Swollen areas under ears

[sarahjean]

I have a Buff Orpington pullet that has swollen areas under her ears and just behind her wattles. It is more pronounced on one side and there is also a hard spot in the middle of her throat. I'm a first time chicken owner and I have no idea if this is normal or not. She's recently recovered from wry neck (2 weeks) and received vitamin E and selenium twice this week. Thanks for any advice!

 

[SunHwaKwon]

They do look swollen and so does the area under the eye. Bumping this up so someone can help.

 

[sarahjean]

Update to this. I treated with Tylan and Vetericyn Plus. As the swelling went down the areas started becoming scabby. The area under her neck is now hard and scabbed over. It has remained this way. She is definitely not growing well. Our EE cockerel has it out for her. Any ideas?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

@Eggcessive thoughts?

Does she have an roughen spots anywhere else on her body - legs, thighs, wings?
Was she vaccinated for Marek's?
How old is she?

A vet can hopefully perform some testing or do some skin scraping to determine if this is disease or possibly bacterial/fungal related.

Since she has a history of Wry Neck, is not growing/thriving and has a skin condition, she may have something like Marek's. But its hard to know without testing.

Rule out external parasites like lice/mites by checking through her feathers during the day, then at night with a flashlight when she is roosting, but I don't see anything that looks suspicious like parasites in the photos.

Watch to see that she is drinking well, offer her some poultry vitamins that contain B vitamins and see that she is eating chick starter or an all flock/flock raiser type feed. Egg, tuna, mackerel and meat will give her an extra boost in protein.

Since the cockerel is bullying her (could be she weak/sick or he's acting like a cockerel) you may want to consider caging her in the run so she can have some peace and be relatively safe from unwanted attention, but still remain "part" of the flock..

 

[Eggcessive]

I really don't know what has caused all that. Respiratory diseases can sometimes cause ear swelling and infection. Mareks disease can cause skin lesions and tumors. I would look her over for mites, in case that may have caused irritation on the neck and inside the ears. Hopefully, others will have suggestions as to what this could be. I would try to get her eating some chopped egg, and a little plain yogurt for probiotics, along with wetting her grower feed to make it soupy.