Mouth Canker Help

[Seagle]

Hello! I haven’t made any posts in here yet so i’m not sure how this works, but i’ll try to keep it succinct:

Our chicken, Gerta, has canker. I’ve checked it next to other diseases and the symptoms match closely with this one, though her case isn’t as severe as some.
She’s an otherwise healthy, chunky chicken and as long as she’s been with us hasn’t had any issues. We got her from another person who we no longer have contact with, so I have no idea if this is a recurrence of canker or her first time.
symptoms include vomiting, mouth sores, and some difficulty swallowing (though she hasn’t stopped eating or drinking yet and is still able to get it down). She looks a little lethargic sometimes, but will readily come running for food when we walk up to their area.
Vets are very, very expensive where we are, so my parents will probably want to make sure we go through every other solution before the vet.
A previous old chicken had myctoplasma, so we still have leftover probiotic powder we were giving her after her round of antibiotics. The specific brand is Synbiotic 180-S 150g Vetafarm, in case that’s important! The girls have been on it for just over a week with me changing their water and readding the probiotics every two days (their water bowls are 4L old ice cream tubs, and we have half a tub of the probiotic left, so I’m trying to make it last).
I’ve been checking on her and inside her mouth, and the canker doesn’t appear to have gotten worse, but it hasn’t gotten much better, either. Her condition has stayed much the same, but I’m noticing slightly more lethargy. I’ve seen varying sources on whether or not to pull it out with tweezers, so am not sure how to proceed. Should I be changing their water more often? Is it okay to remove the canker, and will there be a risk of her bleeding out? If so, how could this be avoided? Is there anything we should be doing in conjunction?
this is a difficult illness to treat because I’ve seen so much conflicting information, so any help or shared experience would be much appreciated!!

p.s. taking pictures might be very very hard (she barely holds still for me to check in her mouth) but if the need be I can try to snap some!)

 

[dawg53]

Purchase Acidified Copper Sulfate. Dosage is 1/4 teaspoon per gallon of water for 3 days once a month. Do not overdose and use a plastic container when administering it.
Canker is contagious and birds are carriers for life. This is why you must dose once a month to keep it in check. Here's where you can purchase it:
https://www.jefferspet.com/acidified-copper-sulfate/p

 

[Seagle]

Purchase Acidified Copper Sulfate. Dosage is 1/4 teaspoon per gallon of water for 3 days once a month. Do not overdose and use a plastic container when administering it.
Canker is contagious and birds are carriers for life. This is why you must dose once a month to keep it in check. Here's where you can purchase it:
https://www.jefferspet.com/acidified-copper-sulfate/p

Hello, thanks so much!! I’ll get some ASAP. Do you know if i should remove the canker or leave it? Will the copper sulfate get rid of it or is this something that should be done manually?

 

[dawg53]

Leave it. The copper sulfate will treat it.

 

[Seagle]

Leave it. The copper sulfate will treat it.

Hello, just wanted to ask how long the girls can be on copper sulphate for? I know you said 3 days but it’s the end of the 2nd day for us and I’ve only now noticed it starting to go black around the edges and a little dry at the top. The canker isn’t even close to fully gone, the poor thing if they’ve got it in their water for a few more days will it hurt them??

 

[Seagle]

Hello! I haven’t made any posts in here yet so i’m not sure how this works, but i’ll try to keep it succinct:

Our chicken, Gerta, has canker. I’ve checked it next to other diseases and the symptoms match closely with this one, though her case isn’t as severe as some.
She’s an otherwise healthy, chunky chicken and as long as she’s been with us hasn’t had any issues. We got her from another person who we no longer have contact with, so I have no idea if this is a recurrence of canker or her first time.
symptoms include vomiting, mouth sores, and some difficulty swallowing (though she hasn’t stopped eating or drinking yet and is still able to get it down). She looks a little lethargic sometimes, but will readily come running for food when we walk up to their area.
Vets are very, very expensive where we are, so my parents will probably want to make sure we go through every other solution before the vet.
A previous old chicken had myctoplasma, so we still have leftover probiotic powder we were giving her after her round of antibiotics. The specific brand is Synbiotic 180-S 150g Vetafarm, in case that’s important! The girls have been on it for just over a week with me changing their water and readding the probiotics every two days (their water bowls are 4L old ice cream tubs, and we have half a tub of the probiotic left, so I’m trying to make it last).
I’ve been checking on her and inside her mouth, and the canker doesn’t appear to have gotten worse, but it hasn’t gotten much better, either. Her condition has stayed much the same, but I’m noticing slightly more lethargy. I’ve seen varying sources on whether or not to pull it out with tweezers, so am not sure how to proceed. Should I be changing their water more often? Is it okay to remove the canker, and will there be a risk of her bleeding out? If so, how could this be avoided? Is there anything we should be doing in conjunction?
this is a difficult illness to treat because I’ve seen so much conflicting information, so any help or shared experience would be much appreciated!!

p.s. taking pictures might be very very hard (she barely holds still for me to check in her mouth) but if the need be I can try to snap some!)

