I have a 2 year old Salmon Faverolle hen, Sunflower, with a weird beak thing going on. On the right side of her beak, there is a small cut in her beak, which I noticed a few days ago. There was a little bit of black near it, but today I noticed that the black has stretched across almost her entire beak. She has no other symptoms. Is this just dirt or should I be concerned? Is there something I can do??
It is always best to post a picture of what you are seeing. It sounds a little like it could possibly be canker or trichomonas, but the picture may help. Canker typically has a bad odor when you smell the breath. Wet fowl pox sometimes can look like canker. If you think it my be canker, it can be treated with Fish Zole, Flagyl, or metronidazole 250 mg daily given by mouth for 5 days. Here is a link about canker: Oral Canker Oral Canker is a condition which can be found in a wide variety of birds and most commonly in pigeons. Causes It is caused by a motile protozoal parasite called Trichomonas gallinae. This parasite can cause caseous lesions of the mouth, pharynx, oesophagus and in certain circumstances, further down the digestive tract. These lesions can become extremely extensive. This causes the birds to stop eating and drinking, in severe cases the extensive nature of the lesions combined with not eating and drinking leads the chickens to die. Diagnosis Diagnosis is often based upon clinical signs but wet smears can be examined under the microscope to confirm clinical suspicions. Speak to your vet. Treatment The treatment traditionally involved the use of a drug called Dimetridazole, however, this drug is no longer available or licensed for use in the UK. The affected chicken in these photos was treated with Metronidazole, this is a UK licensed medication but is not used in poultry therefore it had to be prescribed under the rules of the Veterinary Medicines Directorate cascade. This also means that any eggs the chicken may lay during treatment and for a specified period after treatment would need to be discarded. Her eggs must never be sold for human consumption. The owner of the hen was extremely pleased with the outcome and has supplied us with plenty of photos to monitor the hen’s progress.