Persistent symptom despite antibiotic treatment, where am I going wrong?

[Eelantha]

One of my year old hens drools. Not abundantly, but often enough when her head is down (like pecking at the floor). The sticky mucus flies around her mouth and makes for a messy eater, leaving her beak more often than not soiled and sticky with pine shavings, grain and dirt. She also has visible difficulty gobbling up her food sometimes, but because this is a mix of unknown parentage I can't tell with precision how much she may be underweight. I've felt her numerous times for crop impact, checked her eyes and nose for respiratory infections, and kept a very close eye on her poop in case parasites are hiding in there. All were fine and normal. At one time back in January she stopped laying though, so I knew something was affecting her and that I had to intervene.

At a loss for words over what might be wrong with her, I followed a friend's advice and treated her back in February with Febendazole when they said throat worms could be behind my hen's incessant drooling. I've given her the solution directly in the beak five days in a row to ensure the buggers got it solid. She's regained a bit of weight and has been laying consistently since early March, but she still drools just as consistently. The eating difficulties are also still present.

Looking at her as time passes, I'm starting to doubt that throat worms were the real culprits behind my hen's drooling. If they were so then her sister should be drooling too, as she's more than happy to help clean the soiled beak of her sibling several times each day. But said sister is fine, heavy, doesn't drool and looks overall healthy. None of my other chickens ever caught throat worms either.

Just... what I am missing here? Does anyone have an idea what might cause a hen to drool persistently if parasites are not behind her state?

 

[dawg53]

Have you seen any lesions inside her mouth?

 

[Eelantha]

Have you seen any lesions inside her mouth?

As far as I was able to glimpse a few months back, no. What kind of lesions should I be looking for?

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Do her top and bottom beaks line up properly? Does her beak close properly, as it should? The top does not hang over to one side or the other, as in a condition known as crossbeak? A malocclusion might cause the mouth not to close properly, resulting in incessant drooling. (I have a cat with this issue). Does she have a sharp or overgrown area on her beak that is keeping her from closing her beak properly, that could be trimmed by a veterinarian? Could anything be caught in her beak, such as a piece of bone or nutshell, that's hurting him. Check these things out. Something is causing the problem!.

Typos.

 

[Eelantha]

Do her top and bottom beaks line up properly? Does her beak close properly, as it should? The top does not hang over to one side or the other, as in a condition known as crossbeak? A malocclusion might cause the mouth not to close properly, resulting in incessant drooling. (I have a cat with this issue). Does she have a sharp or overgrown area on her beak that is keeping her from closing her beak properly, that could be trimmed by a veterinarian? Could anything be caught in her beak, such as a piece of bone or nutshell, that's hurting him. Check these things out. Something is causing the problem!.

I'm pretty sure her beak lines up properly. She does not have any obvious signs of crossbeak, but I will re-check her to be sure. The tip of her upper beak is slightly split in two (best described as broken tip), but I've seen drool come out the sides of her beak so that can't be the main issue. At least, I don't think so.

I've never fed bones to my chickens, so we can cross that out. Nutshells though could be a potential culprit. I've fed my hens BOSS on an almost daily basis before stopping when reading online that giving too many treats to chickens can cause fatty liver. But that's been months already, and I smelled no foul breath from her when I held her a few days ago. Would a stuck BOSS shell be enough to cause smelly drooling in my hen as it decomposes?

Another thing to note from my hen is that she has a tiny ball of flesh where the adam's apple would be in the chicken version of a neck. I've checked her several times to see if this was an abscess or something else, but it ain't growing or shrinking. My friend doesn't think it's something to be concerned over, but still. Can unknown fleshy balls cause drooling in chickens?

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Sorry I didn't get back to you last night. Maybe @azygous, @Eggcessive or @Wyorp Rock might have some insights into this.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

One of my year old hens drools. Not abundantly, but often enough when her head is down (like pecking at the floor). The sticky mucus flies around her mouth and makes for a messy eater, leaving her beak more often than not soiled and sticky with pine shavings, grain and dirt. She also has visible difficulty gobbling up her food sometimes

I've felt her numerous times for crop impact, checked her eyes and nose for respiratory infections, and kept a very close eye on her poop in case parasites are hiding in there.

cause smelly drooling

my hen is that she has a tiny ball of flesh where the adam's apple would be in the chicken version of a neck.

In your title you say persistent symptom despite antibiotic treatment. What antibiotic have you given her?

Can you take some photos of the hen, the inside of her beak, the ball of flesh under/on her neck, of her poop?

You mention that the drooling is smelly? Have you treated her for Sour Crop?
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/

Likely you will never see internal parasites in the poop except for an infestation of roundworms. Sometimes you might see tapeworm.

 

[azygous]

Fenbendazole isn't an antibiotic if that's what you were referring to as being treated by an antibiotic and not improving. It treats parasites, worms.

I would just go for it and treat for sour crop. You have nothing to lose. It might help. https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/

 

[Eelantha]

@Wyorp Rock @azygous :

I've treated my hen with Febendazole, for throat worms. People call it an antibiotic in my area as it kills living things (ie parasites), but it seems there is a misunderstanding in translation as in America, antibiotics probably don't include worm treatments. Do they?

Here's some photos of my Easter Egger hen with her trimmed beard, I apologize for the blurry quality but my camera wouldn't let me have clear shots too up-close.

That's her soiled beak. My EE wiggled in my arms quite a bit and managed to soil some of my sleeve before I managed to grab the camera, so the dirtiness is a bit harder to see. The black line along her beak is what's left of the dirt. Don't mind her evil eye, she's grumpy by nature.

That's the fleshy ball of unknown origins, which is as big as the width of my index finger tip. The blurry white sticks on it are what's left of her trimmed beard feathers. She's had that ball of flesh for months and it is still the same size. Sometimes I can't help but wonder if this isn't linked to the whole drooling thing. It is hard when I press it, but my hen doesn't seem to feel anything beyond when I pinch it real hard. It doesn't seem to hinder her from eating food, because she still eats more than enough to lay consistently, but the fact remains sometimes she raises her head up and heaves as if to help her food go down her throat. For having felt her throat several times, the fleshy ball doesn't seem to extend into her throat, so I'm unsure over whether this is the main culprit or just a probable cause.

Unfortunately this lady fiercely fought any exploration of her beak. Despite the help of an extra pair of hands to reduce her struggles, I was not able to get a picture of the insides of her mouth without getting blurry, distortioned images. This is the best shot I was able to catch on camera. The drool is clearly visible.

I've done my best to look inside her mouth. I've seen no obvious lesions, and no foul smell emanated from it either. I'll have to try tomorrow for pics of her poop, as my rooster had marched all over it today on the poop board.

 

[azygous]

The meaning of the word antibiotic does cover most forms of pathogens - bacteria as well as parasites. It's as you mentioned a matter of regional usage. Thank you for clarifying this.

I have an idea. Yes, that mucous is very obvious clinging to her open beak, and it's easy to see how thick it is and it can be sticky as well. You need to try to thin it, and I have just the thing. Are you ready? Chicken soup! Hot chicken soup will thin mucous. Give her some and see how it goes.