Help! Skin falling off my chicken badly

[Heathbelle]

My poor leghorn just got over fowl pox & moulting & is eating/drinking but not laying when I found this under her wings. (The purple is Cetrigen spray) it just weeps, scabs & peels away & stinks!
Her skin elsewhere is so dry & flaky. I can’t find anything online. She’s on antibiotics from the vet who thinks maybe a virus?
Has anyone seen anything like this???! She’s in pain so may have to say goodbye if not better soon

 

[Wyorp Rock]

My poor leghorn just got over fowl pox & moulting & is eating/drinking but not laying when I found this under her wings. (The purple is Cetrigen spray) it just weeps, scabs & peels away & stinks!
Her skin elsewhere is so dry & flaky. I can’t find anything online. She’s on antibiotics from the vet who thinks maybe a virus?
Has anyone seen anything like this???! She’s in pain so may have to say goodbye if not better soon

The white flaky skin on the comb looks like it may be Favus. Can your vet do some testing or skin scrapings?


For the skin under the wing, looks like it needs to be debrided, the allowed to somewhat dry out.
Do you have access to Chlorhexidine or Povidone Iodine? I'd try cleaning the skin, removing some of the scabs carefully. I like Chlorhexidine best. Swab the area with your antiseptic and allow it to dry. Being under a wing, it's a warm covered moist type of environment, so I've found that any wounds under wings, if allowed to dry out, they seem to heal better.

Now, your vet mentioned, a virus - very possible. Did they say which one? Avian Lymphoid Leucosis comes to mind. Possibly Marek's, there's a form that does affect the skin.
An antibiotic won't help with either of these viruses, but may help with secondary bacterial infections.

I'm going to tag in @azygous to see if she recognizes this or is she has better thoughts/suggestions than I do.

 

[Heathbelle]

Thanks so much for your reply and forwarding on. I'm very keen to know about this.
I do have chlorhexidine and iodine and have been removing some scabs so I will do that again. Being a leghorn tho, she's flighty and does NOT like it eek..

 

[azygous]

I would be inclined to cut short her suffering with humane euthanasia. For one, the treatment of the wounds would be very painful for her to endure, and the wounds have no chance of getting better without daily cleansing and debriding (removal of dead tissue to control bacteria). Bacteria and dying tissue are the likely sources of the bad odor.

Second, it appears she may have an underlying disorder that may be driving her system off balance as indicated by the possible yeast infection on her comb. She could have an avian virus or she might have cancer tumors beginning to cause organ failure, the skin being one of the major organs.

 

[Heathbelle]

oh wow poor chook. I've done some more research online and she could even have necrotic dermatitis? which can be treated with antibiotics which she's on atm. i'll try one more time to heal her otherwise, its off to chicken heaven...