Canker or wet pox? Something else?

[rye_awry]

Hi all, hoping to get some help with my hen. She’s about a year and a half, EE/Ameraucana.

I noticed earlier this week that she was sleeping more, tucking her head into her feathers. Then Thursday I noticed her eye was closed/injured/unwell. Friday morning she’s lethargic and has labored breathing so I grab her and check her out. Come to find this yellow sore thing at the roof of her mouth. This is the worst the eye looked (but I had done Vetericyn wash and gel about an hour before this, so that might be part of the liquid present). Her eye actually looks way better now after a few treatments. I’ve got her separated. No other chickens acting weird, but I haven’t inspected any other beaks inside either as of right now. Her stool is green, watery. I can get a pic later. She’s eating and drinking.

I’m worried it’s maybe wet pox, hoping it’s maybe canker? I’ve never dealt with either before. I’m worried this will cause her to choke or starve if it gets worse. I haven’t noticed a smell but haven’t stuck my nose down by her beak.

She’s one of 20 birds divided into two flocks but sharing a connected coop/run, pretty spacious (more than the recommended minimum for both coop and run area per bird). Haven’t been getting chicken tractor time since summer.

Right now all I’ve done is been treating the eye, and given her ACV and vitamins and electrolytes in her water. I have metronidazole I can start her on.

Pics are from Friday. No vet could see her that day.

Any help with diagnosis and treatment is greatly appreciated. Let me know if I can provide any more relevant info.

 

[Sparrows]

@Eggcessive @Wyorp Rock

 

[nuthatched]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/canker-in-chickens.78133/

 

[Eggcessive]

I would continue to smell any odor from the beak and head. It may well be canker, but wet pox could also be possible if you have had any cases of fowl pox this year. You may want to go ahead and start the metronidazole and give 250 mg daily for 5 days. Have you seen any respiratory disease, such as mycoplasma/MG, or coryza in any of your birds in the recent past? I would try to see if her nasal passages are open since the yellow plaque could be blocking her sinuses. That may be why the eye is draining. But that could be a respiratory disease as well. Canker can invade the beak, throat, esophagus, and crop. Removal of the plaques may clear the opening of her airway, but it can bleed. A vet could take a sample of the yellow plaque to look at under a microscope to help identify what it is.

 

[rye_awry]

I would continue to smell any odor from the beak and head. It may well be canker, but wet pox could also be possible if you have had any cases of fowl pox this year. You may want to go ahead and start the metronidazole and give 250 mg daily for 5 days. Have you seen any respiratory disease, such as mycoplasma/MG, or coryza in any of your birds in the recent past? I would try to see if her nasal passages are open since the yellow plaque could be blocking her sinuses. That may be why the eye is draining. But that could be a respiratory disease as well. Canker can invade the beak, throat, esophagus, and crop. Removal of the plaques may clear the opening of her airway, but it can bleed. A vet could take a sample of the yellow plaque to look at under a microscope to help identify what it is.

Thank you for the detailed response. I have not seen any pox or diseases in my flock. I’ll try to examine her nasal passages and monitor for odor.

Can you suggest the best way to administer MetroPlex?