Just wanted to update, we got the copper sulphate to her right as she started getting more lethargic and less enthusiastic about food. I thought this might have been because of the canker, and was relieved we got the copper to her in time, but I just fed her some liquid feed via medicine dropper and noticed mites!! Agh!! It’s too late in the day to go out and buy stuff but we’ll go get some stuff for her tomorrow, in the meantime i sprayed her with basically an entire bottle’s worth of very pungent garlic spray and dealt with the mites climbing up me to escape the smell. Not fun. I suspect it‘s because she’s been sick and hasn’t been dust bathing This poor girl can’t catch a break!!! (p.s. none of the other girls have been experiencing symptoms of mites and the ones I found on Gerta weren’t red like some pictures I’ve seen, so hopefully nothing some treatment won’t fix!)

 

[Eggcessive]

Permethrin garden dust or the permethrin horse spray is good for mites and lice. Use about 1/2 ounce of the spray or dust the chicken rubbing it into the skin beneath the feathers. Then in 7 days, repeat the treatment. The bedding also needs to be removed and the coop treated.

 

[Seagle]

Permethrin garden dust or the permethrin horse spray is good for mites and lice. Use about 1/2 ounce of the spray or dust the chicken rubbing it into the skin beneath the feathers. Then in 7 days, repeat the treatment. The bedding also needs to be removed and the coop treated.

Awesome, thank you! We’ll get some more hay tomorrow too

 

[Seagle]

Hello! I haven’t made any posts in here yet so i’m not sure how this works, but i’ll try to keep it succinct:

Our chicken, Gerta, has canker. I’ve checked it next to other diseases and the symptoms match closely with this one, though her case isn’t as severe as some.
She’s an otherwise healthy, chunky chicken and as long as she’s been with us hasn’t had any issues. We got her from another person who we no longer have contact with, so I have no idea if this is a recurrence of canker or her first time.
symptoms include vomiting, mouth sores, and some difficulty swallowing (though she hasn’t stopped eating or drinking yet and is still able to get it down). She looks a little lethargic sometimes, but will readily come running for food when we walk up to their area.
Vets are very, very expensive where we are, so my parents will probably want to make sure we go through every other solution before the vet.
A previous old chicken had myctoplasma, so we still have leftover probiotic powder we were giving her after her round of antibiotics. The specific brand is Synbiotic 180-S 150g Vetafarm, in case that’s important! The girls have been on it for just over a week with me changing their water and readding the probiotics every two days (their water bowls are 4L old ice cream tubs, and we have half a tub of the probiotic left, so I’m trying to make it last).
I’ve been checking on her and inside her mouth, and the canker doesn’t appear to have gotten worse, but it hasn’t gotten much better, either. Her condition has stayed much the same, but I’m noticing slightly more lethargy. I’ve seen varying sources on whether or not to pull it out with tweezers, so am not sure how to proceed. Should I be changing their water more often? Is it okay to remove the canker, and will there be a risk of her bleeding out? If so, how could this be avoided? Is there anything we should be doing in conjunction?
this is a difficult illness to treat because I’ve seen so much conflicting information, so any help or shared experience would be much appreciated!!

p.s. taking pictures might be very very hard (she barely holds still for me to check in her mouth) but if the need be I can try to snap some!)

Alright, last update. Gerta died last night, unfortunately. We put her in a pet carrier overnight so she didn’t get trampled in the morning by the other girls but she must have died in her sleep. It double sucks because the mites were dying and the canker was just going black, so she should have been getting better. I fed her liquid feed with a medicine dropper too, just to make sure she was getting something, but it all must have been too much for her in the end. Well, I can’t say I didn’t try at least now we have stuff immediately on hand if any of the other girls get sick. Sigh.

 

[dawg53]

I'm sorry for your loss. The copper sulfate takes time to heal, canker doesnt go away overnight, it is a long term treatment because birds are carriers of the disease once diagnosed. In this instance, the lesions were turning black. I have no idea why they were turning black unless it wasnt canker and possibly some type of cancer.
Canker presents a foul odor in the mouth. If you didnt smell a foul odor, it wasnt canker.

Additionally, Gerta had mites. Mites suck blood (black or red mites), cause anemia, then death.
If I were you, I'd closely inspect your other birds for mites, especially around the vent area where it's warm and moist and treat accordingly. You will also have clean out the coop and nest boxes and treat them as well, same with new bedding after you dispose of the old bedding, including nest boxes.

Finally, you mentioned Mycoplasma in one of your old birds. Both Mycoplasma Gallisepticum (MG) and Mycoplasma Synoviae (MS) are highly contagious to other birds.
Symptoms can vary from mild to extreme sickness. Both can be transmitted to other birds on your person, poultry waterers/feeders, your shoes, equipment etc...
You must maintain a closed flock. No new birds in, no birds out, no eggs to be sold or given away to be hatched because Mycoplasma can pass through eggs. Eggs are safe to eat.