hen with growth on beak

[slysimpson]

Hello there! I have an almost 6 year old jubilee orpington, I noticed this growth on her beak a week or so ago. It has probably been there for awhile, but I didn't notice over the winter. It seems to be soft tissue, but feels firm, no drainage. (it has a little crusted feed on it in the photo). She is eating and drinking normally as far as I can tell. Any thoughts? The inside of her mouth seems to be fine. Thanks in advance

 

[azygous]

Could you please wash the crusted feed off her beak and then take another photo? And if you have a helper, could you try to hold her beak open wide and take a photo of the inside of her mouth?

It appears her upper beak is quite overgrown and curved. I wonder if that is affecting her eating habits and the "growth" is actually all caked on food.

 

[slysimpson]

I did wipe it off after I took this photo it does not look much different.. This is not crusted food. I may be able to take another photo later, as I said I looked in her mouth and I think it looks fine.

 

[azygous]

Try holding a warm wet compress on the crusted area to soften and loosen it. See how much falls away.

Give it time to soften, say ten minutes, re-wetting the cloth. A drop of Dawn dish detergent will make the water "wetter" and will do a better job than plain water.

It's important to remove as much loose material as you can, and then we can see what it looks like and go from there.

 

[Eggcessive]

If you see any yellow material inside the beak, it could be canker, especially if it smells bad. Canker is a protozoan infection carried by pigeons, and is also called trichamonas. But @azygous is right sbout the beak being overgrown, and the possibility thatit could be dried feed. I would try to get her beak trimmed and filed, and you can use dog nail clippers. Here is some reading about beak teimming and canker in case you think that is the problem:
https://www.hobbyfarms.com/trim-chickens-beak/
http://www.poultrydvm.com/condition/canker

 

[slysimpson]

Thanks for the advice everyone. I’ll try to work on this tomorrow. I confess I didn’t think about needing to trim the beak but clearly you’re right about that