Hen with swollen face... bug sting/bite or something else?

[ChickNanny13]

Thank you @Eggcessive for the info on Coloboma, going out to check my girls pupils in the morning. Learning never ends here

 

[Kris5902]

Double checked swollen girls pupil, and on her it is just a darker iris spot, there’s a clear line between where the pupil is and the darker spot of her iris... so that was mostly bad lighting/photography. Operation “eat this tasty pink and white thing” didn’t go so well so I’m going to try some cooked egg as camouflage next. Coffee first! My boy got really pissed about me abducting his favorite girl first thing so I decided I would wait on checking her sisters eye until I have a better distraction like the cooked egg. She still looks swollen to me. She laid overnight

 

[Kris5902]

Benedryl and time seems to have helped... I’m 90% sure that she was the victim of a bug bite or sting. I’m not sure still about the jagged look on the non swollen girl, but she seems to be ok... it’s hard to tell if it’s her pupil or just darker areas on her iris as well. Thanks everyone for the help, especially @Eggcessive , and if anything changes I will update!

 

[Granny Hatchet]

If you all explained this forgive me as I didnt understand. What is the black line running through the eye ?

 

[DobieLover]

If you all explained this forgive me as I didnt understand. What is the black line running through the eye ?

The edge of the nictitating membrane.

 

[Granny Hatchet]

The edge of the nictitating membrane.

Thank you !

 

[Kris5902]

Ok... so the swelling went down, or seemed to, but is now back, or maybe it hadn’t gone down as much as I originally thought? It’s not as puffy as it seemed before, but still noticeably larger on the one side. Should I try giving her a second dose of the benedryl?

Any thoughts on if it could be mating related, with the back of neck feather grabbing by my cockerel? I’m also not 100% sure she is laying... she is my only known Brown Layer ATM, but my older Barnvelder girl “might” be responsible (though the eggs are pretty big if she just started!) but I’m not seeing much comb/wattle color in her.

 

[ChickNanny13]

Wonder if she's "rubbing" up to something that's irritating her?
Could you confined her within the flock, give her another dose of Benadryl, see what happens?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Ok... so the swelling went down, or seemed to, but is now back, or maybe it hadn’t gone down as much as I originally thought? It’s not as puffy as it seemed before, but still noticeably larger on the one side. Should I try giving her a second dose of the benedryl?

Any thoughts on if it could be mating related, with the back of neck feather grabbing by my cockerel? I’m also not 100% sure she is laying... she is my only known Brown Layer ATM, but my older Barnvelder girl “might” be responsible (though the eggs are pretty big if she just started!) but I’m not seeing much comb/wattle color in her.

Since it's been a couple of days, you can try the Benadryl again if you wish, if that doesn't take care of it, then I would consider another cause.

No, I don't think it would be mating related at all.

 

[Kris5902]

Wonder if she's "rubbing" up to something that's irritating her?
Could you confined her within the flock, give her another dose of Benadryl, see what happens?

That’s a good thought. Especially since I’m noticing it in the morning. They are in my very first tractor build... and as it was our prototype, the hardware cloth covers the inside of the back wall and side of the roosting box. She might be rubbing up against something at night. I’ll look more closely at roosting positions tonight to see where she is sleeping. That’s sure to annoy them... waking them up by shining a headlamp on them when I close them in!

I need to build out another tractor to put them in so I can renovate #1 with the design changes from tractors #2 & #3: additional supports under the roosts, remove 1 roosting bar, remove unnecessary hardware cloth, add access doors on both sides, hardware cloth or bird netting for the run with a roll back tarp for high winds. I'm building this one a bit more slowly because I’m trying to get my notes fully detailed and finalized for this design, but they should both be complete by the first week of April.

In the meantime, if it does look like rubbing, I’ll have to step up the reno plans, lock them all in the run for a day and fix the immediate problem. And just when I got 3/4 of the laying girls to lay in the nest box... sigh.