Infected oil-prene gland - Cause? Solutions?

[fatcatx]

Hello Chickeneers -

Our Orp has a BADLY infected oil gland. We've cleaned the area with soapy water, lanced the hardest side of it and oodles of thick chunky yellow-brown pus came out - 2-3 Tablespoons. (Lancing was done with a micro scalpel.) We flushed it, cleaned up with peroxide, and then applied antibiotic ointment.

So my general questions are:
Is it just one big gland under there? The other side has a hard knot too and we debated if we should lance both sides or if it was one big pocket of nasty under there.
Is the likely source of the infection that the exit point got clogged? Is there anything to help it unclog other than hot compresses?
Is there anything else we could be doing to ensure recovery?

Poor thing has just wrapped up brooding chicks a few days ago and was getting back to her old self.

 

[fatcatx]

bump - are we doing all we should?

 

[crcgirl93]

I think you are going to need a broad spectrum antibiotic to properly treat this. That's what ultimately helped my hen. That along with an improved diet. This issue can be caused by malnutrition (typical in broodies) and/or deficiency. Along with the antibiotic we gave her fish oil, scrambled eggs, greens, grapes, etc. Just more good foods. She was noticeable better in just a few days of starting the antibiotics. I took my hen to a vet and he didn't even discuss lancing anything so not sure that's a good idea??

 

[fatcatx]

Thanks for help! Do you recall what type of antibiotic they put her on? Does anyone know if amoxicillan would do the trick and/or the dosage?

A deficiency would surprise me since she gets a premium diet with variety, but I will try and up the ante and see if that helps. Do you know if it is a particular deficiency that causes it?

 

[crcgirl93]

He did not mention a specific deficiency. I felt the same as you since I use a quality feed with other whole foods/treats for variety. I believe he prescribed Baytril. I'm not sure if Amoxicillan is broad spectrum......anyone know?

 

[fatcatx]

Just an update. We ended up not using any oral antibiotics (so far). The swelling is almost completely gone and it no longer looks infected. We tried lancing the other side as well just to be sure since it didn't look right. Lots of brown oily gunk. I have no idea what the oil in this gland looks like when it's healthy so I can't say if the second lancing was overkill or helped. The gobs of pus we got out of the first lancing though showed that area needed to be drained. I think the infection had walled itself off already so I doubt oral antibiotic would've touched it.

We read Vitamin A was one of the deficiencies that can cause gland issues. Cna anyone confirm whether this is accurate? Anyway, we fed her cooked liver just in case and scambled eggs. Hopefully it will continue to clear up and she will be all healed in a few more days.