Rooster with yellow growth on comb - Black Australor

[MarlaMac]

Good morning all!

I have a 18 1/2 week old cockerel. He has this yellow stuff appearing on his comb overnight.

Background: He is one of what was three boys and he was on the bottom of the pecking order of the three. His name is Other Roo. The other cockerel, Little Roo, has been placed in another home and is doing great. The other boy is our rooster, Cogburn.

This guy has been isolated for the last week b/c the boys were ganging up on my girls. He is in a small isolation coop - 2x2 with a run for daytime activity that is probably 4x8. He is the same roo from another post that had gotten into some bramble that I am currently treating b/c his legs seemed to be bothering him. I did find bramble thorns in his legs that I pulled out.

Any way. He goes to his new home on the 25th. He had some pecking wounds in his comb that I decided to treat so he would be all nice and pretty for his new owner. In hindsight, this seems to be the wrong choice. 1st two nights, I simply put triple antibiotic ointment (no pain reliever) on his sores. Third night, I noticed this yellow stuff on his comb and decided instead of triple antibiotic ointment I would put hen healer on him. The result was worse.

Here are pictures the worst one was this morning, the other yesterday. Today I put monistat (sp?) on it b/c it looks "yeasty". I don't know if I should continue this or just let it ride.

It has been extremely humid here in central Texas so perhaps the combination of the humidity and his small coop? I think there is plenty of ventilation in his small coop, but with the humidity that still might be an issue. I can close off a portion of my larger coop and put him in there for the night time hours.

Any advise is appreciate.


Thank you.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Was the triple antibiotic ointment helping the best?

I agree, it does look yeasty or perhaps it's pus?

If he were mine, I'd clean the comb with Povidone Iodine and then leave it on as a residue as well. OR you could clean the comb and paint it with Iodine. What I'm thinking is you want the pustules (yeasty stuff) to dry up which Iodine will help to do instead of using a cream/ointment which may promote lock in moister when you don't necessarily want that in humid weather.

Let's see what @Eggcessive and @azygous think.

 

[azygous]

I agree that a drying agent is needed in this case. Iodine or possible Blu-kote. But Blu-kote, while being an excellent antibiotic/ anti-fungal, will dye his comb purple for a while, though it will eventually wear off.

It concerns me that he's picking up yeast spores somewhere that could indicate an over abundance of yeast in his immediate environment. The risk is him picking up internal yeast infection that can eventually make him very sick. It would be wise to inspect his coop and run for signs of mold and eradicate it.

 

[MarlaMac]

Thanks to both of you. I will go inspect his coop. We used this as an isolation coop for our gal who was attacked by a hawk, but she only used it during the day and did not sleep in it. When we sent to set it up, I did not see anything that look odd. We place the coop run under a tree for shade. We have never had anyone over where it is on a permanent basis, although they do forage under the tree. My husband did mow the area under the tree right before we put him over there. Perhaps that stirred up something that is not visible to the naked eye? I will go and do a really good inspection.

I will do the iodine and move his run to the backyard grass. I also already closed off part of the coop so that he can go in there at night.

I notice the yellow after I started the triple antibiotic ointment. So I would say it did not help. The yellow will wash off if I use a washcloth and gently rub it. When we do this, it seems he really enjoys it, so maybe it is itchy?

Thanks for your help.

 

[MarlaMac]

Okay. I did go out to the temp coop and there is 2 ever so slightly spots of what appears to be black mold, very light and could easily be mistaken for dirt. I will clean and put that coop away. He will have a 5x3 area of our coop with excellent ventilation all to himself to sleep in until he leaves for his new home. We will put his run in our back yard and he will get morning sun (with some made shade available) and afternoon shade.

This is what the area looks like after washing. I washed it with a iodine/water solution and then painted some iodine on the area. The yellow does not seem to go into the skin, so I am thinking yeasty growth, not pus.

He is a little put off b/c we have him in our inside cage until we can get the run moved. His shrills and crows are telling us he wants out.

In the grass, he will get his food, water and some grit since he won't be free to dig around the dirt for grit. I think I will also put a shallow box of dirt in the run for dust bathing b/c he won't have access to dirt while in the grass.

Thanks for your help. Is there anything I should be looking for that would indicate that this has internalized?

 

[Eggcessive]

It sounds like you have things under control. Ointment can keep things gooey and prevent them from drying up. The Betadine will help. Mold around the coop can sometimes lead to aspergillosis, fungal growths in the lungs and air sacs. It is more common in baby chicks when water and feed spills in wet bedding happen. Gasping is the most common sign. Just keep good ventilation, prevent spills, and keep everything dry.

 

[azygous]

In addition to the things @Eggcessive mentioned, keep an eye out for a powdery white discharge from his vent which would indicate a systemic yeast infection called vent gleet.

Good work on inspecting the premises for mold and cleaning things up. It will save you and this rooster a lot of discomfort and hassle going forward.

 

[MarlaMac]

It sounds like you have things under control. Ointment can keep things gooey and prevent them from drying up. The Betadine will help. Mold around the coop can sometimes lead to aspergillosis, fungal growths in the lungs and air sacs. It is more common in baby chicks when water and feed spills in wet bedding happen. Gasping is the most common sign. Just keep good ventilation, prevent spills, and keep everything dry.

Thank you !

 

[MarlaMac]

It sounds like you have things under control. Ointment can keep things gooey and prevent them from drying up. The Betadine will help. Mold around the coop can sometimes lead to aspergillosis, fungal growths in the lungs and air sacs. It is more common in baby chicks when water and feed spills in wet bedding happen. Gasping is the most common sign. Just keep good ventilation, prevent spills, and keep everything dry.

In addition to the things @Eggcessive mentioned, keep an eye out for a powdery white discharge from his vent which would indicate a systemic yeast infection called vent gleet.

Good work on inspecting the premises for mold and cleaning things up. It will save you and this rooster a lot of discomfort and hassle going forward.

Thank you!

 

[MarlaMac]

His new digs, enjoying a little bit of watermelon with the flock. Girls are happy knowing he cannot get to them.