Swollen/enlarged waddle? What does this mean???

[sxulpxnk]

Hi there everybody! Unfortunately, Our flock of 4 recently went down to 3 with the sudden death of one of our chickens a few weeks ago. We are unsure of how she died, she was fine, and then an hour later she was dead in the yard, no predators, no obvious illness and no explanation as to why she died.

With that being said, I noticed this morning one of our other 3 hens, Katya, has a slightly enlarged wattle on her right side. She is eating, drinking, laying eggs, and chatting, being her normal Katya self, but I was curious as to why this is/what I can do for her about it. I've attached an image of her wattles a few days ago (normal, thin) vs an image of her wattle now (The left one is fine, but the right one seems enlarged, thicker, and a bit tougher than wattles normally should be). We do keep bees in our backyard along with our chickens, so it could possibly be a bee sting, I'm just unsure of what those look like on chickens?

Again, Katya has been acting just fine since I noticed this yesterday evening. I should also note our other hen did not have a swollen waddle when she passed away. I would be absolutely devastated to lose another chicken to something preventable, so any tips or any ideas as to what the issue might be with her wattle, any help would be greatly appreciated!!!!

This is an image from a few days ago, normal wattles...


Vs this morning, slightly enlarged right wattle...

 

[MysteryChicken]

Her face is abit purple. I think this is early signs of Fowl Cholera. It's a highly infectious disease. The wattle swelling is also a symptom.

 

[MysteryChicken]

@Eggcessive
@azygous
@Wyorp Rock
What are your thoughts on this?

 

[sxulpxnk]

Her face is abit purple. I think this is early signs of Fowl Cholera. It's a highly infectious disease. The wattle swelling is also a symptom.

Thanks!!! I'm really hoping it's not this as I have no idea how they could have developed/caught that... She isn't showing any other symptoms and her face isn't too purple (looking at it right now), she just has significant dirt around her face. I do notice a small pale dot on her wattle so maybe an insect bite?

 

[sxulpxnk]

Thanks!!! I'm really hoping it's not this as I have no idea how they could have developed/caught that... She isn't showing any other symptoms and her face isn't too purple (looking at it right now), she just has significant dirt around her face. I do notice a small pale dot on her wattle so maybe an insect bite?

I've cleaned her face the best I can and got some better lighting... Nothing out of the ordinary on/around her face and no discoloring, but I now see a pale dot on her wattle near her beak. Could this be a tick or a bee sting, or really early signs of fowl cholera?? She is still behaving 100% normally

 

[Eggcessive]

Unless she is acting ill, I would assume that her wattle is swollen due to an insect sting or from being pecked and hurt. Tick bites can cause swelling where the wattle turns purple due to the tick injecting an anticoagulant. If she begins to have other symptoms or become ill, then post again.

 

[azygous]

Try children's Benedryl. A single dose of no more than .5 ml. If you wish to try a second dose, wait a full 24 hours. No more than that, though.