Hen with infected earlobe, looks similar to bumblefoot

[TX Chick Noob]

I have a Welsummer hen that is just over a year old. I noticed today she has one earlobe that is swollen, and the back side has a round white dot that seems almost like a plug. It looks a lot like pictures of bumblefoot I have seen.

I’m not sure how to treat it. It would be hard to bandage in that area. Any recommendations?

 

[SmiYa0126]

Hi, can you post pictures?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I have a Welsummer hen that is just over a year old. I noticed today she has one earlobe that is swollen, and the back side has a round white dot that seems almost like a plug. It looks a lot like pictures of bumblefoot I have seen.

I’m not sure how to treat it. It would be hard to bandage in that area. Any recommendations?

Photos would be helpful.

Perhaps it's ear canker, see if it's anything like this link.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/both-ears-have-infection.1579065/#post-26826134

 

[TX Chick Noob]

I have been trying to get pics, but she isn’t cooperating very well. Here is the best I have managed.

It is on the back of the earlobe. She isn’t showing any other symptoms. I looked at the link posted for ear canker, and also googled it and checked some other sites. Seems more like an injury to me, probabaly from being pecked. It is very hard.

 

[Eggcessive]

Can you try to see if there is any pus inside it? It could be an abscess or possibly a type of skin cancer which causes the crater-like appearance. Hopefully it is a peck wound that has abscessed or ear infection.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I agree, it does look like there may be pus inside of it.
I hope it's just injury and nothing more serious.

 

[TX Chick Noob]

Well their pus is solid, right? I tried to gently squeeze it a little when I spotted it this afternoon and it was pretty hard and solid. I don’t think it has been there more than a few days, a week at the most. She usually jumps up on the roost and squawks at me until I put some food there for her as a treat (a habit from when she was young and the last one to start laying). So I see the side of her head almost every day.

She is about 16 months old. I know it isn’t impossible for one to get cancer at that age but I certainly hope it isn’t the case.

What do you recommend I do?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Yes, chicken pus is like a semi-solid cheese type material.

When you squeezed it, did anything come out at all?

Hopefully @Eggcessive will chime back in with her thoughts. For me, I'd try a warm compress to see if that helps loosen any material in that bump, then see if anything will press out. If anything comes out, rinse it out with saline or swab it out with Chlorhexidine.

 

[TX Chick Noob]

Nothing came out at all when I put gentle pressure on it yesterday. I will try to inspect better this morning to see if the plug is in her ear, or just in her earlobe.

 

[SmiYa0126]

You'll need someone to help you, wrap her in a towel, put her on a table on her side, cover her eyes with a cloth, apply a compress, a Luke warm chamomile tea bag is therapeutic, and then glove up and use pressure around the pus to gently push it out. If you have pimple popping kit it has some helpful tools to help. Afterwards use a compress again.