HELP!! Runner with Face injury or infection...? Graphic Pics inside!

[cocosandy]

My beautiful runner hen had what seemed to be a peck above her eye. A few days ago it looked like her eyes were running because of this little scab over her right eye. The stuff that ran down her face had hardened and so I tooke her in and I put warm compresses on them and got off what I could. It left some baldish spots even tho the stuff was gooey by the time I peeled it back. I put terramycin on the eye peck and I rubbed bluecote or that violet stuff over the skin where the goo had been hardened.

so today I noticed that it seemed to have that stuff worse and possibly it had been pecked again....but now that Ive had a good close look at it, Im worried that it wasnt a peck at all; maybe its something else. Im going to post pics here.
What I did was to put neosporin ointment on the lower hardened goo, and I put terramycin all over both eyes. You'll see that the left eye is just bare from where the goop came off, but there is goop hardened on her face again.
If you look at the pic where Im pushing the eye a bit with my thumb, I put a circle around this area where the top of the cut lifts to expose a hole that goes into her head under her skin.

She has been laying and is acting fine...but Im worried because this thing seems to be getting worse. I hate to bring her inside because she and her sister are very close, and they are terribly messy....
I dont know alot about ducks so I wanted to hesitate before I did anything further and ask the experts about what antibiotic one might use for this. I believe that I have some tylan in the fridge, and I have the water type of antibiotics. I have some silver cream and granulex, and a bunch of stuff for bumblefoot in chickens...but since Im not that familiar with ducks I thought I would run this past you and see what you think.
I hope someone here can help...
I kept thinking that this was some sort of flesh eating bacteria because of how bad she looks so quickly...it seems like its just been a couple of days, and I treated as soon as I saw it. They arent swimming now (I put a heater in their pool and they rejected it even tho it was an ok cool temp)
They drink alot and I always give them dishes of water...they are into everything and are free ranging with a couple of heritage turkeys and my flock of chickens. The only big thing has been that we are having a mite problem that I have been treating...and its pretty icky.
I dont see any mites on the ducks and they had some pour on eprinex with the flock a few weeks ago (which is why I am surprised to see that they have decided to set up little kingdons beneath the vents of all my chickens) I dusted tyhe entire flock and I have put the chemical dust and DE around....thats about all of the info I have. This duck will be a year old in spring and has been very happy and interactive. I keep their area very clean and clean it every day.
I hope she makes it because I really, really love her, as does her sister.

Note that the black areas are very hard goo that I have covered with ointment to try to soften them overnight. In one pic you can see the discharge coming from the eye. It looks a little bubbly but for the most part, what is coming out is clear.
left side:

right side"

 

[DuckLady]

I would flush that out good with warm saline.

Keep the duck inside. I am going to see if a friend can look at your post.

 

[AHappychick]

oh wow it almost reminds me of a staph infection. I would do what terrielacy said and flush it really well then I would pack it with neosporin and see if that changes things or if it starts to heal. first clean it really good and flush it really good. i dont know anything about antibiotics so I would research that one.

good luck!

 

[AHappychick]

bumping this for you hoping someone else will recognize it.

 

[jmc]

oh boy, wish i could help, but def. follow terrie's advice.

that looks really awful, really awful.

i hope you get some good help, without emptying your wallet...........

i will be checking back on this thread to be sure.

best to your baby; and you keep cool, too

 

[waterfowlrescue]

I am just guessing from what i see here and without seeing the duck it hard to say for sure. Anyway I am assuming your photos are taken at different times and are in chronological order? If so the first photo you can see that necrosis looks like its started but its over the sinus cavity. When you peeled what you called "goo" or scab it opened the sinus cavity up you can see the sinus discharge in the photo. The discharge has been coming up onto the feathers and getting hard and she isn't keeping it as clean. Don't peel away and hard crusty stuff because you can take off feathers with it and further injure the skin. In the last picture the birds entire sinus cavity is opened and this is really painful as well. Birds are really good at hiding pain and illness so I wouldn't necessarily judge demeanor when accessing the seriousness of the situation.

I cant recommend strongly enough this bird get to a vet if you want her to live. This is ideal because there are a couple of different things that can cause this. There are things like mycoplasma galliseptum that I have seen in poultry that's festers as a sinusitis and can start breaking down cartilage, like in the bill or trachea. This needs a specialized antibiotic and its highly contagious to your other birds. You could have gotten some kind of debris in her sinus that became infected or started as a cold or respiratory problem. Now the infection (whatever type) has broken down the skin and surrounding tissues. If its debris you may need it removed.

