On Sunday (the 23rd) I noticed my almost four-week old Partridge Silkie baby "Nutmeg" was holding his mouth open, and it looked like he had something stuck in it, like a piece of wood mulch or mud. When I caught him (He lives outside with his mom, dad, "uncle", and "aunt") I tried to get it out, but found that it was kinda soft and squishy, but attached. Took him inside to take a better look, got out the Q-tips and started poking around. We were able to get a little bit of the "stuff" that was outside of his mouth off from the left side (I think it is) and it did not bleed, but the rest was definitely attached to the roof of his mouth, and it was kind of an off-white/light pinkish color. I didn't know what I could put on it so we just swabbed a little virgin coconut oil on the outsides of his mouth and tried to get some on the roof of his mouth. We've done this at least once a day for the past several days since we found it. In the last two days I've also noticed that his left earlobe is getting very swollen or scabbed and really doesn't look good. His right earlobe looks about normal- although it also looks like it might be starting to swell/scab. Twice today we applied iodine to his ears and again the coconut oil to his mouth. It also looks like the bottom part of his beak may be beginning to swell as well, though you can't really tell in the photos. Since Sunday, the upper beak swelling does not appear to have gotten any worse or better. He can eat and drink, though he has a bit of trouble with both. He is still fairly active in his coop & run, but the lack of being able to use his beak correctly is starting to get to him.
What's worse is this- two days ago I noticed one of my new almost two-week old Paint babies has a small swelling/scab on the right side of his mouth. It looks a bit like Nutmeg's, but not as bad yet. We swabbed it with iodine.
We had the dry fowl pox in the fall/winter of 2009, but I didn't have any Silkies then. I know what pox scabs look like on red combed/pink-skinned birds, but have never seen it on a dark-skinned bird. I think it is probably not fowl pox because I haven't seen any other signs of it, except that 1-2 weeks ago I did notice one of my young mix breed cockerels in a cage inside the main free-range pen did have a couple scabs on his comb that looked a little unusual. Other than that the only other thing would be that Nutmeg's mother also seemed to have a scab or two on her face above her beak. But like I said, I've never seen pox scabs on a dark skinned bird, and since the scabs are dark themselves, I think it'd be harder to see them and make sure they are pox scabs. I've also never had pox with such young babies before- does it affect chicks differently since their faces are more fuzzy? (Less open skin) Or could this be something completely different? A bug bite, maybe? I'm hoping we can figure out what it is..I do not want to lose these babies. The Paint also lives with his mom (in a different coop than Nutmeg). She does not have any scabs, but also has seven other babies.
Sorry that the photos are so bad, but it's hard to hold a chick and take pics, especially when your zoom feature doesn't work anymore. Click on them to make 'em bigger
. Thanks for any help!
What's worse is this- two days ago I noticed one of my new almost two-week old Paint babies has a small swelling/scab on the right side of his mouth. It looks a bit like Nutmeg's, but not as bad yet. We swabbed it with iodine.
We had the dry fowl pox in the fall/winter of 2009, but I didn't have any Silkies then. I know what pox scabs look like on red combed/pink-skinned birds, but have never seen it on a dark-skinned bird. I think it is probably not fowl pox because I haven't seen any other signs of it, except that 1-2 weeks ago I did notice one of my young mix breed cockerels in a cage inside the main free-range pen did have a couple scabs on his comb that looked a little unusual. Other than that the only other thing would be that Nutmeg's mother also seemed to have a scab or two on her face above her beak. But like I said, I've never seen pox scabs on a dark skinned bird, and since the scabs are dark themselves, I think it'd be harder to see them and make sure they are pox scabs. I've also never had pox with such young babies before- does it affect chicks differently since their faces are more fuzzy? (Less open skin) Or could this be something completely different? A bug bite, maybe? I'm hoping we can figure out what it is..I do not want to lose these babies. The Paint also lives with his mom (in a different coop than Nutmeg). She does not have any scabs, but also has seven other babies.
Sorry that the photos are so bad, but it's hard to hold a chick and take pics, especially when your zoom feature doesn't work anymore. Click on them to make 'em bigger
. Thanks for any help!
