Hen with swollen face- 3 month update, suggestions?

[jonalisa]

My 7 mo.old Buckeye, Jezebel, has had swelling on one side of her face since at least the beginning of Sept. A vet saw no sinus involvement, but had no clue otherwise. The State vet tested my chickens for MG and all were negative. I tried 3 days of Tylan50 with no results. I recently wormed and checked for lice/mites...nothing.
She is otherwise healthy except that the swelling impedes her vision/depth perception. Also her comb looks pale some days but not others. She is bottom of the pecking order and not yet laying (7 of 9 are laying and the 8th just now squatting).
I have added turmeric to her food, oregano oil to her water and tried calendula salve on her face. Nothing has worked.

Today it looked as if she has some new swelling just below the corner of her beak. See the bulbous part hanging down.

I am wondering whether it is worth trying Baytril? Or aspiration with a syringe? Something else? I have no experience with that but am willing to hear advice.
This is really a mystery.
Thanks in advance!
Jonalisa

 

[Nambroth]

Do you have a way to get a little blood work done? I think you would have seen her gone downhill faster than she has if it was lymphoma but don't rule it out. Even a cat or dog vet that does in house blood counts/examinations should be able to take a sample and look for lymphoblasts (sometimes called blast lymphs). Presence of these can be a good indicator for lymphoma without having to sacrifice the bird for a gross exam. It's hardly foolproof but it is an option if you want to learn more. If we are just doing counts, without a full blood panel, it costs me less than $100 at my avian vet. Your mileage may vary! I also understand that many can not afford such exams on poultry, and I respect that.

I regret I have no direct experience with this type of swelling. So far the lymphomas in my birds have been visceral. I'm sorry I'm not more help!

 

[Doodle777]

I live in NH as well and having some issues with facial swelling. I found an excellent Avian Vet in Portsmouth. My Rooster tested negative for MG but has now been on 2 rounds of antibiotics. Neither has helped. I have an appointment with him on the 15th to have more blood work and cultures done. Possibly have some DNA tests done too. I will let you know what the tests find. Maybe it could help you out some.
I hope all goes well with your chicken. Mine mean the world to me and I don't know what I would do without them!

 

[jonalisa]

March update!

Jezebel just started laying. This is her 2nd week.
She has become a new chicken: full of vim and vigor! Her innocent curiosity and eagerness are back - just like she was before the facial swelling. She is bolder, vocal and more self-assured; dodging some higher order hens but definitely doing a bit of bullying of those close to her station. She is eager to be patted and held. The swelling is about the same on her face, but the wattle on that side (which had looked like an inflamed, swollen sac of liquid, is now a flat and appropriately pink wattle (no wattle is present on the normal side of her face).

I will try to post some photos soon! I am really excited by this change. She just seems sooo much more alive and happy!

jonalisa

 

[Eggcessive]

Does the new swelling feel slightly firm like the other did? She also looks to have a bit of swelling at 9 o'clock around the right eye. I just went back over your previous thread to look at pictures and to review all that you did. It seems other than the swelling of the face, she had no other symptoms, and other than the pale face , was getting along fine. You had the swelling aspirated, and no pus or bacteria, but only blood was seen by the vet. She was MG negative with testing by the state vet, and you had given a course of oxytetracycline, and Tylan injectable with slight improvement of swelling. I would probably not give more antibiotics, but just watch her, unless you would want to see if the swelling decreased with the Baytril. I suppose Mareks tumor could be a possibility, but I would think there would have possibly been some neurological symptoms at some point. Jezabel just looks so sweet and wise in her photos, as she is saying okay, "I'll just let you take these pictures so that we can maybe figure this out...finally."

 

[jonalisa]

I will check the swelling today. We've had no power since the night before thanksgiving. Temp is supposed to reach 12 degrees tonight so I am going out to apply bag balm or Vaseline to combs/wattles.
I won't do the baytril unless warranted but I worry about her being at the bottom of the pecking order and being so unsure of herself.

 

[Eggcessive]

Oh, so sorry about your loss of power. And at such a horrible time. Hopefully you have a warm fireplace. I hope your chickens don't get too cold. Can you bring them into a basement ?

 

[jonalisa]

I think they are warm enough - they aren't really puffed up and they still elect to go outside in the run.
Yesterday I put vaseline on all their combs and wattles. Today they look like zombie chickens, as their heads are blackened from dustbathing.

As for Jezebel, I noticed today that she will start to walk up to something (like a cabbage), then will stop and back away - actually walking backwards slowly until she bumps into something behind her.
I have seen her do that a couple of times now. She's also unsure of herself and hangs back on the outside of the activity.
I checked her swelling and yes, the newest swelling is soft and squishy and the skin on those areas is whitened.
I held her on my lap for a while and she relaxed and tucked her head inside my coat.

 

[Eggcessive]

Does the other side of her face look like the right side? The coloring looks kind of putty-colored and spongy. I wish I knew what it was, but I'm stumped. I saw the power outage in New Hampshire made the national news yesterday. Hopefully they can get everyone's power back on soon.

 

[jonalisa]

We're back up! So nice to have wifi (heat and water are nice too!)

"Does the other side of her face look like the right side? The coloring looks kind of putty-colored and spongy."

No, the other side of her face is completely normal.
Yes, you are right, it is putty-colored and spongy. I don't believe the skin is painful - when I rubbed some ointment on it, she was calm and didn't seem to mind it.
In the morning, I have started bringing a small dog crate into the coop. I put her in it with some boiled hamburger or chopped egg - just so I know she's getting some good protein. She seems very shy and hesitant about eating with the others and I think at least some of that is that she can't see the food well - or can't simultaneously keep an eye on the others and feels vulnerable. She's always hanging out on the poop board while the others are eating.

I'm going to keep researching and trying whatever I can.
Right now I am looking at Swollen Head Syndrome. Not a match really, but there are some similarities, such as, subcutaneous facial tissue involvement, periorbital tissue swelling, reddening and swelling of the lacrimal glands. However, the similarities end there as SHS disease course is super fast at 5-10 days.