Staph infection in comb

[TheSpiceGirls]

1.5 year old BO was totally fine Sunday morning. Even laid an egg. Around 11am, I noticed she was very sleepy and just nodded off standing up. I removed her from the flock of 3 other hens and put her in a dog crate. When she didn't improve several hours later, I took her to an emergency vet who has chickens.

She had a temperature of 109 so they gave her Baytril and Metacam. Brought her home and she slept the rest of the day and evening. The vet felt she had a bacterial infection. And I supposed a temperature of 109 would indicate that. I really expected her to be dead this morning but she was much improved. Ate scrambled egg, banana and mash.

I was concerned by these scabs on her comb. Especially, the big one at the front. I figured she got pecked or scraped it on the fence, which they tend to do. I went to rub Vet RX on her comb and the big scab at the front came right off. Top photo is from Sunday afternoon. Bottom photo is from Monday afternoon w/ the scab off. The area under the scab is yellow and infected looking.

So I'm wondering if hens can get a staph infection? I think she got something in that cut and it set up a nasty infection. She's better tonight and more feisty. I'm really hoping that the Baytril nips what ever is ailing her. She's a great little hen. Breaks my heart to lose them so young.

Anyone ever heard of a hen getting a staph or some sort of infection in their comb that nearly took them down? I'm not finding much out there on this.

 

[QueenMisha]

I imagine they can, but there is nothing wrong with her comb. A few scabs are pretty typical to see - after all, it's a large, unprotected, fleshy protrusion on top of their head. Just like humans, chickens sometimes bump into things. At worst, she may have been in a small fight, or if the others get scabby too, you could be seeing a mild bought of dry fowl pox, which will blow over in a few weeks.

 

[TheSpiceGirls]

I imagine they can, but there is nothing wrong with her comb. A few scabs are pretty typical to see - after all, it's a large, unprotected, fleshy protrusion on top of their head. Just like humans, chickens sometimes bump into things. At worst, she may have been in a small fight, or if the others get scabby too, you could be seeing a mild bought of dry fowl pox, which will blow over in a few weeks.

That's what I thought. But I'm still trying to figure out what caused her to crash and spike a fever on Sunday all of the sudden. Getting a bacterial infection set up was all that I could think of.

She's much better this morning so I put her back out w/ the three other hens. She's eating and drinking so I see no reason to isolate her. Besides, she hates it. And I'm not a huge fan of having her in the house. Garage gets too hot to leave the dog crate out there.

The vet gave me a 7 day course of antibiotics and we've done two doses so we'll keep on w/ those and hope for the best.

Oh, and that yellow, pussy area on her comb is scabbing back over this morning.

 

[3feathers]

What happened with the hen? I have a rooster that has odd pockets white material in his comb. https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1133166. I thought it was just slough off the comb but I wonder now if it is some sort of staff infection. It seems to be inside some section with hard nodules and soft white material. I've inserted a small "spoon" I made and pulled some nuggets out. I haven't had any chickens with serious bumble foot but it reminds me of the videos when they push the nodules out of the foot. The comb looks fine though, so I don't know.