Chicken head/eye/face swelling

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WyoChickies

Chirping
5 Years
Apr 6, 2016
78
24
83
Cheyenne, WY
Hello all!
I've got a 6 week old Orpington chick that has a strange swelling on half of her head. It's not soft or weeping, and seems to be making her face crooked and deformed, and her eye is bulging out. She's eating and drinking fine, and is very active and is very friendly and social. This started when she was a week or two old and is getting worse. I've attached a couple of pictures. Any ideas?

 
Welcome to BYC. Have you ever seen any runny nose, sneezing, or labored breathing? Most swelling around an eye or the face is from either a respiratory disease or from pecking injuries and infection, but this seems a little odd. Tumors don't usually show up this young. Could she have suffered any injury to her eye or head?
 
She acts COMPLETELY normal. In fact, she's the most friendly of all of them and is super excited about food. She's not sneezing or acting sick at all. There's no drainage, or puss, and the area is solid feeling, not soft like it would feel like if it was filled with fluid. She's not being picked on, and seems to be middle to top of the pecking order at this point, as she's one of the ones who tends to perch on the little perch we have in their pen. It's just so strange!
 
It has me stumped. If you notice anything that looks like pus around or in the eye, that should be cleaned out. It may be a growth, but let us know how she gets along.
 
Has it been this way since hatching? Or has it been normal up until recently? Has it changed sized and gotten progressively larger in the last few weeks?

MrsB
 
It became noticeable at about a week old- she was squinting, but I couldn't see any injury, and no discharge. It's gotten progressively worse and bigger, making her head deformed since then.She was normal looking chick when I got her.
 
I'm inclined to think not, as there is no associated discharge and she doesn't seem bothered by it. What I'm reading says they are very painful/irritating, and she doesn't seem to be bothered at all. I haven't seen in the descriptions either anything indicating that their head's would get affected like hers is- it's quite large and deformed on that side.
 
And you say it's hard? Hard like bone? Or hard like a water balloon filled to bursting?

I'm wondering if maybe she's got some kind of congenital bone issue going on here??

So sorry for your baby... I'm glad it doesn't appear to be hurting her.

MrsB
 

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