Ear/Sinus Infection?

[jwcarlson]

I have a roughly 6 month old hen who has quite swollen ears with discharge. Crusty snot. Doesn't seem to have any long issues. Her eyes aren't particularly swollen, but with crust shut occasionally. This morning just lightly touching them and they popped open. She's eating, drinking, and pooping. Poop seems normal looking.

I completely forgot to take pictures this morning. But I have had her isolated from the flock since seeing the issue this weekend. Her ears absolutely are plugged with puss, which I know I need to remove. I don't think that will be terribly difficult to do. My question is what should I have on-hand to treat her ears after cleaning them out. Should I just flush with saline and call it good? Or should I use iodine or antibacterial ointment or anything?

I also plan to look in her mouth to see if there's anything that might be causing it from in her mouth.

I initially thought this could be coryza, but she doesn't seem to have much of an odor outside of some normal chicken smell. I feel bad for her, it has to be miserable to be so plugged up.

I'll get some pictures of her this afternoon when I get home from work.

Thanks!

 

[jwcarlson]

Her left ear didn't have much pus. It was basically just crusted up. The right ear had a huge mass of fairly hard pus. I got most of it out, but could didn't want to dig farther. I don't have the right tools. I flushed ears and eyes with plain saline. Right ear bled a little bit, but seemed incidental more than anything. This isn't everything I got out, she shook her head and flung some of it. I will have oxytetracycline for her water tomorrow.
I didn't see anything in her mouth, but was difficult wrangling everything. I might try looking in her mouth again tomorrow.

Should I push to get more pus out of that right ear or hope it works its way up?

 

[Eggcessive]

I would try to get all of the pus out tomorrow. You can apply a couple of drops of hydrogen peroxide into the ear canal. Then clean it out with QTips gently and apply some plain Neosporin triple antibiotic ointment daily.

 

[jwcarlson]

I forgot to check back on this. The brutal cold arrived (below zero and below freezing all day) and I don't want to fuss with her too much. It's going to warm up a bit tomorrow. I got oxy water mixed up for her starting this morning. I am still having to pop her eyes open, but they remain open all day and crust closed at night. She certainly seemed to feel better today. Ears absolutely have more stuff coming out of them, but looked at least a bit better.

I wish I had a better place for her where it was warmer so I'd feel more comfortable messing around with her. Meaning that she'd be more comfortable after since I can't imagine liquid in your ears feels good when it's a high of 12 degrees.

This may be a difficult question to answer, but how far down does the ear canal go? I guess I could try looking in a healthy chicken's ear to have some frame of reference.

I'll try peroxide and cotton swabs tomorrow. Thanks!

 

[Eggcessive]

You only would add a drop or two of the peroxide into the ear canal, and then clean it out. Then use some Neosporin ointment inside. The Neosporin can also be used into the eye twice a day to treat infection in the eyes. I would bring her inside once a day to treat, and then put her back out. Or bring her off the roost early am, treat and put her out with her flock.

 

[jwcarlson]

I'm worried it would be bad going from 10-15 degrees to 60-70 and then back the other way? Maybe that's not a real concern.

I currently have her isolated from the flock worried she could spread infection. Also, with the not being able to open her eyes in the morning, I'm not sure she'd do well in the winter hoop house. I don't necessarily want to medicate the whole flock with antibiotics in the water either.

 

[jwcarlson]

Tough to see maybe, but her skin is getting almost warty. I think some of these might flake off if I picked at them. Eyes still swollen, ears still crusted shut. What little improvement it looked like she was making early with antibiotics wasn't lasting. She still eats and drinks. I have to pop her eyes open every morning. But that's getting tougher and eyes are swollen to point she is looking down a tunnel basically.

I have looked at fowl pox and favus and neither look like what this hen has going on.

If she weren't eating and drinking I would just put her out of her misery.

 

[Eggcessive]

It is hard to know exactly what is wrong. Do you have any current pics of the eyes? Is there a vet who can see her?

 

[jwcarlson]

She's special enough to give a fighting chance, but not to spend hundreds on a vet. I don't know if there is even a vet that would see chickens here.

She seems like she might be turning a corner. I have been applying triple antibiotic inside her ears daily (filling them up). Left side seems clear. Right side the swelling has gone down some and I was able to get just short of a marble sized ball out of her ear yesterday. Her eyes are less swollen and I haven't had to open them for her for at least a few days. I have been using the triple antibiotic ointment around her eyes as well. And massaging it into the crusty stuff at the base of her feathers and the skin on her neck. Quite a few of the feathers have fallen out, but the crusty deposits are also flaking away. The skin looks fairly healthy, but I'm sure her neck is cold. I wonder if the crusty stuff was just discharge from her ears? There doesn't seem to be any new and it stopped at the base of her neck.
She remains very excited to eat and drink when I fill her dishes every morning.

 

[Eggcessive]

Has she been scratching her head and neck? Is she out with the others where they could be pecking her feathers? Check her skin all over for any lice or mites. Can you try to see a vet? She may need an antibiotic.