Face swollen. What to do?

[ChickenHermit]

Update: Her face was much less swollen throughout the day, but then swelled up again this evening. (pics below). She does otherwise seem fine- no other symptoms, the swelling is still body temp and soft, she is running, peeping, eating and drinking fine. Not sure what's going on. I'm not freaking out, as she seems to be feeling otherwise fine, but I am fairly perplexed and a bit concerned.

 

[chicken24]

It could be allergies.... Did u notice this happening during spring or before

Update: Her face was much less swollen throughout the day, but then swelled up again this evening. (pics below). She does otherwise seem fine- no other symptoms, the swelling is still body temp and soft, she is running, peeping, eating and drinking fine. Not sure what's going on. I'm not freaking out, as she seems to be feeling otherwise fine, but I am fairly perplexed and a bit concerned.

 

[ChickenHermit]

There isn't much in the way of sneezing today, and they are indoors. The other chicks don't seem to be having any issues. I'm guessing the bug bite theory might be it, or maybe an ingrown feather? Or something? Very strange.

 

[realsis]

I'm wondering if it would improve if it was drained with a STERILE needle then put on a broad spectrum antibotic to keep infection from occurring. This would have to be a personal judgement decision. There is no way to really find a exact cause but I was looking online and it could be a ingrown feather. look online at pictures of ingrown chicken feathers they do have some similarity. but. your chicks isn't quite as round or full. I'm thinking there is puss in the swelling. if your not comfortable draining it you could try a water soluble antibotic to see if that alone is enough to bring down her swelling. Again, it's up to you what course of treatment your most comfortable with. you can always observe her a bit longer and decide if you even want to try a treatment . see if the swelling continues or worsens. Thanks for updating us. please keep letting us know how she's doing. Thinking of her and hope she heals soon!

 

[Jensownzoo]

I have seen sinus infections in other species of birds look like this. The size of the swelling can vary as sometimes mucus can drain from it (going down the back of the throat--sneezing it out is optional).

 

[ChickenHermit]

Still a fair bit of swelling today, all else is the same. I'm going to try a broad spectrum antibiotic and see how it goes. Will update!

 

[ChickenHermit]

Just wanted to give a final update: All better! No swelling at all.

That being said, I'm not sure if it was the antibiotics or not. The swelling hadn't reduced by yesterday PM even after nearly 3 days on antibiotics. However, we had a very gusty storm last night, knocking the power out and causing me to temporarily move them from their brooder in the shop (which has pine shavings for bedding) to a large dog crate in my upstairs bathroom where I could fill the large metal tub with hot water and use it as a radiant heater. In the new environment, they were on a towel instead of shavings- maybe the lack of dust helped? I wonder if a pine bit got stuck in her sinuses, and the dust was exacerbating it. Unsure. Happy she's better, though!

 

[Jensownzoo]

Yay! Glad that she's better. I would keep her on the antibiotics for a day or two more, in case the improvement was due to them. The antibiotics and the immune system should be able to mop up any residual infection and you won't run the risk of promoting a strain of resistant bacteria by stopping before everything is wiped out.

 

[ChickenHermit]

Yay! Glad that she's better. I would keep her on the antibiotics for a day or two more, in case the improvement was due to them. The antibiotics and the immune system should be able to mop up any residual infection and you won't run the risk of promoting a strain of resistant bacteria by stopping before everything is wiped out.

Yup! Definitely running the full course- don't want to be creating any super-bugs! I'll likely follow up with some probiotics to build back up after.

 

[Jensownzoo]

Oh, and what likely happened to improve things so suddenly: the hole where the sinus secretions drain normally was likely plugged with thick pus...the swelling is usually caused by these secretions plus the pus having no exit...once the plug loosened enough to be dislodged, things could drain again and the swelling would have decreased rapidly.