chicken with swelling/knot

I have a chicken that I brought in yesterday afternoon when I saw the knot on her face. I had not seen it before and she was acting normal. I put hot compresses on her face and she seemed to like that. I made a tea with cayenne and garlic, let it steep until room temperature, and have been giving her that 2-3x a day plus putting some on the area. This is the only liquid she has available. Her appetite is good, she is still acting normally, but I have noticed that her B.M.s are watery and she looks like she is yawning a lot. The swelling encompasses her ear. She does not bend down to drink,but will eat fine.
When I used the hot compress, the liquid that leaked out was watery with some blood. I used some yarrow oil on it.

The liquid also had a very bad odor and the area still stinks. Is there anything else I should be doing?
She has now turned down milk kefir. She's usually the first chicken there.

She doesn't seem to be able to drink from a dish but can eat fine. Is there any way to get water into her other than a medicine dropper? I have seen her eat ice outside, so she has probably existed on just ice.

I've been ruling out chicken illnesses on the internet. My main problem has been getting enough water into her since she can't drink on her own. I'm giving garlic/cayenne tea, milk kefir, and water about 3x a day. I'm sprouting wheat berries and soaking her scratch. She's helping by teaching me how to give her water with a dropper efficiently. Any other way I can get moisture into her?

[IdahoHerbalist]

Is it an abscess or possibly a parasite? The bad smell tells me there is most likely an infection. I would think the garlic might help with that but do you have anything else in the berberine family: oregon grape, barberry or goldenseal? Yarrow might be another you could use to help fight infection.

OH OH OH! Plantain would be quite appropriate to draw out the toxins too.

[Doc Jones]

Chickens will often take fresh herbs. Plantain would be a good choice. I'd get some Echinacea into her as well. As to the water consumption issue, anything wet that you feed her will help a lot (fresh greens, corn mash mixed with water etc...

Sorry I haven't been here lately. She is doing well, eating and drinking. I'm fermenting scratch feed for her. I noticed that she would eat the wheat first, so I added more wheat to the mix. I've also added barley, she eats the wheat first, then the barley and has been eating more corn lately.

She has never felt hot to the touch, and her comb felt like the same temp as the rest of her body. Green plants are out of the question this time of year. I alternate the kind of salve I use. I made garlic oil, mixed it with cayenne salve and extra beeswax; cayenne salve; and a salve using equal parts activated charcoal and bentonite clay with enough cayenne salve to combine. I used yarrow oil at first.

The 'sore' surrounding her ear broke apart and was hollow inside. The base surrounding her ear is still solid and there's been no change. She had a bad case of lice, but an unintended effect of the garlic and salves have either greatly reduced or eliminated that.
She actually 'talkedtalked' yesterday. She usually doesn't make a sound unless she's upset. These were happy normal chicken sounds. There has been no change in her behavior, although when I pick her up she now grips me. It made her nervous at first for me to be out of her sight even though I was still in the room. I don't think there was any brain damage although she may be partially blind and deaf on that side.

Now that parasites were mentioned, what parasite would hatch out this time of year? The "cone" was hollow, the base solid. One moning about a week ago, there was a hole about the size of a BB in the center, by that afternoon the hole was about the size of my fingernail. She does scratch it a lot with her foot.

She's not eating or drinking as much today. She's "yawning", too. At first it reminded me of someone's ears popping, but then Inoticed it was like something was caught in her throat. If I put salve on her throat, she seems to enjoy that. So maybe concentrate putting salve on her throat area on that side?

[IdahoHerbalist]

I would be concerned that some of the parasites have found their way into her throat. Will she let you have a look down there?

While not specific, there are some powerful bug killers in this formula.

http://homegrownherbalist.net/collectio ... tine-worms

as well as this one

http://homegrownherbalist.net/collectio ... -bugbuster