Red swollen faced hen

Hi all,

I found one of my ~2 year old hens this morning in a nesting box with what looks to me like a swollen and much redder than usual face. She is not sneezing, wheezing, there is no discharge from her nasals or her eyes. But her face is pretty swollen. I immediately isolated her and cleaned the coop, and none of the other girls seem to show symptoms. She has normal stools and laid a nice egg today. It's been rainy here the last few days (Southern California), so I suppose that could have something to do with it I just really hate to jump straight to antibiotics since their overuse leads to resistance, especially with no other symptoms. Though I will if need be. The closest match of a diagnosis I can think of is infectious coryza.

The feed store was out of straw and shavings last week so I had to get a bale of Timothy hay, it seems if she was allergic it would have appeared earlier though since it's been in the coop for at least a week.

Does anyone have any insight on what this may be (her face is a bit greasy because I applied a little VetRx) ?

Here are some pictures:


one of her BM's:

Do you think she got something in her eye?

Thanks for your help drumstick diva! I would think if she got something in her eye that her eye would be swollen and maybe a bit mucousy? Her eyes seem to be OK, but the skin around them is the problem area...

She looks fine, maybe just reaching the peak of maturity. My GLW hen has always had a bright red face, and she's not even one yet! Good luck!
(By the way, what breed is she? She's so pretty!)

Thanks ChickenPerson! I guess she's just an easter egger, I've never been a huge stickler for breeds, though!

She's about 2 years old, so it couldn't still be maturity issue, could it? I have 2 others that are the same age and breed as her, and their faces are not this red and are not swollen. Unfortunately I don't have a good picture of their faces at the moment, and can't get one until the morning.

No, at 2 years old, it probably isn't a maturity issue, but it is possible. Have you fed her anything lately that could have caused an allergic reaction? She could've got stung by an insect, or it even could be from the cold.

I fed them a mash of carrot, blueberries, pepitas and greek yogurt yesterday and today. That was the only thing out of the normal. Although they get the yogurt on a fairly regular basis and that has never been an issue.

That could have done it, but maybe not. Her face could be chapped.

This is my "red-faced" hen. Her face is even redder than your hen's, and this is her normal color!

Thanks, I'll continue to keep her isolated for the rest of the day and see if her swelling goes down. Hopefully it's just an allergic reaction to something. I wouldn't be alarmed if she always looked this way, but it's definitely much redder and puffier than usual..