Thyme, Hydrogen Peroxide or Metronidazole for small canker infection?

[ArtCaptain]

I have 3 hens that have gotten infected by canker:
1. An amerucana naked neck hybrid that looks like an amerucana probably weighs around 3 pounds. This one has two yellow thingys on boths sides of its mouth.
2. A silkie that weighed around 2 pounds last time I checked. This one has one small yellow lump forming on one side.
3. Another amerucana naked neck hybrid that looks like a naked neck probably weighs around 3 pounds. This one basically has like a dot of yellow forming on one side.
I've been putting Apple Cider vinegar in the water they all drink out of.
However, since they recently got it the infection is fairly small. Anyways I've been doing some research on how to treat it and found several ways.

Thyme apparently works like metronidazole? I recently ordered some thyme extract from amazon and I was wondering if anyone has used it on their chickens before? My father also gave me the idea of dabbing a swab with hyrdogen peroxide on their mouths however I know that is for external use only not internal use but it does kill infections. I have metronidazole but they are 500 mg tablets that I got from a doctor last year. They expire in October.

Do you guys have any advice for what I should try? I've had a hen die from it before I don't want it to happen again!



(Also there aren't really any vets around here that treat chickens. If there are it's probably expensive)

Source
http://www.poultrydvm.com/condition/canker

 

[Eggcessive]

Could you post any pictures of the lesions on the beaks? Could fowl pox be a possibility? Do you have a vet that could help with diagnosis and treatment? If I were treating canker, I would use the metronidazole (Fish zole, Flagyl) at 25 mg per pound given twice a day for 5 days.

 

[sourland]

@casportpony, may be able to help with dosages. Metronidazole was the drug of choice when treating pigeons. Try to determine what is causing these outbreaks. Stress seems to be a big factor in pigeons.

 

[casportpony]

Pictures would be helpful. According to an avian pathologist at UC Davis that I use, canker in chickens is rare. I think he said he hadn't seen a chicken with canker in the ten years that he has been there, so given what he said, and that you have three with yellow substance, I would be thinking of other things, like wet pox maybe?

The metronidazole dose that @Eggcessive suggested is what I use either once or twice a day. Be very careful not to give more because it can cause seizures and/death.

 

[casportpony]

@ArtCaptain , I see your profile says "The IE in CA". Is that Inland Empire, California? If so, contact the CAHFS UC Davis lab in San Bernadino and figure out a way to have them test the yellow stuff. Here is a link to the lab:
http://www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/cahfs/about/locations/sanb.cfm

 

[casportpony]

@casportpony, may be able to help with dosages. Metronidazole was the drug of choice when treating pigeons. Try to determine what is causing these outbreaks. Stress seems to be a big factor in pigeons.

X2. I also have pigeons, : hide, so I have seem canker in two of them, and Metronidazole worked on one. I think I read that 80% of pigeons have canker.

@Hokum Coco , can you share what you know about canker?

 

[ArtCaptain]

@ArtCaptain , I see your profile says "The IE in CA". Is that Inland Empire, California? If so, contact the CAHFS UC Davis lab in San Bernadino and figure out a way to have them test the yellow stuff. Here is a link to the lab:
http://www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/cahfs/about/locations/sanb.cfm

Yea I live in the Inland Empire! I didn't know that we could take our animals to go get tested. I looked at the fee page and I'm going to assume that it'll be around $1 - $60 depending on what the hen has? Anyways I'll try to get pictures if one of my family members volunteers to take them while I hold their mouths open. However I'd estimate that the biggest yellow thing is no bigger than an eraser on a pencil.

 

[ArtCaptain]

@casportpony, may be able to help with dosages. Metronidazole was the drug of choice when treating pigeons. Try to determine what is causing these outbreaks. Stress seems to be a big factor in pigeons.

We actually don't have any pigeons that land near our yard (they stick to flying by the roofs of some restaurants nearby) but we do have doves! I figured that they might have canker, they might spread it in the water when they come down and drink every now. However I put up a bunch of old CDs in my trees so we haven't had that many birds land here recently.

 

[ArtCaptain]

Could you post any pictures of the lesions on the beaks? Could fowl pox be a possibility? Do you have a vet that could help with diagnosis and treatment? If I were treating canker, I would use the metronidazole (Fish zole, Flagyl) at 25 mg per pound given twice a day for 5 days.

I have 500 mg tablets of Metronidazole for humans if that works. I'm thinking of giving them maybe less than that since they barley have any canker. Also I just got some thyme extract and I'm thinking of giving them just a little to see what it does. Since my sources say orally I'm thinking I'll have to mix some of it with water.

 

[casportpony]

I have 500 mg tablets of Metronidazole for humans if that works. I'm thinking of giving them maybe less than that since they barley have any canker. Also I just got some thyme extract and I'm thinking of giving them just a little to see what it does. Since my sources say orally I'm thinking I'll have to mix some of it with water.

If they are average sized hens they can have 1/4 of your 500 mg tablet once a day for five days.