Chicken with swelling around ear, eyes and neck.

[Klchristian87]

Looking for insight potential diagnosis or advice. I have this almost 2 year old hen that started with swelling on her ear lobe. No opening or scab on the lump until a few days after noticing. She's not one of my friendlier girls so I'm not sure how long she's had it. 0 other symptoms that I noticed, no eye bubbles or discharge and no decline in mobility or activity. I did start giving her amoxicillin 2x a day and put wonder dust on the lump bc it seemed she snagged it on something or it was pecked and opened up. Since beginning antibiotics she just as active and engaged but she's developed swelling on the opposite side around her eye and a lump behind her neck. The lump on her neck is opened so I treated with the wonder dust as well. She doesn't seem to be responding to medicine, swelling/sores aren't getting any better but not necessarily worse either with the exception of the swelling around the eye. The swelling around her eye has increased and I'm sure is inhibiting her vision. I thought coryza? But she doesn't smell? And that seems to be a major indicator of coryza? Mycoplasma? But thought she would have kicked the bucket by now? Ear/sinus infection? It's been 2 weeks since I noticed the symptoms and 10 days with treatment and no real improvements... I had an older bird with mobility issues for about 3 weeks, a week overlap, I thought she'd got knocked off the new roost and hurt her leg, but coryza can cause them to lay on side from swollen joints? But she didn't have swelling or raspy breathing or any similar symptoms to this bird. So potential just coincidence? I'm thinking I'll move my sick chicken to my brooder area to prevent further exposure to any of my other birds...

 

[Klchristian87]

Looking for insight potential diagnosis or advice. I have this almost 2 year old hen that started with swelling on her ear lobe. No opening or scab on the lump until a few days after noticing. She's not one of my friendlier girls so I'm not sure how long she's had it. 0 other symptoms that I noticed, no eye bubbles or discharge and no decline in mobility or activity. I did start giving her amoxicillin 2x a day and put wonder dust on the lump bc it seemed she snagged it on something or it was pecked and opened up. Since beginning antibiotics she just as active and engaged but she's developed swelling on the opposite side around her eye and a lump behind her neck. The lump on her neck is opened so I treated with the wonder dust as well. She doesn't seem to be responding to medicine, swelling/sores aren't getting any better but not necessarily worse either with the exception of the swelling around the eye. The swelling around her eye has increased and I'm sure is inhibiting her vision. I thought coryza? But she doesn't smell? And that seems to be a major indicator of coryza? Mycoplasma? But thought she would have kicked the bucket by now? Ear/sinus infection? It's been 2 weeks since I noticed the symptoms and 10 days with treatment and no real improvements... I had an older bird with mobility issues for about 3 weeks, a week overlap, I thought she'd got knocked off the new roost and hurt her leg, but coryza can cause them to lay on side from swollen joints? But she didn't have swelling or raspy breathing or any similar symptoms to this bird. So potential just coincidence? I'm thinking I'll move my sick chicken to my brooder area to prevent further exposure to any of my other birds... any advice would be appreciated, thank you

 

[Eggcessive]

Can you post any pictures of her swollen eye, neck, and ear? If she has mycoplasma MG, amoxicillin is not usually good for that since the mycoplasma organism does not have a cell wall. Tylosin, doxycycline, oxytetracycline, or Denagard/Tiaguard are ones that are used to treat it. Could she have been pecked or stung by an insect? Have you checked the ear canal with a QTip for any ear drainage or mites? Here is some reading about the lack of a cell wall in mycoplasma:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mycop... triple-layered membrane and lack a cell wall.

 

[Klchristian87]

I may have 2 threads with the same message, or I just failed to get my pictures attached properly. I did investigate her ear canal and it just looks a little dirty with some tiny feathers by it. She didn't mind with a brushed at it.

 

[Eggcessive]

I just saw your other thread with the pictures. That looks pretty bad. Could she have been stung or pecked? Maybe a spider bite? How long has this been going on? If she has been on amoxicillin 10 days, I would try Tylosin or doxycycline. Separating her may be best for now. I am going to ask a moderator to combine your two threads, so we can just reply to one.

 

[Klchristian87]

Can you post any pictures of her swollen eye, neck, and ear? If she has mycoplasma MG, amoxicillin is not usually good for that since the mycoplasma organism does not have a cell wall. Tylosin, doxycycline, oxytetracycline, or Denagard/Tiaguard are ones that are used to treat it. Could she have been pecked or stung by an insect? Have you checked the ear canal with a QTip for any ear drainage or mites? Here is some reading about the lack of a cell wall in mycoplasma:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mycoplasma_hominis_infection#:~:text=Mycoplasmas have a triple-layered membrane and lack a cell wall.

I did not check her ear with a q tip but can do later today. I just treated the girls and coop in July with elector PSP as a preventative. I don't think it's likely she was stung, but potentially a bee, wasp or carpenter ant.

 

[Klchristian87]

I just saw your other thread with the pictures. That looks pretty bad. Could she have been stung or pecked? Maybe a spider bite? How long has this been going on? If she has been on amoxicillin 10 days, I would try Tylosin or doxycycline. I am going to ask a moderator to combine your two threads, so we can just reply to one.

Thanks, I appreciate. Yes, she's definitely had better days. It's been 2 weeks since I noticed the swelling on her ear, and 10 days since starting amoxicillin. The swelling on her eye has been there for 11 days

 

[Eggcessive]

I would use some Terramycin eye ointment from a feed store or plain Neosporin in her eye twice a day to treat infection. Hopefully others will have a clue what this might be. If you should lose her one day, I would let your state vet do a necropsy which includes testing for diseases. Here is a list of state vets:
https://www.metzerfarms.com/poultry-labs.html

 

[Klchristian87]

I would use some Terramycin eye ointment from a feed store or plain Neosporin in her eye twice a day to treat infection. Hopefully others will have a clue what this might be. If you should lose her one day, I would let your state vet do a necropsy which includes testing for diseases. Here is a list of state vets:
https://www.metzerfarms.com/poultry-labs.html

I do have some terramycin ordered and will start when I receive it. I appreciate your help and insight. I plan on posting updates incase it helps anyone else later on down the road.

 

[Klchristian87]

On the off chance it helps someone else... my chicken died today, but I can let you know what did not work for me... amoxicillin 2x day for 10 days, little to no response beyond potentially assisting with secondary infection. Terramycin ointment in swollen eye 2x a day for 7 days after no response from antibiotic. No noticeable differences, I was just crossing my fingers it would help her until a different antibiotic arrived in the mail. Treated any pecking/surface abrasions on swelling with wonder dust and it did seem to help. The lump on her neck did seem to shrink some.
Just received enrofloxacin to try and more versatile antibiotic, but obviously unsure if it would have helped or not. I'm not sure I'm up for the task of attempting a necropsy myself and unfortunately I was out of town when she passed and the and have already gotten to her to... I think decomp had already set in and too late to send to ag extention office...