Pullet cannot fully open mouth

[Bkaye]

No major improvements still. Still getting pieces of puss out of her ears here and there. I can see what looks to be a significant amount deep down in her left ear but cannot get it to come up. I’m hoping with the constant peroxide and neosporin it’ll eventually work it’s way up. She still hasn’t gotten her appetite back, she mostly picks. Will eat some but not much to speak of. Tonight will start day 6 of the amoxicillin. She did seem to have more energy yesterday and didn’t sleep as much as she has been. She was up scratching around a good bit.

 

[Eggcessive]

Ear canker can be caused by different bacteria, including pseudomonas, a hard to treat bacteria that has become resistant to many common antibiotics. One wonders if that might be why the amoxicillin helps, but is not completely clearing it up. Hopefully, the repeated cleaning treatments will help. The Neosporin ointment has polymixin B which may be helpful.

 

[Bkaye]

Should I continue with the treatments that I’m doing or should I switch up antibiotics? As of this morning she has had a full 5 days worth. I have been doing the peroxide cleaning as well as the neosporin twice a day.

Edit to add I planned on doing a full 10 days worth of amoxicillin.

 

[Eggcessive]

Since you don’t know exactly what the bacteria is, and if it is pseudomonas, which is difficult to treat, I would stay with what you are doing. Maybe clean the ears once a day, and fill the ear canal with the Neosporin. Here is the article about ear infection:
https://www.chickenwhisperermagazine.com/health-and-wellness/ear-canker

 

[Bkaye]

Thank you for your help. I actually read that article the other day during my research and it was helpful. I drop my cleaning down to once a day and only do it at night before she goes to roost.

I have no doubt that what I’ve been doing is working, her ears are not as swollen as they are and her energy is better and she does actually nibble here and there. It just seems to be happening very very slowly. I’m the most concerned over her not having an appetite.

 

[azygous]

What I do when I have a sick or injured chicken and the first antibiotic appears to be either working too slowly or not at all is to order another and have it ready to go once the first med has been completed. In this case, the best med would be metronadazole. It targets both the canker protozoa and bacteria. Order it here. https://jedds.com/products/metronidazole-capsules?_pos=3&_sid=25ecd444f&_ss=r It also comes in a powder, also available at this site. You mix it into the drinking water. I prefer the pill form myself since I know the sick chicken is getting the full dose.

 

[Eggcessive]

Ear canker is usually caused by bacteria. Other canker of the beak is protozoa. If it is pseudomonas, it is fairly resistant to most antibiotics. It is becoming a superbug. In humans, they are using a combo of antibiotics for serious infections. I would be giving some probiotics anyway for any antibiotic. Probios powder from your feed store is good, and they sell a generic that is cheaper.

 

[Bkaye]

Thank you both. I have been giving her probiotics in her water. I have checking her mouth daily and haven’t seen any lesions, or anything so I’m pretty sure it’s just an ear infection I’m dealing with. I have noticed when giving her the pills I can open her mouth slightly more than I have been able to, still no where close to being fully open. Not sure if it’s swelling causing her beak not to open fully still or what’s going on.

 

[azygous]

At this point, if you are concerned she could be losing weight from not eating enough, I suggest tubing some liquid food into her. Would you be comfortable with that? Sometimes it can provide enough energy that it stimulates the appetite for the chicken to eat on her own.

You can get a tubing kit for small animals from most vets for just a few dollars. You can buy baby bird formula from a pet store or toss together your own concoction from baby food, raw egg, keifer or yogurt, and nutri-drench. This is impractical to merely try to syringe into the beak. But tubing is the same principle, except you only need to pry the beak open once when inserting the tube.

 

[Bkaye]

My husband and I tube fed her some baby food on Thursday. Friday she started to eating a little on her own so we did not tube feed again. We may try to do it again when I get home from work if she hasn’t eaten much.