Swollen eye and face: Treatment Progress (ADVICE WELCOME!)

[deacons]

Posting back on this thread because on Sunday afternoon, I had a different hen come back to the coop with the same exact swelling around her eye. It's the strangest thing, with both of these girls, they went out to a particular part of the yard foraging, and about 30 minutes later, came back to the coop with this massive swelling. That makes me think either there is some kind of plant in that part of the yard that causes this reaction, or perhaps it's a reaction to an insect bite? Maybe black flies? I know they make me swell up massively, so I suppose it's possible that the sensitive skin around their eyes is susceptible.

I've had another sick hen this week (unrelated), so to be honest, I've been pretty preoccupied with her and have been doing a "wait and see" sort of approach with the eye swelling. Interestingly, it seems to be progressing almost identically to the first hen's- but without any medication. It's gone down noticeably today (day 3) and I think I'm just going to continue watching to see how it runs its course.

I just wanted to post here in case anyone in the future is encountering something similar. I am certainly not a vet and can't diagnose what's going on, but my guess is that it is an insect bite and will eventually resolve on its own.

 

[alibabba]

So, with mine.... I did oxytet them. No change. Never got worse either.

Seemed to be just getting better bit by bit over a couple of weeks.

They were never even close to the puffy swelling of the original post pic. So perhaps that was a touch of cellulitis or an extra intense reaction in her case.

I'm figuring bug bites here. I'm trying to make sure the curtain (very fancy landscape fabric) is down over the window at night so skeeters don't get in. I guess I could give them a screen too over the wire. I probably have a piece laying around.

If it was getting worse instead of better I would have definitely tried other antibiotics.

 

[deacons]

Yep, it seems to me like it has to be some kind of bug bite. This second chicken with the swollen face had a tick embedded on the opposite side of her face a few weeks ago, but she had no reaction at all to that (I was able to pull it off fairly easily). I've had chickens on this same property for 3 summers now, and I've never seen this at all, so it's a little weird for this to happen to two of them within a month of each other. My guess is black flies, as they cause some nasty swelling in other animals, but who knows.

Are there any plants that would have prickers or other types of "stingers" that could cause this just by brushing against them? That's the only other thing I can think of- both of these chickens came home with the intense swelling after being in the same part of the yard, which is not someplace they go every day.

 

[deacons]

Just updating to say that the swelling on the 2nd chicken has gone down completely on its own, with no medication. Like the 1st one, it was about a week start to finish on the swelling. I'm still leaning towards insect bite.

 

[alibabba]

You got me thinking (dangerous!) about plants that irritate... I don't think I have any stinging nettles, but know I have thistles all over the place and some wild roses and devil weed, that is really pretty spikey.

 

[deacons]

You got me thinking (dangerous!)  about plants that irritate...  I don't think I have any stinging nettles, but know I have thistles all over the place and some wild roses and devil weed, that is really pretty spikey.

I've been thinking that too-and we do have all that you mentioned in our yard. I can't get into all the nooks and crannies in the underbrush that they like to visit, so I can't check for/remove stuff that's irritating. But it very well could be plants. I've never seen this in 3 summers of having these same chcikens, so who knows!

 

[tonyschicks]

Glad to hear that it went away on its own but didn't your vet take a swab to be tested? May have saved you some time and the eggs that were tossed bc of the med withdraw.
Very glad it's wasn't some type of respiratory problem