going to go out to Tractor Supply and get some mite treatment, build up a fresh dust bath for everyone, do everything short of burning the coop down (ha), and possibly give her a Dawn dish soap bath today to get these monsters off her. I’ll definitely start on vitamins per @Wyorp Rock as well, and we’ll try for some nutrient dense food and maybe even chopped liver.

Still not sure about this abscess and where it came from - she is bottom of the pecking order and with the recent death of a flock mate, everyone has been a little more rough in the coop as some rearranging has been happening. Could have been a pecking injury that got infected, or she could have face planted and hurt herself during a fall… or it could still be a sinus/ear issue. Ideas for treatment?

(Off to shower and burn my clothes… eeeek)

 

[Debbie292d]

We are going to go out to Tractor Supply and get some mite treatment

Be sure to grab some Permetherin/garden powder too. If you're using Ivermectin on the chickens, then the Permetherin could be used in the coop, nest boxes, roosts, everywhere they go. That can be used on the chickens as well.

 

[zinnia_flower]

Be sure to grab some Permetherin/garden powder too. If you're using Ivermectin on the chickens, then the Permetherin could be used in the coop, nest boxes, roosts, everywhere they go. That can be used on the chickens as well.

Oh thank you so much - I’m trying to look up all my options now and you just saved me several Google steps. So, treat the birds with Ivermectin, treat coop with Permetherin?

Any egg withdrawals we need to be aware of? I only have one laying right now so it’s not the end of the world.

 

[Debbie292d]

Oh thank you so much - I’m trying to look up all my options now and you just saved me several Google steps. So, treat the birds with Ivermectin, treat coop with Permetherin?

Any egg withdrawals we need to be aware of? I only have one laying right now so it’s not the end of the world.

There is a "suggested" two-week egg withdrawal after treatment with Ivermectin. (Hubby ignores it and eats the eggs anyway and hasn't died yet. ) We only use that for SLM (scaley leg mites) as that works better than Permethrin on those. If she doesn't have SLM, you could just use the Permethrin then.

Be sure to grab some Poultry Cell or other vitamins if you have none, as those mites plus the infection are dragging her down.

 

[zinnia_flower]

There is a "suggested" two-week egg withdrawal after treatment with Ivermectin. (Hubby ignores it and eats the eggs anyway and hasn't died yet. ) We only use that for SLM (scaley leg mites) as that works better than Permethrin on those. If she doesn't have SLM, you could just use the Permethrin then.

Be sure to grab some Poultry Cell or other vitamins if you have none, as those mites plus the infection are dragging her down.

Will do! Thank you so much. This is our first round of mite treatments after five years of having the ladies around so we are learning quickly!

I’m giving her dropper fulls of electrolyte water now

 

[zinnia_flower]

Sweet thing is now trying to preen after a Dawn dish soap bath and a spray down of pyremethrin. The bath let me better inspect her vent - found a raised bump the size of the quarter that has some scabbed-headed-mildly-necrotic tissue about an inch below her vent. Looks like it could’ve been a spot where mites were biting, as well as where some poop may have “sat” against her backside at some point recently. I’ve sprayed it with Veterciyn and swabbed with antibiotic gel. It’s surprisingly not red - just more crusty and off color.

There was a build up of mite crust/skin at the base of her tail feathers, so cleaned that off and focused heavily on spraying pyremethrin there as well. She’s taking dropperfulls of the poultry cell easily and seemed quite happy in the warm bath, actually. She’s standing and trying to preen and paying attention to sounds in the house, so she’s definitely still perky and fighting. Just need to see how her swelling spots respond with antibiotics and if we can start building up her energy and eating again.

I’m never looking at poppy seeds the same again.

 

[zinnia_flower]

Update and question - do we lance the abscess on her face? No real change, though this morning there was a little bit of crusty stuff on it like it had oozed a tiny amount. I’ve been applying triple antibiotic to it 3x day to try to help from the outside as much as possible. There’s a small scab at the top of her scab today, I think this was from her scratching it. Wasn’t present yesterday.

Photo from today:

Photo from yesterday:

Abscess is fairly firm but palpable. The whole pocket seems very maneuverable away from her face, so my gut tells me it’s not a sinus cavity, etc that’s inflamed. There’s even a natural pocket/separation from the eye socket area. With her weakness and stumbling last week, I am suspecting an injury that got infected to complicate her poor system that was struggling under mites. So, do we lance and drain, or hope it recedes? I’m reluctant to stress her further, but she’s regained some good energy, and can probably handle a small surgery.

Overall, she’s brighter today and regaining her appetite - silly thing kept trying to climb on the edge of her box, so I got a flat plank for her to “roost” on and she’s sitting on that by the window. She even spotted a hawk outside and growled and fussed at it! On Friday, she couldn’t stand without being held up. Today (Tuesday), she is standing on her perch and napping/carefully preening (she can still get off balance and tumble over). I am so glad we got her cleaned and treated and started her on the poultry cell and electrolytes. I think the mites really knocked her back and caused some pretty wide system shock.

So next concerns - the abscess on her face, and I’m also treating a spot under her vent that appears to have also become infected/inflamed from poop buildup that was washed off this weekend. Surrounding skin is normal colored and I feel good that some daily Vetericyn and antibiotic gel will encourage healthy growth and recovery. She’s able to preen back there again and that will help.

Ideas on the face abscess?