Australorp with swollen comb, face and feet - what is wrong with her?

[NaesChooks]

G'day everyone,
Recently we have noticed that one hen of our Australorp chooks has a swollen comb, head and feet. Her waddles are normal and she is eating and drinking normally. I'll include some photos. The chooks have not been in contact with any other chooks outside the farm and they have been allowed to roam the farm every day. They are fed a variety of mixed grains and pellets as well as whatever they find while outside.
Sorry for the bad image quality - I was taking it with my phone camera.
To see the photos, please go to this link. I tried uploading them to here but it wouldn't work.

http://i1234.photobucket.com/albums/ff408/Cobraruss/9fb06161.jpg

http://i1234.photobucket.com/albums/ff408/Cobraruss/f1b3a96d.jpg

Thanks!

 

[TwoCrows]

It looks like you may be dealing with MS, Mycoplasma Synoviae. It is a bacterial infection that can produce swelling in the legs, hocks, feet joints, (usually the left foot only as seen in your pic), it can affect the liver, swell the face and sinus's. I am actually dealing with the same thing in my Australorp flock. It is contagious to the entire group. Generally it is passed down from the parents into the egg, however if your birds come in contact with other birds with MS, they will contract it as well.

The say MS is very difficult to treat for several reasons. Number one, the grounds become infected. Number 2, the bacteria can hide in healthy cells undetected by the immune system for years and even after you have treated it, it can still linger only to rise it's ugly head when the birds are at their weakest.

Your bird sure does look like 2 of my birds, but the only sure way to diagnose it is with blood work from the vet. If you are seeing other swollen foot joints, funky shaped and wrinkled eggs, any blue tipped combs, yellow urates, birds shaking their heads, slightly runny noses, just stange things like this in your flock, then you just might have MS.

My hen with the swollen foot joint, as yours looks to be, has been on Baytril now for 55 days along with a few other various antibiotics. 3 months previously she had been on Pen, Oxy, and Amox. She is nearly done now and is recovering nicely. However the MS still remains in the flock, although they were also treated as well.

Left untreated and the birds will become permanently lame, destroy the liver and other such nasties. It helps to boost the immune systems of the birds so they can deal with this bacteria and live good lives. My flock seems healthy and happy for life. I keep an eye on them and will treat them in the future should this bacteria over take them at some point.

So sorry for this type of news. But it does look like my girls with the MS.

 

[NaesChooks]

Thanks for your answer. MS does sund like what we have with this chook. We noticed it about three days ago. So far, no other of the flock have been seen but we'll keep a sharp eye out for any signs. Hopefully there won't be any more.
Thank you again for your very helpful answer!