Mystery puffiness/balding

[FunnyBunny89]

Hi, wondering if anyone has any experience with this issue. I included 3 photos from this morning, and 1 photo from when she looked normal.

The first time she had this weird swelling, it didn't get this bad and went away after two weeks. I thought maybe she got poked by starthistle and shrugged it off. It came up a couple months later and I took her to the local avian vet who had no clue what it was. She said it felt like her skin was puffed up with air, not a typical swollen feeling. She prescribed antibiotics but I don't know if they did anything.

Then it came up again a few months later, cleared up, and now it's back (several months later) with a vengeance and she's balding at the same time.

All of my chickens have been eating Bar Ale All Flock for over a year now, and they get oyster shells for calcium. The water is cleaned regularly. They do free range most of the time, but even the run is open so it's not a tightly controlled environment. A couple other hens have shown some puffiness but it then clears up on its own.

No other symptoms observed. She is otherwise healthy, but hasn't been laying for the past week or so. She might be molting, most of my hens have been rotating molts for about two months now.

Any clue what is happening here??? Any tips would be greatly appreciated!

 

[CherishedFowlGuardian]

I have no clue!

 

[WingItRanch]

@Wyorp Rock @Eggcessive might be and able to help.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Any lice or mite on her?

Look in her ears for any infection.

It's hard to know what's causing that if it comes and goes.

 

[FunnyBunny89]

Any lice or mite on her?

Look in her ears for any infection.

It's hard to know what's causing that if it comes and goes.

No lice presently, she's been clear for a month now. I use permethrin dust. I wondered if it was an allergy or something, or maybe the dust itself, but this started before lice ever appeared in the flock by about 6 months. Also, we have yet to deal with mites *knocks on wood.*
She's not letting me hold her head to inspect closely. I wonder if it's painful to touch?

 

[Eggcessive]

It could be mycoplasma (MG) especially if ahe has any eye bubbles or sunken eye appearance, but an insect sting could also be possible. MG symptoms can come and go, and can improve quickly with Tylosin in the water.

 

[Eggcessive]

Here is a good price on Tylosin with free shipping:
https://thecanaryfinchstore.com/product/tylosin-powder-for-birds/
Dosage is 1 tsp per gallon of water for 5 days.

 

[FunnyBunny89]

Here's a closer pic I just took. She is definitely molting right now, she lost a lot more feathers today. She and my heavily molting Brahma are on the roost early tonight.

I have never observed any other symptoms when this happens to her. I'm thinking of giving her oregano oil, or dried oregano in case it's some kind of sinus infection or something. Thank you for the link. I'll look into that further in another week or so, see if she can clear up on her own again with some herbal boost.

 

[Eggcessive]

It can take up to a week for Tylosin to arrive. Let us know how she gets along with the herbal oils.

 

[FunnyBunny89]

Hello all! I come with an update!

After a week with oregano oil in her water and keeping her in the sanctuary, away from the big flock and in a different coop, her swelling slowly went down until today, it appears to be almost gone. However, her skin looks bad; very pale and dry, kinda flaky.
I took her to the vet on Wednesday, and the doc said she had never seen anything like the puffiness before, but she suspected some sort of dermatitis or fungal infection. She took skin samples and ran a test on them.

Today, she called and let me know that Teddy does in fact have a severe fungal infection on her head. I will hear back from them soon when the medicine's ready, idk what it is yet.

Fyi she said the type of puffy swelling that Teddy gets looks more like an allergic reaction than anything else, and is not viral or bacterial. Teddy never has any other symptoms when her face swells, and it's a very pillowy swelling, not related to inflamed tissue as we normally see it, and it's not in her sinuses.