Ear Infection for the 2nd time, worse than last time. Need advice please

[ChickInnMama]

Hi, we have a little Easter Egger Charlotte. Last year right around this time (I think earlyJune last year) she had a swollen ear and her eye swelled shut. We tried everything, we asked for advice here, but we didn’t realize her ear was swollen until someone asked us in the thread and we checked. Anyway, long story short, we tried everything and ended up having to use fishmox (amoxicillin) and it cleared up. When it happened again this year we started the antibiotics immediately since that’s what worked last year and it’s the exact same scenario. We are on day 10, our last day of antibiotics and it’s not only still swollen but her face is kinda swollen on that side. If we push on her ear she gets a few bubbles in her eye. We found another thread the other day that was almost exactly like her situation and they had said to push on the ear to try to get the puss out and to use hydrogen peroxide so we did. That seemed to make it worse, before we did that you could see a tiny hole in her ear verses now it’s so swollen that it’s just completely puffed out and the hole is completely swollen shut. And after we did that is when her face got puffy. No puss came out, but none came out last time either, it just seemed to slowly drain. I’m at a loss right now, she’s acting fine, eating and drinking, she seems to be breathing fine and she isn’t making any raspy noises or anything. I just watched a YouTube video on VetRx, I thought we had tried that last time without success, but he was able to to cure his birds swollen face/upper respiratory infection by using it twice a day on her comb and wattle. So I’m going to try that now. I just wanted to see if anyone had any other ideas or thoughts or have experienced this? I did not separate her this time, last time we did but it seemed to only affect her and everyone else is fine and she’s happier with everyone else free ranging. Thanks so much! I’ll attach a few pictures of our cutie I know her eye looks a weird color in one photo, she’s had a weird permanent scratch that looks blue since she was a chick and it’s mostly cleared up but sometimes her eye looks cloudy like that.

 

[Eggcessive]

I would treat her for possible mycoplasma (MG,) since that can cause the eye bubbles, swollen face and swollen ear. Tylosin powder for the water is fairly easy to get online, and some use Denagard or a few others. Amoxicillin does not treat MG. Here is where to find it:
https://jedds.com/products/tylosin-powder
Dosage is 1 tsp per gallon of water for 5 days.

 

[ChickInnMama]

Okay thank you! Is it safe for all my chickens to have it if they don’t need it or should I separate her so I can put it in her water?

 

[ChickInnMama]

I just bought it but it says it won’t be delivered until May 20th, so 10 days. Hopefully she’s okay until then I’m going to use the VetRx in the meantime. Thank you again!

 

[Eggcessive]

Yes, unfortunately, mail order medications take awhile to get there. It is good to have it on hand for any future outbreaks. Vets can prescribe antibiotics if you see them. I would not give the Tylosin antibiotic to any chicken unless they have the same symptoms. You can separate the chicken and Tylosin water plus their food inside a wire dog crate near the others. At night, they could go roost with the others.

 

[ChickInnMama]

Thank you!!