Hen with growth on face

[Liv's chickens]

Hi everyone,
I have a hen who I am concerned about. She has a growth on her beak that started on the left side, and is now quickly growing, starting to cover her nostril, and spreading to the other side.

It started out with an injury I had noticed when I got back from a vacation, where it appeared that half of her beak had broken off, and it had scabbed over with dried blood. A couple weeks later, it appeared to be more puffy, but now it is quickly growing.

Does anyone know what this is, and if there are any treatments?? She’s been acting healthy and happy otherwise, but I don’t want her to suffer. Please let me know if you have any advice. Thanks!

I’ve attached photos below:

 

[SmiYa0126]

It could be infection, do you have antibiotics, like aqua mox?

 

[Acre4Me]

Can she eat? What is coming out of her mouth? More infection/black stuff or is her tongue pushed out?

Have you touched it? Is it hard or soft?

I wonder if it could be puss - on a chicken puss is rather like cottage cheese but yellow, firm, and maybe would change color exposed to air (not sure). But might be a fungal infection too, although I’d guess bacterial first.

 

[Liv's chickens]

Can she eat? What is coming out of her mouth? More infection/black stuff or is her tongue pushed out?

Have you touched it? Is it hard or soft?

I wonder if it could be puss - on a chicken puss is rather like cottage cheese but yellow, firm, and maybe would change color exposed to air (not sure). But might be a fungal infection too, although I’d guess bacterial first.

It does seem like she can still eat fine, but I’m worried that may change. The black in her mouth is also part of that growth.
The largest bump on her beak is slightly leathery in texture.

 

[Liv's chickens]

It could be infection, do you have antibiotics, like aqua mox?

I don’t believe so, but I’d imagine I could get some for her!

 

[SmiYa0126]

I would try that, it won't hurt her, if it's infected you'll see an improvement quickly.

 

[Acre4Me]

Get sterile saline (contact lens solution-just plain saline, not an all-in-one), get disposable gloves, get iodine solution and blue kote or similar wound spray/liquid that is safe for poultry. Get some sterile scalpels (you can buy them ready to go at TSC or similar). put disposable gloves on and begin to gently explore this growth. I expect it is infection and needs to be cleared away. But, first, with gloves, inspect, touch, move it.

When we have had to treat some major wounds, including an infected leg/ankle area, we would put safety glasses on us (no need to get infection, medicine, or blood in our eyes on accident), we put down a puppy pee pad bc they are cheap, absorbent, and disposable (but an old towel works too). If the chicken is freaked out then we try to lower the light bc it settles them, although not all freak out.

I expect it may break off or bleed. So rinse with saline, continue to check it out. If it’s puss (chunky yellow) under that black, then clean it all out. Saline. Then betadine, although avoid the eye. Scalpel if needed, but if it’s puss, might not need it.

We have had some infections, wounds etc- one was really bad (wound) to the point we almost put the chicken down bc we thought no way it could live but decided to give it a try - that one healed up quite fast actually. We treated 1x per day with saline, betadine, etc. another one had the infected leg…..we caught it too late, and ended up putting her down after a month of treatment bc she took an obvious turn for the worse with the infection being too deep. We had a bad breast blister to treat (scalpel to open up the area to work out the puss). Needed epsom salt baths, wound treatment and several episodes of puss removal over the course of a month of daily treatments. They can recover well from many things, so hopefully yours can heal up too.

You can try a vet, but call around first bc not all see poultry.

 

[Liv's chickens]

Can she eat? What is coming out of her mouth? More infection/black stuff or is her tongue pushed out?

Have you touched it? Is it hard or soft?

I wonder if it could be puss - on a chicken puss is rather like cottage cheese but yellow, firm, and maybe would change color exposed to air (not sure). But might be a fungal infection too, although I’d guess bacterial first.

As far as I’ve been able to tell, she does seem to be able to eat still. She’s been acting healthy so far.

The black in her mouth is part of the growth, where it is starting to spread. I’m worried about it eventually inhibiting her from being able to eat.

The largest bump on her beak is somewhat soft, leather-like in texture almost.

 

[Liv's chickens]

I would try that, it won't hurt her, if it's infected you'll see an improvement quickly.

Ok! Thank you so much for the suggestion. I’ll try that and update.

 

[Liv's chickens]

Get sterile saline (contact lens solution-just plain saline, not an all-in-one), get disposable gloves, get iodine solution and blue kote or similar wound spray/liquid that is safe for poultry. Get some sterile scalpels (you can buy them ready to go at TSC or similar). put disposable gloves on and begin to gently explore this growth. I expect it is infection and needs to be cleared away. But, first, with gloves, inspect, touch, move it.

When we have had to treat some major wounds, including an infected leg/ankle area, we would put safety glasses on us (no need to get infection, medicine, or blood in our eyes on accident), we put down a puppy pee pad bc they are cheap, absorbent, and disposable (but an old towel works too). If the chicken is freaked out then we try to lower the light bc it settles them, although not all freak out.

I expect it may break off or bleed. So rinse with saline, continue to check it out. If it’s puss (chunky yellow) under that black, then clean it all out. Saline. Then betadine, although avoid the eye. Scalpel if needed, but if it’s puss, might not need it.

We have had some infections, wounds etc- one was really bad (wound) to the point we almost put the chicken down bc we thought no way it could live but decided to give it a try - that one healed up quite fast actually. We treated 1x per day with saline, betadine, etc. another one had the infected leg…..we caught it too late, and ended up putting her down after a month of treatment bc she took an obvious turn for the worse with the infection being too deep. We had a bad breast blister to treat (scalpel to open up the area to work out the puss). Needed epsom salt baths, wound treatment and several episodes of puss removal over the course of a month of daily treatments. They can recover well from many things, so hopefully yours can heal up too.

You can try a vet, but call around first bc not all see poultry.

Thank you so much for the detailed suggestions! This sounds promising and I’ll definitely try it. Hopefully she’ll be able to heal up, and I’ll send updates when I’m able.