Help! What is going on with my hen?!

[indicadove]

Help please! I went to gather eggs this evening and noticed this girl has a crusty eye and this strange shiny silver bubble protruding from her head!! What is it?!?
I've googled and asked my experienced chicken friends, but I'm still bumfuggled

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Is it a tick?

 

[HawaiiCoyote]

I think the way the hens feathers are covering it make it look more round then it is , hopefully whatever it is they get it removed.
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I agree, there is some very shiny ones on the internet so it's definitely possible it's a tick and not a BB

 

[micstrachan]

Have you determined if this is a tick? It also looks like a BB. Is that a possibility?

 

[HawaiiCoyote]

how is she doing today OP?!

 

[indicadove]

It was a bird tick!!
Her eye is healing up nicely and she should be good as new soon!
Thanks everyone!

 

[micstrachan]

Oh, wow. I really hope someone didn't shoot this poor chicken with a BB.

Same here. I hope it’s just an optical illusion.

 

[rebeccaH86]

I agree it looks like a fully ingorged tick. I would not yank it out since the head of the tick can get left behind and cause way more problems there are a couple ways to make it back out #1 hot match (blow out first so it's hot but not on fire) #2 smother with Vaseline.

 

[rebeccaH86]

I think the way the hens feathers are covering it make it look more round then it is , hopefully whatever it is they get it removed.

 

[azygous]

I hope the OP comes back and answers some questions. By now, I would hope they've put some Vaseline on the silver orb and if it's a tick, it's backed itself out of the poor hen's head by now.

Ticks can carry some nasty microbes, so it may have infected the tissue around the eye. Some Neosporin on the tick bite and in the eye itself might be enough to fight infection, but if the chicken is lethargic, an oral antibiotic like amoxicillin might be necessary.