Ear/Sinus Infection?

[jwcarlson]

I think she may have multiple problems that could be a result of Mareks disease.

I'm not disagreeing, but it feels like she falls outside of the Marek's norm doesn't she? She's 10 months old. And she's been sick for... a long time 8-10 weeks, maybe longer? I thought Marek's usually kills fairly quickly? Nothing else really showing symptoms except this one that seems fairly different. Maybe I'm just rationalizing. Anything is possible. Some hens in this flock will be 8 years old here in a few months. Editing to add that she does check a few boxes for symptoms, pale comb swollen face... but seems like that's discharge related.

Regarding necropsy if it gets to that point. I think I probably will send her to the Iowa State University lab. It's not too far away, but three hours each way is a bit much. There's a county extension just a handful of miles away, so I'm sure they can walk me through it.

For now, I'm still letting her do her thing... it is not particularly difficult to care for her, especially now that she's used to me handling her daily. She's got a buddy in there with her (I can quarantine a chicken, but don't really have a good way of independently qt'ing two). I'll be moving them into a caged run and out of the dog crate tomorrow. Give them a little more space... see what happens.

I genuinely appreciate all of the ideas on this thread. I'll stay the course for now and update if anything meaningful unfolds.

 

[jwcarlson]

The second sick chicken seems like she's going to be just fine. A few more days of monistat and she'll probably just rejoin the flock. She laid an egg yesterday and her crop feels what I consider normal now. Nice and full/firm at bed time instead of a water balloon.

The original sick chicken has been getting monistat as well and since then it seems like her ears are making less mess and she's making less discharge. Additionally, she's much more spirited when I'm trying to handle her. She was pecking at me today. That said, I was prodding her tonight to see what the issue was near where her crop sits. It's discharge from her sleeping with her head under her wing. I had not thought to look under her wings until tonight... holy cow there's so much very gross build up under her wings and it is or was dripping down to her breast, which is where all the scaly stuff was coming from. But the unders of her wings are bad. I tried to clean up the loose stuff as best I could, but she wasn't very happy and I didn't want to tear anything apart.

Feel like I'm going to have to rig up a soak for her, though I don't think there's any shot of getting everything cleaned off of her. It seems like the buildup caused her feathers to die? Some of them basically just fall off. If I'm able to get everything softened up maybe the bad ones will kind of fall off and some of it will clean up.

 

[Eggcessive]

Her illness is really beyond my expertise. I hope that you can help her, but if you ever lose her, I would try to have your state vet do a necropsy and some testing on her. There was another thread today (see below) about a chicken with skin lesions. I would wonder about any skin irritants, and try to help her dust bathe which can help the skin stay in good condition.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/skin-condition-home-remedies-needed.1682590/

 

[Ponypoor]

The second sick chicken seems like she's going to be just fine. A few more days of monistat and she'll probably just rejoin the flock. She laid an egg yesterday and her crop feels what I consider normal now. Nice and full/firm at bed time instead of a water balloon.

The original sick chicken has been getting monistat as well and since then it seems like her ears are making less mess and she's making less discharge. Additionally, she's much more spirited when I'm trying to handle her. She was pecking at me today. That said, I was prodding her tonight to see what the issue was near where her crop sits. It's discharge from her sleeping with her head under her wing. I had not thought to look under her wings until tonight... holy cow there's so much very gross build up under her wings and it is or was dripping down to her breast, which is where all the scaly stuff was coming from. But the unders of her wings are bad. I tried to clean up the loose stuff as best I could, but she wasn't very happy and I didn't want to tear anything apart.

Feel like I'm going to have to rig up a soak for her, though I don't think there's any shot of getting everything cleaned off of her. It seems like the buildup caused her feathers to die? Some of them basically just fall off. If I'm able to get everything softened up maybe the bad ones will kind of fall off and some of it will clean up.

Hmmm well now, that’s interesting. I have had crop issues this past year, I noted that with crop stasis, the overflow from the crop ran down everything when they put their head down and tried to eat/drink. Or just do ver flowed if pressure was put o the crop. Maybe if she is sleeping with her head under her wing, the overflow from the crop is causing all her issues. It’s a thought.

You likely will need to ensure no crop issues and treat that first - the monistate should help. If this is indeed the issue (and she has been leaking fluids under her wings) then she would need to be brought inside soaked - any old necrotic feathers tissue will slough off. But she would need to stay inside unless you live in a warm climate.

Still rooting for her!

 

[jwcarlson]

It's certainly not warm. My wife would not be happy about having the chicken in the house, but it wouldn't be the end of the world. She would get over it. We could leave her in the bathroom when she's soaking and would towel and blow dry her when she's done because that obviously will need to be done before she goes back outside. Our oldest is actually excited that the chicken might be in the house for a bit. She said she wanted her to sleep in her room... lol

I have never had to soak a chicken for anything. How long should I plan on her needing to soak? Ten minutes? An hour? I didn't take any pictures, but there's a lot of gross under her wings. A lot. The reason I ask is wonder if this is something I could do afterwork or if it's better left until I can dedicate more time to it. If she might need to soak for an hour or more it would be tough to do it after work and still get her dried off and ready to go back outside.

After looking yesterday, I've been thinking of another way of cleaning things up without soaking and I just don't see another option that wouldn't be a lot more stressful for her.

I'm really just posting updates here for two reasons... one, I can go back and see how long it's been since certain things happened. And two, maybe it helps someone else in the future. I don't expect anyone to have a magic bullet, but do appreciate the ideas. Marek's for example. I didn't know there was a cutaneous version. It doesn't look anything like what my chicken has going on, I don't think, but any bit of knowledge is good.

I appreciate people rooting for her, she's been quite the fighter. Like I said above, she's been MUCH more fiesty when I'm doing her "spa treatments" and I guess I take that as a good sign. Like maybe she's feeling better. She's certainly lost weight and will have a lot of recovery ahead of her even if she pulls through.

 

[jwcarlson]

Picture didn't turn out great. Here's under her wing. The pink area was a sheet that was loose and peeled off a couple days ago. There's plenty on the underside of the wing side you can't see.

 

[Eggcessive]

Most soaking in warm water is for around 15 minutes, depending on how they well tolerate it. Hopefully, that area under her wing will begin to heal.