White lesions in mouth - diagnosis?

[LikeTurkeys]

Hello,
Last night, I noticed that my 2 year old Dominique rooster had some small, white lesions in his mouth. I saw them because he had yawned and they caught my eye, but they were small so I had to double-check. He does not have any other symptoms other than perhaps a little more saliva than usual and of a thicker consistency. I am not yet sure what the cause is as there are a variety of possibilities presented by the internet - canker, wet fowl pox, thrush and bacterial reasons...

I looked into the mouths of the rest of my flock today (22 birds), and observed that one other rooster (a Buff Orpington) and maybe 2-4 hens have similar looking lesions, but again small in size and quantity. None of the birds had bad breath, which I've read is characteristic of canker. They also don't seem to be having any respiratory issues - sneezing, gurgling or the like. Again it appeared that affected birds had more thick saliva than birds that were not affected, just as with the Dominique. Activity appears to be normal.

Should I quarantine the affected birds apart from the flock? I can make accommodations in the garage for around 5 birds, maybe more if need be. I can also put a wire crate in the coop with separate water and feed - that would allow them to still see each other. None of that might be necessary of course, so I'd like some feedback on that.

Here are some photos of the affected roosters (I can provide some of the hens as well if necessary). The Dominique:

Here I've circled a lesion, on the opposite side of his beak from the one visible above:

Here is the BO rooster, again I have circled the white spots.

I would truly appreciate feedback on this. I am willing to get testing done if you think it is necessary. Also, I took some swabs of the Dominique's saliva and put it under my microscope but did not observe any moving objects or things out of the ordinary. Just what appeared to be dead skin cells.

Thanks!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I'm tagging in @dawg53 to get his opinion.

To me, if there is no bad odor then it may be thrush, but you have several birds that have the lesions too - so Canker does come to mind. You could try treating all with Acidified Copper Sulfate to see if that helps. Keep your water stations cleaned and take note that all bird's crops are emptying overnight.
https://www.jedds.com/shop/acidified-copper-sulfate-16-oz-agrilabs/

 

[dawg53]

Scroll down to #2 in this link and please read the whole paragraph, particularly the second sentence:
https://canadianpoultry.ca/lifestyl...similar lesions in young chickens and turkeys.

 

[theoldchick]

https://www.thepoultrysite.com/disease-guide/candidiasis-moniliasis-thrush

https://www.thepoultrysite.com/disease-guide/trichomoniasis-canker-frounce

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

 

[Eggcessive]

I would worm him with Valbazen or SafeGuard Liquid Goat Wormer to get any possible worms. Valbazen dosage is 1/2 ml given orally, and repeated in 10 days. If using SafeGuard given 1/4 ml per pound given orally for 5 straight days. He certainly has a lot of mucus inside his beak, along with the white plaques. Can you check their crops early morning before they have eaten or drunk water, to make sure they are emptying overnight? A thrush or fungal infection might cause crop problems. I would also check beaks often for any increase in the white material. Canker (trichmoniasis) and fowl pox material is usually yellow. Fowl pox only occurs when mosquitoes are out in warm weather.

 

[LikeTurkeys]

Thank you all for your responses.

I'm tagging in @dawg53 to get his opinion.

To me, if there is no bad odor then it may be thrush, but you have several birds that have the lesions too - so Canker does come to mind. You could try treating all with Acidified Copper Sulfate to see if that helps. Keep your water stations cleaned and take note that all bird's crops are emptying overnight.
https://www.jedds.com/shop/acidified-copper-sulfate-16-oz-agrilabs/

I checked their crops before they ate this morning and it looks like everybody is emptying normally. I'm cleaning their coop water and keeping them in so that they don't have access to puddles outside that I can't manage and that wild birds have access to. Not sure if this would help or make it worse since now they are certainly all drinking from the same water source and exposing each other. Thank you for the link to the acidified copper sulfate - I might try that.

Scroll down to #2 in this link and please read the whole paragraph, particularly the second sentence:
https://canadianpoultry.ca/lifestyle/diagnosis-of-poultry-disease/#:~:text=White plaques beside the tongue in the mouth,produce similar lesions in young chickens and turkeys.

