[Lost in France]

Hello,

One of my silkie hens was quite poorly about a month ago. She was lethargic and really not doing well and she had white cheesy stuff inside of her mouth and throut which made her gape. The others were/are fine. She's about 4 years old.

I wormed her and she came indoors for some TLC and to ensure she got food and water, vitamins etc. We picked out the white stuff as it made it hard for her to swallow etc and she had cider vinegar in her water. She returned to the others after about a week and seemed fine, eating, pecking around etc but today she seems to have got the cheesy stuff back but much worse. We've removed what we can and she is no longer gaping but I'm worried that it's not clearing up.

Searching the forum, I think that it's a fungal infection. What should I give her or ask the vet for as we're in France and vets don't really "do" chickens here!

Don't want to euthanase her but if that's the kindest, I'd rather she didn't suffer like this.

Judi

[joyfull]

See if you can get some Nystatin - this is an anti fungal and when mine had a fungal problem it was administered via a syringe however I can't remember how much the dosage was (not a lot as they were young) but it was twice a day.

[Carla]

I think thats used in oral thrush. My toddler was prescribed it when he had thrush from taking antibiotics. Maybe a childrens oral thrush treatment might help things? It would be gentle but have the anti-fungal that it seems your chicken needs?? What do you think Joyfull??

[joyfull]

thats the stuff but cant remember the dosage though

[jinty1911]

Yes it sounds like thrush, which it a fungal infection.  Usually it clears up within a few days if you get the right treatment, (They prescribe Canistan here).  I know you can buy it here over the counter.  My 2 month old grand-daughter had thrush in her mouth and she was quite distressed because she couldn't feed properly but within a day or 2 of getting oral treatment she was much better. 

[Lost in France]

Oh dear, not so simple in France! I tried to get Nystatin but couldn't and the vet wouldn't give anything without seeing her. Took her in today and he has given Mycolicine which is 8% Chloramphenicol. Can't seem to find anything anywhere suggesting this will help...it's for cage birds and looks like an antibiotic. He suggested I could dose them all for 6 days. I'll have to syringe it in as it's such a little bottle, it's not feasable to add to the drinking water.

As she was clearly getting worse and I couldn't get an appointment with the vet till this morning, I gave her a dose of Panacur for her weight, on Saturday. Last time this seemed to sort it but it returned, presumable it's in the flock somewhere so everyone needs dosing. We are quite meticulous with hygeine and clean the henhouse a couple of times a week and use Poultry Shield each time.

Any ideas? Is it going to help giving the Chloramphenicol and, if I do, what is the egg withdrawal period...not mentioned on the leaflet nor by the vet as I guess canaries and parrots eggs aren't normally used for breakfast!

Meanwhile the hen is in a run in the garden, she' s eating and pottering although likes to rest in her "infirmary", for periods too!

[darkbrowneggs]

Is it definately white? 

I know there is a yellow throat canker which comes from wild birds and pigeons, and can be spread via drinking water.  I think it is fairly easy to treat.  Try Googling pigeon canker   or  trichomoniasis

If you click on the "images" bit it gives you lots of pictures

all the best
Sue

[Carla]

If it is thrush...then natural remidies may be useful while you're trying to track down some canasten. Found this...obviouisly for humans, but there may be something useful there somewhere....

Oral thrush comes from an overgrowth of Candida Albinans. It is a fungus that lives in the body and feeds on processed sugar and carbohydrates. So if you want to go for a natural treatment, the first thing to do is to watch what you are eating.

For the length of the treatment, you must avoid all breads, pastries, pasta, or mostly anything with wheat, rye, buckwheat, kamut... avoid all yeast.
Also avoid all sugar, especially processed sugars. That includes stuff like maple syrup, honey, brown sugar, molasses... if you can, eat less fruits. Choose berries, grapefruit, cranberries, lemons and limes.

You can eat brown rice, quinoa, millet. You can eat meat, fish, tofu, nuts. You should eat a lot of fresh vegetables, especially garlic. And you can drink milk, eat yogurt, and a bit of cheese.

So yeah basically it's a really healthy diet. I would recommend keeping this diet two or three weeks to be sure that the infection will not come back. This diet will help the Candida go away and keep it away, but this only is probably not enough.

In this battle, your main allies are:

- Garlic: eat a lot of it, preferably raw. It has anti-fungal properties.

- Pro biotic Yogurt: Candida Albicans overgrowth can be controlled by helping the 'good' bacterias in your body who feed on acidophilus.

- Oregano oil: this one is really powerful. 5 or 6 drops in a glass of water, 3 to 5 times a day.

[Lost in France]

Thank you for your advice everyone. The girls already have a very healthy diet and lifestyle including live yogart and other healthy interesting titbits so I think it really needs more. Wouldn't want to use oregano oil in case it is toxic to a hen, specially as she's already under the weather. However, it does look and sound like pigeon canker and yes it does look yellowish so I think I'll have to get some pigeon canker treatment through the Internet and just continue the vets antibiotics till it arrives. It's very frustrating not being able to get the stuff we need for the animals easily over here! If she were a cow or a pig there wouldn't be a problem but "a hen"? Any sick hens are just dispatched as not worth treating.

Has anyone used the pigeon canker sachets or tablets with sucess on poultry? I'll do the flock in case someone carrying it but it looks as though it may have been brought by wild birds or pigeons. We dop keep free-flying doves and they're all fine but they do attract passing pigeons pinching their grub so maybe they're the culprits!