Swollen Head Syndrome? Is it contagious?

[glenda75]

Hi, I have a hen who has a lump like this also. I took her to an avian vet who operated excepting to clear her sinus cavities as birds sinuses get congested with a cheesy consistency, gross I know.. Anyhow what he found was that her left side sinuses were completely occluded with a dense spongy growth that he couldn't remove and he said she wouldn't be breathing from that side. This vet only sees birds, reptiles and exotics and knows his birds...

I was thinking I would euthenase her and when I went to have this conversation with the vet they let her out of the cage and she roamed the floor cheekily stealing feed from other cages. The vet said she is eating and pooping and still has quality of life. I couldn't destroy her so brought her home and kept her isolated as she had stitches. It took almost 3 weeks for the other girls to accept her back, they were pretty mean until one day they All got out together accidentally and she was fine so I returned her to the coop and she has reintegrated perfectly. She has. Strange voice, like a duck kind of, I guess from the blocked sinus and her lump is still there, it changes in colour from bright red to quite blue-white. The vet said this is circulation being restricted from the swelling. The lump came up over 6 months ago now and has never gotten smaller and has grown a little but not really much, it's like. Marble size.

She really is fine Nd has perfect quality of life. I was worried about her eggs and the vet said. It would be like us drinking milk from a cow with a cyst on her nose.. Not a probl at all apparently. She has no medication or additional care as there is no actual infection. Sometimes she gets some bubbling in the eye from the swelling also but no smell, it's pressure not infection.

So thought I would share my story as it cost me $400 to learn this information if I. And across it again I would give apple cider vinegar and colloidal silver in water and bathe eye with colloidal silver. If no improvement in a couple of days I would keep bathing and give antibiotics. If it didn't clear,'doesn't smell, doesn't bother the bird too much (cuddles shook her head and sneezed a lot at first) you may be dealing with this strange condition too. Not definitely presented as a respiratory infection type of problem initially. I hope this info helps someone someday

 

[ChickenPox]

An update and closure to this thread, I suppose. Updating to perhaps help someone in the future.

I decided to cull my guy over the weekend. He was still acting completely normal, but the swelling was quickly growing.....all towards the back of his head. Still no other symptoms from him or the other members of the flock. But his eye lids were starting to pull so much I worried that he couldn't see where he was going, and I knew he couldn't be comfortable. He had lost some weight as well. I figured because he either couldn't see as well to find food or just because of whatever was going on was taking it's toll.

I did not perform any kind of necropsy, as I was very busy this weekend and could not devote the time to it as I had wished. I did speak with the vet after the Baytril had zero effect and he was stumped (not an avian vet, but a rural, farm type.) I am chalking it up to some type of cancer, but without sending any biopsies off, I guess I will never know.

RIP Frankenstein Roo.

 

[Eggcessive]

An update and closure to this thread, I suppose. Updating to perhaps help someone in the future.

I decided to cull my guy over the weekend.

He was still acting completely normal, but the swelling was quickly growing.....all towards the back of his head. Still no other symptoms from him or the other members of the flock. But his eye lids were starting to pull so much I worried that he couldn't see where he was going, and I knew he couldn't be comfortable. He had lost some weight as well. I figured because he either couldn't see as well to find food or just because of whatever was going on was taking it's toll.

I did not perform any kind of necropsy, as I was very busy this weekend and could not devote the time to it as I had wished. I did speak with the vet after the Baytril had zero effect and he was stumped (not an avian vet, but a rural, farm type.) I am chalking it up to some type of cancer, but without sending any biopsies off, I guess I will never know.

RIP Frankenstein Roo.

So sorry to hear about Frankenstein's death. It sounds as though you really tried to let him live a normal life, and knew when it was going downhill. This was an unusual case, and educational for many of us to know that swollen faces don't always signal a respiratory disease. Take care.