Hen with swollen face **pic included**

[Leslieb118]

I just went through a similar issue. My older hen pecked one of my pullets in the eyes, twice. They were very swollen and ended up draining somewhat. I isolated her from the bully until she could see again. I cleaned the eyes out a few times a day with eye wash that you can get at any grocery store/pharmacy. Then I used Vetericyn Opthamalic Eye Gel to keep them protected. She had a little drainage from her nostril as well, but as soon as the eyes cleared up, so did the drainage. I only had to keep her isolated overnight. I did buy some Duramycin (antibiotic) but I didn't use it because it wasn't an infection.

 

[Karhog]

Hi, I live in the UK too. Have you tried calling your vet to see if they will not give A/B by looking at the photo- you could email it to them? All my chooks have just finished a course of A/B (Baytril) which wasn't too expensive. Given the choice I would opt for Tylan as there is no egg withdrawel period (there is with Baytril). Hope she improves!

 

[marlene]

Hi, I live in the UK too. Have you tried calling your vet to see if they will not give A/B by looking at the photo- you could email it to them? All my chooks have just finished a course of A/B (Baytril) which wasn't too expensive. Given the choice I would opt for Tylan as there is no egg withdrawel period (there is with Baytril). Hope she improves!

To be honest i have not called a vets because the last time i needed an avian vet i could not find one. I did eventually find a vet that was willing to check my hen over but it was 20 miles away and he had no avian training. I was charged £55 for a 5 min consultation and some tablets, the whole time he was reading a chicken keeping book and going by that lol.
I did give my hen today 1 quarter of a tablet of anti biotics whick i crushed with a little water and fed to her with a suringe, i also rubed a little mentholated rub on her face.
By this evening, i am sure she looked a little better and her face does not seem as swollen as it was yesterday.
The egg withdrawel is not a big problem for a few weeks as i have quite a few laying, so i get plenty of eggs for my needs.

 

[marlene]

Wanted to add that i am giving her the anti biotics because she seems a little too warm. I do not know what a chickens temp should be but when i picked her up she felt warmer than normal, so i thought i'd rather give her the anti biotics sooner rather than later as i'm thinking a rise in temp probably means some sort of infection.

What i'm doing might not be the right thing but i'm just going by my instinct as that's all i have for now.

 

[sladell1463]

Yes. Rub it on her beak near her nostrils & some under each wing where she might put her head when sleeping. It'll help open up her nasal passage like it does for people

 

[marlene]

Happy to report that my hen is doing great. Her face is hardly swollen at all today and she is roaming around like her ussual self.
Not sure if it was the penicillin or the mentholated rub that did the trick, just thought i would share incase this helps someone else in the future.
And thank you all who replied to my post and pointed me in the right direction

 

[Karhog]

So pleased to hear she seems to be doing well- very often instinct is all we can go on- Hope she continues to improve