Do my hens faces have signs of illness?

[Mairead87]

I have recently added 3 ex battery hens to our flock and the 2 we already had, have been asserting their authority - as to be expected. Today is day 3 if them living in the same coop after having just over a week of seeing each other through the fence whilst the newbies were in quarantine.

I noticed today the 2 we already had have particularly red faces and I can't decide if they look a little swollen or not. Is this normal with new members of the flock being added? Could this be minor pecking injuries or could this be something like fowl pox or infectious coryza? We are based in the UK.

Thank you in advance for any advice.

 

[azygous]

I see what you're referring to. The puffiness of the tissue surrounding the eyes could be from a flareup of a CRD (chronic respiratory disease) that your new chickens carry, likely caused by the stress of moving to a new environment.

This is one very good reason why we quarantine new chickens for a few weeks before adding them to our flock. Your new chickens will most likely kick this respiratory flareup without medication, but do keep them separated while you can see symptoms as they can transmit the disease to your existing flock.