Swollen crusty outer ear

[Deirdrejd]

Hi all,
I'm a fairly new backyard chicken owner. We have 7 chickens. I just noticed Rosie's ear yesterday. It is swollen and crusted over. She has had some seemingly congestion noticed by a gurgle in her breathing. She has also been yawning and recently started scratching at it a lot. Thoughts and suggestions? Thank you so much.
Deirdre

 

[Eggcessive]

Welcome to BYC. It sounds like
Rosie might have a respiratory disease that has also affected her ear. I would check her ear with a QTip if you can insert one to see if there is gunk inside, or mites. You can soften the outer crust with a warm wet washcloth held to her ear for a few minutes. Sometimes the crust needs to be removed, and hydrogen peroxide can help with softening. The ear canal can be flushed with a couple of drops of peroxide, and cleaned out with a Qtip. Then you can fill the ear canal with plain Neosporin or Triple Antibiotic Ointment. That would help with infection and treat ear mites. Has Rosie had any bubbles in an eye, nasal drainage or sneezing? There are a handful of respiratory diseases from viruses, bacteria, or fungus. Since most can make carriers of your whole flock, it is good to keep a closed flock until all birds are gone. Any new chicks or additions can get the disease. Here is a good link about respiratory diseases:
https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ps044

 

[Deirdrejd]

Welcome to BYC. It sounds like
Rosie might have a respiratory disease that has also affected her ear. I would check her ear with a QTip if you can insert one to see if there is gunk inside, or mites. You can soften the outer crust with a warm wet washcloth held to her ear for a few minutes. Sometimes the crust needs to be removed, and hydrogen peroxide can help with softening. The ear canal can be flushed with a couple of drops of peroxide, and cleaned out with a Qtip. Then you can fill the ear canal with plain Neosporin or Triple Antibiotic Ointment. That would help with infection and treat ear mites. Has Rosie had any bubbles in an eye, nasal drainage or sneezing? There are a handful of respiratory diseases from viruses, bacteria, or fungus. Since most can make carriers of your whole flock, it is good to keep a closed flock until all birds are gone. Any new chicks or additions can get the disease. Here is a good link about respiratory diseases:
https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ps044

Thank you so much for all the info. We have not noticed any bubbles in her eyes or nasal drainage. Maybe sneezing- definitely scratching at her ear lately.
We did as you said. The crust was hard and took a while to soften. When we removed it, there was cheesy looking stuff in the canal. It was kind of smelly, too. We cleaned out as much as we could with warm water, a compress and a q-tip. We put in hydrogen peroxide and used a q-tip to insert Neosporin. When we let her go, she did a lot of scratching of her ear and yawning. She has had very gurgley breathing for a while now, and been yawning. Rosie has been the only one to have any issues. She had bumble foot last year. We had to soak her foot every day and give her antibiotics. Do you think this requires any antibiotics? I haven't read the respiratory disease article yet. Just wanted to get this back to you. Thanks so much for your help.

 

[Eggcessive]

Antibiotics are very hard to get except from a vet. Sometimes you can find Fish Mox amoxicillin at TSC, but it is available online. That might help if the ear infection is bacterial, but it can also be viral or fungal, and those would not respond. One article I read said that it could be a protozoa infection as well. Here are 2 threads with posts by @dawg53 that may help:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...nfection-in-a-silkie-hen-graphic-pics.831156/

 

[Deirdrejd]

Thank you, again.