EMERGENCY.....Suspect Blackhead disease How do I treat? Can I treat?

[Chickie Momma]

My one yr old SLW suddenly has this dk purple blackish cyst like thing in front of her left ear. Very painful to her and getting worse. She is also limping now on day 3 of discovery. Losing feathers like crazy and this evening her color is getting very poorly pale. I am very worried about her. Until today her intake has been fair of water and food. I have increased vitamins with supplemental food. PLEASE HELP

 

[Eggcessive]

Sorry about your hen. Was she vaccinated for Mareks disease? Could you post a picture of her cyst in front of her ear? Does it feel firm, soft, smooth or irregular in shape? Where is her feather loss mostly? I would start her on vitamins with electrolytes in her water now. Blackhead disease is very rare in chickens. Have you wormed your chickens lately, or had them tested for worms? Is she eating and drinking okay?

 

[Chickie Momma]

Yes she was vaccinated. Let me get you a picture. The Cyst is filling more and invading her ear canal now. I see a red bump by her nasal opening on the side of the cyst.

 

[Chickie Momma]

I regularly worm my chickens. She is on electrolyte water already. Can I add Vitamins to the same water? I tube fed her this evening because her crop was totally empty and she isnt wanting to voluntarily eat or drink. I also gave 60 cc electrolyte water after pureed food. Her color got better after that but its still puny. The cyst: is pretty firm and very difficult to assess. Very painful. It was not into the ear canal yesterday. I am sure she has a fever because of the panting. The cyst is pretty firm it wasnt 2 days ago when I tried to lance it and failed. Her stools are on the loose side because of the puree supplement that I have been feeding her, nothing noteable.

Tena
worried mom

 

[enola]

What have you used to worm her?

 

[Eggcessive]

Most electrolytes for chickens contain vitamins. Here are some that are easy to find below. Her ear cyst may be a tumor, and those can be common in chickens. I would check inside her ear canal with a QTip to look for an infection in the ear. Hopefully the limp is an injury, but with her not wanting to eat, I would still wonder about Mareks. The vaccine sometimes fails, but it also can be missed in the hatchery. We can only trust that no one has made a mistake, and not given it.

 

[Chickie Momma]

I use Stringid Horse Paste for deworming

 

[Chickie Momma]

I already checked for an infection in the ear, its all good. I had a chicken that had chronic ear infections. But would a tumor grow daily? That is why I thought cyst. (I am a nurse)
I have Lodocaine but don't know if I can use in chickens.So I can excise this growth...

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

It looks like it could be dry fowl pox if there is more than one, otherwise I would think it was a bite of some sort, perhaps from a spider. Just some thoughts

 

[AuntieB]

Hi All,

I am new here, and also new to Chickens. i came across this post looking for help with one of my girls. We have something like this on one and have no clue what it is. From reading some of the above posts I realize i do not know nearly enough about my girls. (these were my nephews chickens, he was recently killed in a drivers ed accident, and I want to keep his chickens for him ;'( )

I realize now I have lots to learn!!!

Sorry it isn't the best pic


Thanks

Barb