Swollen Comb for several months- now worse

[erbergamini]

Hi all.

Basically, I have 3 chickens about 2 years old now. Here's the sequence of events:

In February, chicken's comb was swollen, but not discolored. A bit of frostbite on the very tips, but not the worst I've seen during our 2 years with them. Pretty much everyone I talked to up here said, "yeah- frostbite." The chickens don't like walking in the snow and we had a lot of it this year, so they were in the coop together until mid/ late March.

BUT- it didn't go away when it got warmer. It didn't get worse either. I picked her up and touched it to see if it was bothering her and she did flinch or freeze up or anything... it's like I wasn't even touching it. She was active, laying, happily foraging outside, so I figured- don't play with it.

well, this weekend, I noticed that it's now even a bit bigger and there are strange discolorations- one a little bluish like a bruise, one a little yellowish. And this morning, she seems a little slower (although that could be my imagination) and she's closing 1 eye.

Now I'm concerned. I've called a bunch of vets here and no one does chickens. All the people I know would just tell me to kill her. I'm really not happy with that idea.

I thought about dubbing... if I have to, but I'm not sure that will help and I'd sort of like to know what I'm getting into BEFORE I go performing surgery.
I thought about antibiotics.
I thought perhaps trying to lance it, but I'm not sure it's fluid in there.
It doesn't appear to be contagious as she was cooped up for several months with the other two chickens when she got this and they are fine.

Thoughts? Anyone?

 

[CUDA]

Well, it sounds like you have an infection going on. I would separate it right away, and start on some antibiotics. I would lean towards penicillin myself. I would also consider dubbing, and if you live in an area where frostbite can be a problem, I would dub them all to keep this kind of thing from happening. You can find information on my site on dubbing, and antibiotics HERE . Good luck!

 

[erbergamini]

where can I get penicillin? I guess I'll call around to vets again?

 

[CUDA]

You can get most general antibiotics down to TSC. If they don't have that, there are others you can use. Worse comes to worse, use Terramycin.

 

[erbergamini]

update: I found penicillin and fortunately, I work at a hospital and one of the doctors is going to get me a needle today. Injection #1 and with any luck, she'll be feeling better tonight. I think I am going to dub them once we get her feeling better and the swelling comes down a bit. From your website, it doesn't look as bad... or messy... as I had made it out to be in my head. Maybe I can do it!

Thanks for your advice.

 

[CUDA]

I actually have dubbed them when they are swollen for helping with the infection, and to help them heal faster. Good luck!

 

[onthespot]

i don't know the dosage for chickens, but you can buy antibiotics over the counter at Petsmart and Petco. Look in the fish department, for FishMox (amoxicillin) FishCillin (penecillin) FishZole (metronidazole, or Flagyl) which treats fungus/yeast infections. Good luck. If it was me, I'd just go ahead and dub. If she had a hard time last winter, likely it will happen again.