So saying all that I realize that people cant or wont utilize a vet, don't have access to one that treats ducks etc etc. So in the case that this applies to you she needs to be on a strong antibiotic, like yesterday. So get your hands on some cipro, baytril or something like that. You can weigh your duck and email me and i will give you the dosages and guide you through administering them. I wont leave this type of information on the internet where some people use it to do more harm that good. Bayrtil can be bought over the counter from some feed stores and or pigeon supply places. Go to the drug store and look for neosporin eye ointment and use that, make sure its the ophthalmic kind. I woudl also try and get some meloxicam for pain and swelling. youll have to ask your vet to give you a perscription for this.

I would flush the area with warm saline and try to get her to bathe as much as possible. Don't ever put anything other than saline into this wound because your putting it right into her sinus cavity and that will run right into her mouth and throat. Be careful to tilt her head down when flushing so you dont accidently put the fluids in her glottis.

So do your best to keep it clean and flushed. If you have hard stuff just use the ointment on it and allow it to soften, then comb it off breaking the pieces up, not peeling them. You can get a sheet of tegaderm, or i think they may call it transparent dressing, over the counter on the open sinus cavity to keep it from getting more debris inside. It will also help with some gentle debridement when you change it daily.

Keep her isolated from your other birds. I would try that for a few days and see how it goes, of she doesn't show improvement in 3-5 days then I would switch over to the terramycin ointment and use tylan as the antibiotic. The tylan comes in a powder that can be put in the water, and you should be able to get that from the feed store as well. That would cover some but not all of your bases.

Check back in and let me know how its going or feel free to just email me directly if you want. I don't have time to read forums for the most part. I am only 300 emails behind but I try my best to get to the ones that need it right away

Jennifer Gordon, Director
Carolina Waterfowl Rescue
P.O. Box 1484
Indian Trail, NC 28079
http://www.cwrescue.org
email [email protected]
Phone: 704-668-9486

"Maybe if more people had a duck in their lives, we all wouldn't be so mad at each other" - Joe Mansheim

 

[DuckLady]

Oh THANK you for responding, Jennifer!

 

[cocosandy]

Jennifer-Thanks so much!! Im going to email you privately, but I wanted to say here, in case anyone else has input, and I welcome it!, that these are not chronological...they are all from last night. Literally 3 days ago she had a tiny scab over her eye and I noticed that she had this black gunky stuff down her face. Its like discharge and its hard. Her eyes were running but it was clear stuff. I took her in and put terramycin on the eye scab and I soaked the gunk on her face until it was soft and gooey and I wiped it off. The little feather came away with it. I didnt peel the hard stuff at all. I then carefully put some bluecote down her face below wher eit might get into her eyes. It seemed like maybe she got pecked. She has been laying down for the turkey becayse she seems to think hes a drake...he tries to step on her and cant...I stop them but...anyway, I figured that maybe someone pecked her because she seems to think that the boys here are ducks (I dont know if they need a drake to be happy...I have 2 hens)
then yesterday AM when I went out it looked like this and I thought that maybe she had been pecked or attacked...she only stays with her sister at night and a few hens who perch above so I can only think that maybe it got injured further but also it was festering.
I took her and put terramycin all over it and took these pics. I also put neosporin ointment down her nose on the hard stuff.
The only hole in her is when you push her eye to the side to see the scab where it started. the skin lifts and there is that little place where you can see in above her eyeball...
I was horrified, and thats why I circled it to make sure you all could see the hole.

so that brings us to today. I will email you for advice privately, but I do have baytril and I think I have some tylan 50 . I also have a vet here who will perscribe for my birds but he is not an avain vet and if its something complicated he refers to the two avian vets who are further away.
If she needs a vet Ill take her.
If it looks like her face is necrotic to you maybe I should put her down. I adore her and this came up so fast.
Ill put her in the bathtub and let her wash and see what happens.
and Ill get some baytril onboard right away regardless of taking her to the vet.

This is my first experience with ducks and its been a great experience so far; they are happy and interactive...I even bought them a huge pool and I got a farm defroster for when it froze...but they dont want to swim now; I think its too cold when they get out..?....they do drink alot and I give them a basin of water which they make a mess with.

Ive had a bad chicken year and Im just recovering from some predator stuff etc...so Id hate to lose her.

Ill email you, and any other duck people please comment because Im just learning about them and all information is appreciated.

by the way, they free range so she could have gotten into anything.

Thanks

 

[WriterofWords]

I'm hoping and praying she recovers! I love my Runners, all my quackers and I know it's so hard when you have one hurt like that.

 

[Chantay]

I hope your duck gets well soon! I had one of my ducks living in the bath tub for over a month. He had been attacked by a weasel, recoverd, and then my rooster tried to peck his eye out. Anyway, everyday I would clean out the bath tub and then fill it with warm water and let him swim for a while which kept him clean also.