Thanks for the link. So, do you think that mycotoxicity or low humidity could be a cause? How low does the humidity have to be to cause lesions like this? I checked their feed and it looks normal, not damp or moldy - it's a 20% grower crumble for reference. The humidity has been around 30-40% the last couple weeks during the daytime. We had much lower last month when there were some east winds - around 10-20% but I did not observe anything out of the ordinary then.

https://www.thepoultrysite.com/disease-guide/candidiasis-moniliasis-thrush

https://www.thepoultrysite.com/disease-guide/trichomoniasis-canker-frounce

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

Thanks for the links. After reading through them, it would seem as though canker is more likely than thrush, especially given that their crops seem to be emptying normally.

I would worm him with Valbazen or SafeGuard Liquid Goat Wormer to get any possible worms. Valbazen dosage is 1/2 ml given orally, and repeated in 10 days. If using SafeGuard given 1/4 ml per pound given orally for 5 straight days. He certainly has a lot of mucus inside his beak, along with the white plaques. Can you check their crops early morning before they have eaten or drunk water, to make sure they are emptying overnight? A thrush or fungal infection might cause crop problems. I would also check beaks often for any increase in the white material. Canker (trichmoniasis) and fowl pox material is usually yellow. Fowl pox only occurs when mosquitoes are out in warm weather.

Hmmm.. so that adds worms as a possibility to the list?? I am familiar with intestinal worms, but have not yet (in my limited experience), read about those affecting the mouth or throat. Always something new I guess.

Also, should I just worm him or would it be worthwhile to worm everybody, or at least everybody affected?

I should also note that while I checked their crops before they ate, they did have access to water 24/7 so there was a little bit of fluid in all the crops. It was a normal amount though so I wouldn't worry about it.

I agree about checking their beaks often -- I did so this morning and it appeared there was an increase from yesterday in the amount of white material.

What do you all think about quarantining? I'm sure they have all been exposed already (except for 3 birds in a separate coop with their own water and feed), but maybe it would limit unnecessary exposure?

I want to treat them but it's hard because I'm so unsure on what this actually is. I don't want to go out and buy medication for the wrong condition but at the same time I understand that you have to start somewhere. So, again, thanks for all your replies!

 

[Eggcessive]

The reason I suggested worming for capillary worms is from reading the link posted by @dawg53 in post 3 which said that capillary worms could be a possible cause. I had never seen that before.

Do you have a trusted vet who might test for fungus or canker by taking a sample or swab of the white plaques and looking at it under a microscope? That is the best way to know what you are treating. It probably would not hurt to separate the birds with the plaques. I would disinfect all waterers and feeders with 10% chlorine bleach and rinse well. Canker is said to have a bad odor.

 

[LikeTurkeys]

The reason I suggested worming for capillary worms is from reading the link posted by @dawg53 in post 3 which said that capillary worms could be a possible cause. I had never seen that before.

Do you have a trusted vet who might test for fungus or canker by taking a sample or swab of the white plaques and looking at it under a microscope? That is the best way to know what you are treating. It probably would not hurt to separate the birds with the plaques. I would disinfect all waterers and feeders with 10% chlorine bleach and rinse well. Canker is said to have a bad odor.

Unfortunately, I don't have or know of a vet who would do that... I have a microscope that can do 400x magnification, perhaps I could look myself? Or send in to a lab that would do testing? Would really appreciate leads or suggestions if you know of any.

I will do as you suggested - clean all of the waterers and feeders and separate the birds with plaques. I'll look into getting them de-wormed, thank you for the suggestion.

 

[dawg53]

Since you have a microscope, you can look for worm eggs in feces. Here are pics of poultry worm eggs to help you identify what possible worms your bird(s) might have.
The 1st pics are large roundworm eggs. The 2nd pic are cecal worm eggs. The 3rd pics are capillary worm eggs.
View attachment 2521377View attachment 2521378View attachment 2521379

 

[LikeTurkeys]

Since you have a microscope, you can look for worm eggs in feces. Here are pics of poultry worm eggs to help you identify what possible worms your bird(s) might have.
The 1st pics are large roundworm eggs. The 2nd pic are cecal worm eggs. The 3rd pics are capillary worm eggs.
View attachment 2521377View attachment 2521378View attachment 2521379

Thanks for your suggestion! I will definitely try to do a fecal float test and look under the microscope for the eggs (am going to try and get some epsom salts for solution though first). So far though, I did take a scraping from one of the plaques and observed 3 objects that looked like they might be worms. Here are the photos, what do you think?
#1: 400x - this one was pretty small.

#2: 100x, this one was much longer than the other two and extends past the screen.

#3: 100x

None of them were moving.