Please look, 3 chicks w/ growth above beak.

[Sparklee]

Any ideas? Please. Solution? What would you do?

young cockerel (above)

Young pullet with a pea comb (two photos below)

They are together, confined in brooding pen luckily (so less chance of spreading). They were from same hatch and haven't grown big enough to join main laying flock.

Age: about 3 months.

Have had condition about 2 1/2 weeks.

Only symptom: Bump or wart on top of beak or bottom of comb. It's right where beak meets comb.

There are no other bumps. Not on feet either. They act normal. There are 6 together. Two others look like they may get the bump because they have a rough spot that is still flat right at the juncture of the beak and comb.

One bird is a pullet. The other two are cockerels.

Since there are no other bumps, I have a hard time believing it is fowl pox. Besides that, the bumps haven't crusted over, nor turned black.

Since they seem to be spreading (as in one bird had the wart first, then a week later the other two got the wart), I imagine it would spread to rest of flock eventually, either through chicken wire or after they are integrated. I'd rather they didn't all have bumps on their noses.

 

[Judy]

It's not fowl pox but I have no idea what it is.

Here is a link to the poo chart on dlhunicorn's site. This is a great website, so maybe you can look around on it and find your answer.

http://www.chat.allotment.org.uk/index.php?topic=17568.0

 

[Sparklee]

Thanks, ddawn. I checked around there, doing a few searches, but didn't find anything. Add that to the hours I've spent searching online and reading disease description after disease description, I am thoroughly stumped.

I did find over the past week or two about 4 other questions like mine about a wart at juncture of beak and comb. The only answer anyone suggested was that it was from the chickens putting their beaks through the chicken wire and then the wire causing a permanent, but benign, lesion. Considering the thousands of chickens around the world who are in chicken wire for at least part of their day, only 4 other cases of this malady showing up leads me doubt that answer. But who knows? I have sat and watched them, studying their behavior, but have seen nothing to indicate that it is caused by the feeder, waterer, pecking by other birds, etc.

It's something. Not many birds get it. But it's something. There were pictures of someone else's chickens with these bumps about a year ago on BYC, but I couldn't find them recently. At the time, no one knew what they were. There were two or three chickens in that group that had them.

 

[Judy]

Reminds me of strange cuts that were showing up on a few scattered beaks for a few people a while back. Finally figured out that the metal feeders with the individual holes were causing it. Now I'm sure that gazillions of chickens have used those, some of mine included, without getting cut, but evidently some were.

I suppose it could be a wart, or some other odd virus. It is even possible that they have reacted differently than most chickens to whatever it is. There is a very disfiguring skin condition, a type of wart, that happens very infrequently in people, when most people only get the mild type of wart we've all had.

Maybe these birds have an odd way of rubbing chicken wire, or one developed this habit and some others copied it.

I could sit here and guess all day, and probably never make the right guess.

I suppose, sit back and watch, and try not to worry about it. Good luck!

 

[Sparklee]

Quote:
Thanks.

If anyone else has something they'd like to add, I'm all ears. Would anyone cut the warts off or apply Preparation H? Wait. It's not Preparation H it's something else with a letter ... ah! Compound W. Would you put Compound W on it? Seems too close to the nose for me, but ??? I'm all for sitting back and watching, but I'm interested in what folks would do.

Would you wait until the warts clear up before integrating them into laying flock? Or would you just move them to a new pen with smaller wire holes to see if that changes things. I have two months before I can integrate them into the laying flock. As it sits, the pen they're in is located where the laying flock free ranges -- to get them used to each other. I'm now going to move the pen out of there and cover the ground with a piece of plywood or two to keep the laying flock from scratching where the chicks' pen was, to keep the layers from getting it if it's contagious.

 

[Judy]

I don't think I would try this because you don't know what it is so don't know the effect.

You could try triple antibiotic ointment. Harmless enough, and might help. Should prevent a secondary infection, anyway. Won't hurt them if a bit gets in their eyes, which Compound W undoubtedly would.

Gives you a bump, in case someone else comes along who knows something we don't know.

 

[Amy PT]

I'm finding this thread 3 years later, and wondering how this turned out for you.
One of my 4 chickens has developed a bump just like yours.

 

[Sunny Side]

Hi. I realise this is an old thread, however I too have had the same problem with one of my birds (so far). i posted some photos on here about 5 days ago but haven't had any help.

Did you find out what it was and do the birds still have this affliction or has it gone away?

Thanks.

 

[chooks4life]

If it's inherited, maybe a bone overgrowth or similar. If not inherited, maybe an injury or symptom of a disease we are not yet familiar with. Random ideas..