Hen with swollen, grayish pink wattles

[HappyValleyHens]

One of my favorite girls has me worried! Her wattles and neck seem very swollen today and yesterday. She is eating and drinking, not lethargic, and I watched her lay her egg today. No sign of congestion so far. This just doesn’t look like her normal appearance. Any idea what I’m dealing with? It happened in one of my younger birds a couple months back...swollen neck and wattles that were very light pink, very light pink comb, and lost a lot of feathers around her neck and face. She recovered and is fine now. Argh I’m so worried.

 

[SulkyBantam]

@azygous

 

[Eggcessive]

What is your location? That can be added to your avatar. Have you had freezing temperatures where frostbite might be the problem? When wattles get wet in water bowls in freezing weather, that could be a problem. In warmer temperatures, tick bites can cause bluish discoloration and swelling.

 

[azygous]

Where are you located? What has been your current weather? Any sudden freezes where the chicken water became nearly frozen?

Or are you in a very hot climate with a lot of biting insects?

 

[HappyValleyHens]

One of my favorite girls has me worried! Her wattles and neck seem very swollen today and yesterday. She is eating and drinking, not lethargic, and I watched her lay her egg today. No sign of congestion so far. This just doesn’t look like her normal appearance. Any idea what I’m dealing with? It happened in one of my younger birds a couple months back...swollen neck and wattles that were very light pink, very light pink comb, and lost a lot of feathers around her neck and face. She recovered and is fine now. Argh I’m so worried.

Edited to add that we live in northern Alabama, haven’t had freezing temps in several weeks. My hens sleep inside a coop at night. They do forage in the woods, so an insect bite is a possibility.

 

[Eggcessive]

If a tick bite is suspected, a one time dose of benadryl 1/4 to 1/2 of a 25 mg tablet can be given orally to help reduce swelling. Ticks inject an anticoagulant that can cause the bruising.

 

[Nickmr]

My Gertrude has the same issue. I’m in Virginia where the weather is just starting to warm up. I think it’s too early for ticks but too late for frostbite. I’m worried that it might be fowl cholera. She also has some runny poo which has given her a dirty butt. She is still acting normal though.

 

[azygous]

My Gertrude has the same issue. I’m in Virginia where the weather is just starting to warm up. I think it’s too early for ticks but too late for frostbite. I’m worried that it might be fowl cholera. She also has some runny poo which has given her a dirty butt. She is still acting normal though.

Those wattles look like they have been exposed to frostbite. The swelling can persist for months and it takes months to completely heal.

Fowl cholera would leave no doubt that your chicken was very sick with something very serious. Normal behavior precludes fowl cholera. I bet your hen dipped her wattles when she was drinking and they froze.

I solve this problem of large wattles getting dunked by providing nipple waterers, and for my two roosters with very long wattles, I use a baby chick waterer in their enclosure that has a tray that is much too narrow for the wattles to follow the beak into the water.

 

[Nickmr]

Those wattles look like they have been exposed to frostbite. The swelling can persist for months and it takes months to completely heal.

Fowl cholera would leave no doubt that your chicken was very sick with something very serious. Normal behavior precludes fowl cholera. I bet your hen dipped her wattles when she was drinking and they froze.

I solve this problem of large wattles getting dunked by providing nipple waterers, and for my two roosters with very long wattles, I use a baby chick waterer in their enclosure that has a tray that is much too narrow for the wattles to follow the beak into the wate