MixedFlock23
Songster
Hello,
Please help. My BO hen, Rapunzel (age 4.5 years) has had these lesions in her mouth for about a year now. I took her to the vet in January and had a swab/culture ran on a sample of it, but the results came back inconclusive. The vet gave me a run of fluconazole, since I suspected it was thrush. The meds didn't make any difference. The hen was still acting fine, so I did not cull her or separate her. Fast forward to August 18th, we notice an EE hen (Anna) sneezing and shaking her head, flinging clear fluids. I look at her mouth and she has the same lesions. I posted on her and canker is mentioned, so check all the other hens. I find one more with a teeny lesion on one side (Pocahontas, my other EE). I separate the three hens from the other nine and begin treatment. I started with 25mg/kg of metronidazole (Fish-Zole) daily, but after a few days, I upped it to 50mg/kg. A few days ago I upped it again to 250mg per hen. All doses have been divided into three servings. I mix a crushed pill with water and give it orally. I removed all lesions from their mouths (I had to scrap or pull them out in teeny pieces with a hemostat tool). All lesions plus more are back in just two days.
From all my googling, it seems yellowish lesions are either thrush (yeast), wet pox (virus), or canker (protozoa). Well, it didn't respond to fluconazole (yeast) and seems to be getting worse with metronidazole (this is day 13 totally, but day 4 of the max dose of 250mg/hen daily), and I don't think it can be wet pox for an entire year since it was supposed to clear in a matter of weeks on its own.
I keep a fairly clean coop and the 12 hens have a 700 sq ft run. The only thing I can think it that it is yeast from mold pellets (twice I've gotten moldy feed from our local hardware store, and didn't see the mold until after they had eaten some... I no longer buy food from there!). It could be canker from the morning doves (no pigeons around here), but it's not at all responding to metronidazole.
The hen who started sneezing three weeks ago is no longer shaking her head or sneezing, but the lesions re-grew and are far more than before. Also the hen without any symptoms but with the single lesion, now has a mouth full.
I will cull these sweet birds (they are all 4.5 years old) if I have to, but I'd love to figure out how to cure them if it really is just yeast overgrowth (and that makes sense since the antibiotic is making it worse). The three girls are still separate from the others. Both pens have had a five day run on copper sulfate and ACV in their water as well. I have enough metronidazole to complete day 14/day 5 of the max dose of 250/hen daily, but I'm not sure if I should. May I should try another antifungal since it doesn't appear to be canker after all.
Please advise. Thank you!
Please help. My BO hen, Rapunzel (age 4.5 years) has had these lesions in her mouth for about a year now. I took her to the vet in January and had a swab/culture ran on a sample of it, but the results came back inconclusive. The vet gave me a run of fluconazole, since I suspected it was thrush. The meds didn't make any difference. The hen was still acting fine, so I did not cull her or separate her. Fast forward to August 18th, we notice an EE hen (Anna) sneezing and shaking her head, flinging clear fluids. I look at her mouth and she has the same lesions. I posted on her and canker is mentioned, so check all the other hens. I find one more with a teeny lesion on one side (Pocahontas, my other EE). I separate the three hens from the other nine and begin treatment. I started with 25mg/kg of metronidazole (Fish-Zole) daily, but after a few days, I upped it to 50mg/kg. A few days ago I upped it again to 250mg per hen. All doses have been divided into three servings. I mix a crushed pill with water and give it orally. I removed all lesions from their mouths (I had to scrap or pull them out in teeny pieces with a hemostat tool). All lesions plus more are back in just two days.
From all my googling, it seems yellowish lesions are either thrush (yeast), wet pox (virus), or canker (protozoa). Well, it didn't respond to fluconazole (yeast) and seems to be getting worse with metronidazole (this is day 13 totally, but day 4 of the max dose of 250mg/hen daily), and I don't think it can be wet pox for an entire year since it was supposed to clear in a matter of weeks on its own.
I keep a fairly clean coop and the 12 hens have a 700 sq ft run. The only thing I can think it that it is yeast from mold pellets (twice I've gotten moldy feed from our local hardware store, and didn't see the mold until after they had eaten some... I no longer buy food from there!). It could be canker from the morning doves (no pigeons around here), but it's not at all responding to metronidazole.
The hen who started sneezing three weeks ago is no longer shaking her head or sneezing, but the lesions re-grew and are far more than before. Also the hen without any symptoms but with the single lesion, now has a mouth full.
I will cull these sweet birds (they are all 4.5 years old) if I have to, but I'd love to figure out how to cure them if it really is just yeast overgrowth (and that makes sense since the antibiotic is making it worse). The three girls are still separate from the others. Both pens have had a five day run on copper sulfate and ACV in their water as well. I have enough metronidazole to complete day 14/day 5 of the max dose of 250/hen daily, but I'm not sure if I should. May I should try another antifungal since it doesn't appear to be canker after all.
Please advise. Thank you!
