[funky chicken]

Hi
one of our yr old silkie bantams developed scaby/fungaly earlobes covering the blue part - we were advised to treat for mites & rubbed some diatomacous earth powder on ear lobes & bedding etc which did reduce. All the time bantam was well - eating drinking etc. This all started after she went broody Nov/Dec 2011. Appears to not have healed fully & whilst treating with same stuff fungal came off on one side leaving a hole. Also noticed today slight wheeze & opening her mouth a lot. Our other bantam is not affected   - any advise please. Thanks in advance for any help.

[chrismahon]

Why on earth would you use diatomatious powder FC? It is sharp stuff and will damage the skin. Sounds like it was fungal and has continued to be come serious fungal and she may have now got a chest infection. Or she may have developed fungal cankers in her throat. Vet trip needed I think. Flagyl treats the common throat cankers. Nystan treats the other one. It's difficult to cure if that's the problem -needs treatment for at least a month.

For scaley face and skin we have used E45 cream with success. We were not sure if it was lice or fungus but it worked fine anyway.

[funky chicken]

Hi
Thanks for your advise
We used the diatomacous powder as advised by the breeder who I got silkies from - she was very confident on this treatment & advised us not to rush to a vet
Whats a shame is that information re this fungal problem has not been avaliable on the net that I could find.
We also spoke to poultry vet from an online site who also advised if the silkie was generally well it dosen't sound like a visit to a vet is needed.

Hope it is not to serious & will arrange to see a poultry vet to see what they can do

Many thanks