Smelly armpit goo, lethargic leghorns

[3girlsandtheirchicks]

I have a couple white leghorn hens (the only 2 affected in a small flock of various breeds). They've been lethargic for a couple days, have stopped roosting, and I don't think they're eating. My daughter noticed weird, smelly goo in their armpits. They aren't having any respratory issues, no eye bubbling. No roosters around. All the chickens had a permethrin bath about a week and a half ago to take care of a lice/mite issue. Our nearest vet is a couple hours away and isn't open over the long weekend. Any insight would be appreciated!

 

[SmiYa0126]

@Wyorp Rock @azygous @Eggcessive please help!

My gut says to clean underneath their wings with warm soapy water, once clean, dry really well and see if you can see any wounds. Cover any wounds with plain antibiotic ointment, repeat twice a day until they're well.

 

[3girlsandtheirchicks]

@SmiYa0126 I haven’t noticed any wounds. The flock rarely pick at each other, and they haven’t had any run ins with other animals. It’s under both wings of both chickens, but nothing else appears off (aside from being lethargic). I’ve never seen anything like it! I’ll try cleaning them and see what happens, thank you.

 

[azygous]

Are these photos before or after you've cleaned and treated the wounds? Are both chickens suffering identical wounds?

You just posted what I asked.

Okay, then wash the wounds well using a soft wash cloth, scrubbing away all loose tissue and "goo". Then dry the areas and post another photo. Be sure to focus a light on the area you wish us to see so we aren't viewing the area in shadow which diminishes detail, making it very frustrating to try to make sense of a photo.

 

[3girlsandtheirchicks]

I haven’t noticed any wounds. The flock rarely pick at each other, and they haven’t had any run ins with other animals. It’s under both wings of both chickens, but nothing else appears off (aside from being lethargic). I’ve never seen anything like it! I’ll try cleaning them and see what happens, thank you.

 

[3girlsandtheirchicks]

Are these photos before or after you've cleaned and treated the wounds? Are both chickens suffering identical wounds?

You just posted what I asked.

Okay, then wash the wounds well using a soft wash cloth, scrubbing away all loose tissue and "goo". Then dry the areas and post another photo. Be sure to focus a light on the area you wish us to see so we aren't viewing the area in shadow which diminishes detail, making it very frustrating to try to make sense of a photo.

I’ll need to wait for my second set of hands to get home, but I’ll try that and see if I can get better photos.

 

[Eggcessive]

I haven’t seen anything like that before, but I agree that soaking them in warm soapy water and gentle cleaning then rinsing them would be a good start. Are they able to roost at night, and are they walking around okay? Has it been muddy, or has the coop bedding been cleaned out or refreshed lately? Has there been a lot of rain or mud?

 

[3girlsandtheirchicks]

I haven’t seen anything like that before, but I agree that soaking them in warm soapy water and gentle cleaning then rinsing them would be a good start. Are they able to roost at night, and are they walking around okay? Has it been muddy, or has the coop bedding been cleaned out or refreshed lately? Has there been a lot of rain or mud?

They’re not roosting. Their walking is kind of weirdly exaggerated, but they do it without issue. However, they aren’t moving around much. We cleaned out the coop thoroughly a week and a half ago when we treated for mites/lice. Not a lot of rain or mud.

 

[azygous]

I'm going to prematurely offer some guesses and advice, but still need to see photos of the debrided wounds. (Debride means all dead, extraneous tissue removed.)

The use of the word "goo" to describe the wounds indicates infection - festering wounds that bacteria are preventing from healing. Perhaps these chickens had a run-in with a predator or a barbed fence or frayed chicken wire fencing.

Other skin lesions such as skin tumors wouldn't cause festering/pus. Skin parasites would cause dermatitis. I suppose the skin could become infected, but I haven't heard of it producing such wounds as these.

If I don't get back here today, this is what I would recommend as treatment for infected tissue. Clean wounds thoroughly every day, scrubbing lightly with a wash cloth to remove dead and tissue that is not viable. If you look closely, the difference between living tissue and dead and non-living tissue will be obvious. Live tissue has a healthy color and is warm. All other tissue if not removed acts as "fertilizer" to breed bacteria, so needs to be removed when treating large wounds.

After cleaning each day, coat the entire wound with Triple antibiotic ointment or Neosporin. Examine the wounds later on to be sure the ointment hasn't been worn off and reapply to keep the wounds covered with ointment at all times. If allowed to become dried out, bacteria will attack and healing will stop. Infection will return.

Pain may be a factor and causing poor appetite so a chewable aspirin twice a day may be given for pain management. Restore glucose levels with sugar in the water for a couple days, and feed high grade protein to put some weight back on the patients.

If they continue to act lethargic, an oral antibiotic may be necessary as the infection may have gone systemic in the bloodstream. From your description, these two may be quite sick. If they are so far gone that their immune systems have been seriously weakened by the infection, they could die in spite of all you do. Going from your descriptions, I give them 50/50 odds of making it through this, and it would only be because you worked hard at saving them with diligent wound care and feeding.

 

[3girlsandtheirchicks]

Update:
Everyone made it through the night. We put them in little dog crates up on the deck near the house for r&r. Gave them the sugar water.

Upon further inspection yesterday, there are no wounds. There is some kind of crust (not their skin) covering large portions of their bodies, but not visible through their feathers. Some areas have feathers matted into it and stuck (this could contribute to the strange walking). Other areas it seems to be flaking off on its own. Under the wings is moist, hence the goo instead of the crust. Their heads/combs and legs/feet are completely unaffected. I tried washing with warm, soapy water, but it wasn't budging. It peels off (I promise it's not actually skin). I was too horrified yesterday to take more photos, but will try again today.

Thank you everyone for the advice! I'll keep you posted. It's certainly weird.