Please, Please Help!

[Ebony Rose]

She may have eaten the offending insect, may have been stung in her mouth? My best guess.

 

[Kathy Golla]

OMG! @aart !!!! You got the Educator badge!!! That is just so AWESOME! Way to go girl!

Aart is a woman? Boy did I learn something today. S(he) is active on the coop/building forum! Made an assumption
Congrats in order too, @aart!

 

[azygous]

I would try the children's Benedryl. It is behaving like an allergic reaction, not that I'm insisting that's what this is.

Here on BYC, we toss out educated guesses, wild guesses, and guesses based on past experience. Dare I say we often do just as well as most ordinary vets with little to no experience with chickens and often a little better. But what I find useful in diagnosing chicken issues is to try a treatment and if the issue improves, we then have a likely diagnosis.

My concern now is that the swelling of the wattles, progressing now to the other wattle, may be progressing systemically, and swelling in the respiratory track could be a real danger. Treating with Benedryl can't hurt, and it could end up saving the hen's life. I think it's a wise thing to do in this case, to be safe.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Hi guys.
So today, I just checked on the hen, and both of her wattles are swollen now. They’re dark, which, like some of you said may be a sign of some sort of spider venom or a wasp sting. But why both wattles?
She’s still acting completely normal and isn’t experiencing any breathing issues.
Any ideas as to what’s going on?

Can you post some new photos of her? Maybe get someone to hold her so we can see her from the front as well?

 

[AmyJane725]

Only thing I know of that causes swollen wattles (outside of an insect bite) is Fowl Cholera. (I doubt it's that, but like earlier poster said, we toss out all sorts of possibilities on this site )

She doesn't have any pasty/yellow diarrhea, mucous discharge from the mouth/nose, fast breathing, lethargy or lameness, does she?

 

[Chickadee Salt]

Nope, no sign of anything, AmyJane.
I can take some new pictures of her tomorrow, and it’s also possible that she could have eaten a wasp or perhaps a spider. Could black widow venom cause the swelling if she ate one of them? (We have a lot of them around here.)

 

[Kathy Golla]

Keira,
Have you given her children’s benedryl as one of our experts recommended?
You should do that ASAP if you have not already to cover the sting/bite scenario.

 

[AmyJane725]

Nope, no sign of anything, AmyJane.
I can take some new pictures of her tomorrow, and it’s also possible that she could have eaten a wasp or perhaps a spider. Could black widow venom cause the swelling if she ate one of them? (We have a lot of them around here.)

Glad to hear it.
Hopefully it is just a bite and heals quickly.
I don't think eating one would cause it. Black widows are venomous, not poisonous, so eating one shouldn't do anything. It would only hurt her if she got bitten. It is odd that it's both wattles. Did you see any tiny puncture wounds or anything? Two little dots in line with each other (where the fangs would have gone in)?

Unrelated side note: I had no idea female leghorns had such huge combs. That's amazing.

 

[azygous]

As @Kathy Golla has urged, please get some children's Benedryl and treat her to hopefully prevent possible anaphylactic shock.

I'm going from personal experience here. A bite that is causing an allergic reaction can progress before we know it to a life threatening situation. Many of us humans need to keep an Epi-pen on hand to treat ourselves in this event.

I'm really pleased that @AmyJane725 has brought up other possible diagnoses as hideous as the possibilities are. The key to moving in on a diagnosis is behavior. As long as the patient has only the swollen wattles and not any other symptoms of being sick, there is really no reason to think this is a serious affliction, and it may clear up as mysteriously as it has appeared.

 

[Chickadee Salt]

Yes, I had treated her with Benadryl yesterday and just now. Here are her newest photos.