Hen has been having saliva and related issues for 2-3 months and condition is not improving, not eating, what can I do?

May 3, 2025
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My chicken (silver laced wyandotte hen, about 10 yrs old now) has been having saliva and other issues (unsure if all are related or not) for about 2-3 months now. We've put her under a variety of medicines but none seem to work or only have improved her condition only to get worse in a week. I was wondering if anyone here with more experience might know what she has and what we can do? I will try to keep it short but there's so much I could say so sorry in advance

Basically 2-3 months ago (early march or last days of February) we first noticed she had saliva coming from her beak, tested for sour crop but crop seemed to empty normally, left her like that as she had no other symptoms hoping it's only temporary but about 2-3 weeks later she stopped eating and we noticed her eye seemed a little swollen and that she was pulling her leg back. She would still eat from hand but sometimes the saliva would make it hard. We gave her apple Cider vinegar in her water fed from syringe as she would not drink it for like 5 days then doxycycline 20% powder in her water for 7-9 days Then did 3 days with vitamin water, after that she stopped eating and seemed weak so we took her to the vet (April 7) where they found something inside her beak/in throat (will link picture from that day) that they wanted to get tests on. Unfortunately the tests were too expensive and we were afraid to put her under anesthesia. They tube fed her and prescribed the following;

avian probiotic
Morning bird calcium/magnesium supplement
Meloxicam
Prozyme
Amoxicillin With Potassium
TMS

These plus tube feeding seemed to help and she started eating again, being more active. Went to different vet where we got gram stain ( April 15) tested positive for gram negative bacterial infection then another the next week where she improved slightly. The week after (April 30) went for another and didn't seem to be improving or getting worse. By this time she stopped eating feed only drinking water and chasing strings or cat food. Vet prescribed clavamox and fluconazole. Stopped the other medications.

Currently she's not eating her feed though still finds interest in dirt and rocks and is very interested in worm like things (chases them around the house) and walks a lot she has saliva still but it doesn't drip all the time sometimes it gathers up in her beak. Her beak has become slightly crossed. She doesn't talk much except faintly and recently has started sneezing occasionally. Additionally I'm not sure if her somewhat swollen eye and habit of pulling her leg back and slightly wonkier balance are related Symptoms or not. And she's more docile as she was always slightly aggressive. Her poop is also watery and (?) Less frequent.

If it helps, she doesn't go outside, (hasn't since last year) and has always been picky light eater.

Does anyone know what could be wrong with her and if there's anything we could do? Feeling lost with all the possibilities, don't want to waste time.

1000007679.jpg

This is a zoomed in close up of the right side of her mouth inside this was taken early April.

Thank you!
 
With all of the antibiotics (doxycycline, trimeth sulfa, clavamox,) those should have treated MG or coryza. The swollen eye and mucus in the beak are signs. Does the patch in her beak look yellow or smell bad? That could be canker, a contagious protozoan organism carried by pigeons and wild birds. A yeast infection may cause white patches in the beak. The fluconazole can treat that. Are you using any probiotics or plain yogurt with live cultures? That may be needed after the antibiotics. If she has canker, metronidazole or ronidazole are some drugs that treat it. Acidified copper sulfate 1/4 tsp per gallon of water for 5 days is another canker treatment. If using that, do not use a metal waterer.
 

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