My australorps eye/one side of face is swollen

[ChickenMaman]

Hi there! I noticed this morning one side of my hens face around her eye is swollen. I’m not sure what happened. I don’t see a puncture or a cut.

She’s pretty skittish. How do I treat this? I have vetricyn, blue cote and some other sprays. Im not sure if any will treat this though.

We just rehomed our rooster yesterday so maybe the hens are pecking on her, but there’s no blood or abrasion.

Help? Thank you.

 

[ChickenMaman]

I should also mention that she has a lower voice than the others, but is still eating and drinking, laying just fine. None of my other hens have any swelling going on. And I do not notice any discharge or drainage coming from her, or loose watery stools.

 

[Razzlefrazzle]

That sort of puffiness looks like some sort of irritation or allergy to me rather than illness. She may have been bit by an insect, and I would also check her and the coop thoroughly for mites. I wouldn't do anything to treat the swelling at the moment. Hopefully it starts going down in a day or two.

 

[ChickenMaman]

Thank goodness. I just checked, and checked at dusk yesterday for mites. I haven’t found any. I also dust the coop and the underside of the roosts with diatomaceous earth when I pressure wash it, which was about a month ago. I also clean it (scoop poop) everyday.

We do have open compost at the moment which the chickens can get into. My husband is building closed compost this week.

Could mosquitoes bother them? There are a lot of mosquitoes stuck in their coop (they come in through the pop
Door and beat against the windows until they die)

 

[Razzlefrazzle]

Thank goodness. I just checked, and checked at dusk yesterday for mites. I haven’t found any. I also dust the coop and the underside of the roosts with diatomaceous earth when I pressure wash it, which was about a month ago. I also clean it (scoop poop) everyday.

We do have open compost at the moment which the chickens can get into. My husband is building closed compost this week.

Could mosquitoes bother them? There are a lot of mosquitoes stuck in their coop (they come in through the pop
Door and beat against the windows until they die)

Yes, I think mosquitoes bites are a possibility, though my girls seem fairly immune to them even when I'm getting eaten alive. Let us know if it doesn't go down in a few days and we'll keep brainstorming.

Also I'd be careful about using DE. If you haven't heard about the health hazards of inhaling it, I'd read up on it before using it again, and make sure you at least wear a mask when using it. (I've decided not to use it at all, figuring the chickens will also inhale it being the dusty creatures that they are.)

 

[BastyPutt]

A swollen eye can be a lot of things - an irritation or wound to signs of a more serious respiratory disease like MG or Coryza.

Can you move the eyelid or area around the eyelid around and see any puss built up inside? If so, you'll need to excise this first or whatever is causing the swelling will just continue to worsen. To remove the puss, you can use a q tip and roll up toward the eye gently. Or you can push out like pimple.

After this (or if there is no puss) you'll want to gently flush the eye with a saline eyewash, then apply a non pain relieving triple antibiotic to the eye, like Neosporin. It is safe and recommend to put it right into her eye and around it. Naturally she will work it out after it has an opportunity to do its work.

If she were mine, I would quarantine her for a few days as the aforementioned respiratory diseases can be highly contagious. Certainly not saying this is what she has for sure, but an abundance of caution may spare the rest of your flock if it is the worst case scenario.

Ok, now -

How does she appear to be behaving? Normal? Lethargic?

Is she eating well? Full crop at night, empty in the morning?

Can you see if you can get a picture of her poop and attach it here for us?

Along with the swollen eye, do you notice any nasal discharge? Does the font of either eye look like there is foam in it?

Lastly, if you have other birds - check and see if you see any other swollen eyes. Look closely. A wide awake chickens eye should be round in shape. If you see any "flat spots" on the top it can be the beginning of swelling.

 

[Eggcessive]

Have you seen any bubbles in her eyes? Bubbles and swelling could be a sign of MG. The bumps around her eye could be pecks or possibly early sign of fowl pox ( a virus spread by mosquitoes.) Do not use BluKote on her face. You can use saline or an eye wash Bausch and Lomb is good) to flush her eye, and then twice a day apply some Terramycin eye or plain Neosporin ointment into the eye for a week or so. Here is an article showing fowl pox for identification:
https://the-chicken-chick.com/fowl-pox-prevention-treatmen/

 

[BastyPutt]

Also I'd be careful about using DE. If you haven't heard about the health hazards of inhaling it, I'd read up on it before using it again, and make sure you at least wear a mask when using it. (I've decided not to use it at all, figuring the chickens will also inhale it being the dusty creatures that they are.

Food grade diatomaceous earth is purified and is free of crystalline silica which is the harmful derivative in standard DE. It is 100% safe to use and is an excellent preventative tool. Sadly, there are a lot of false pretenses made here on BYC about DE and folks are being discouraged from using it as a result. I saw someone say it is similar to asbestos the other day and laughed so hard I nearly passed out. Amazing how this kind of stuff gets out of hand.

 

[Razzlefrazzle]

Food grade diatomaceous earth is purified and is free of crystalline silica which is the harmful derivative in standard DE. It is 100% safe to use and is an excellent preventative tool. Sadly, there are a lot of false pretenses made here on BYC about DE and folks are being discouraged from using it as a result. I saw someone say it is similar to asbestos the other day and laughed so hard I nearly passed out. Amazing how this kind of stuff gets out of hand.

DE definitely isn't akin to asbestos, but I still wouldn't use it. 1) Even food grade DE isn't 100% pure. 2) Amorphous silica can also cause lung, eye and skin irritation. 3) It's just not that useful imo. It's just the latest fad natural "cure" and the claims that it will repel fleas and kill worms when eaten are silly, and as for using it as a dust to kill insects, well, my girls have never had a problem using regular old garden dust to stay parasite free and if they did have a mite problem I'd want something more effective than irritating dust to get rid of them. Just my two cents.

 

[ChickenMaman]

Wow, thank you for all the replies.

The swelling has started to go down and I did notice about five of the Chickens having it. I’ve monitored it for a couple of days and only those five have it the other six have not developed it and it is going away in the five. I have not noticed the eye being affected. I have checked for pus and there is no puss or abrasion - or smell or uneven blotching.

It was almost as if one side of five of the chickens faces just swelled up and is now decreasing. There was no change in their poop except for the one day that I fed them all watermelon and I haven’t noticed any of them being lethargic so I did have one go broody for the first time.

Interestingly enough, none of my older chickens had any facial swelling. It was just five out of the eight australorps that are about a year old now.. my two Rhode Island reds and my one white leg horn which are 3 1/2 years old now don’t have any swelling now. Neither do the other three australorps..