Swollen pale face hen

[urbanfarmgirl10]

My 8month old black/araucana hen, Penny, has a swollen head that is pale. Her comb is also pale. Beyond a puffy face, she is normal in every respect (eating, drinking, foraging, etc.). Her face has been swollen for almost 3 weeks. I have been adding vitamin/probiotic powder to the hens' water for about a week now. I have done endless searching on the Internet for clues as to what she has and how to treat it, but I haven't found anything close. She does not have trouble breathing, she doesn't smell, no watery eyes or runny nose. The only difference from her and my other hens is her puffy head. Her head seems to run warmer than my other hens.
My other two black hens (same age, same brood) just started laying. We have gotten a few soft-shell eggs in the coop, and I'm pretty sure those belong to Penny. I feed my hens a local non-soy, non-corn pellet food, plus some corn scratch every once and a while, oyster shell, and then whatever they find in the yard. Their bedding is straw and wood chips that is cleaned on a regular basis.

What is wrong with my hen and what can I do?

Thank you for your help.

 

[chkn]

Are her eyes swollen or just her cheeks? I've seen some good threads in the past here about swollen faces, I wish I could find them. This site has several pictures covering a few different diseases but a little slow to load: http://partnersah.vet.cornell.edu/avian-atlas/lists/disease.

It might help if you can post a picture. Hopefully someone else will chime in.

 

[urbanfarmgirl10]

Thank you chkn for your link...unfortunately nothing quite matches. I've attached images from varying angles. Penny was not exactly willing to hold still.

The close-up looks like she has glassy eyes, but that's just the lighting. Her eyes look normal to me. Anyone have any ideas? She is not listless at all and doesn't act sick. In fact she was quite aggressively attacking the figs I was feeding my chickens.

Thank you for any and all help!

 

[ekemily]

So wild. I have no idea. My guess would be some sort of allergy to something she is eating in the yard or some sort of boring mite/chigger. Where are you from? At least I can help you top post!

 

[allieloveschickens]

Hmm how strange, it looks like an allergic reaction to me too- maybe she was bitten or stung by something? Or a food allergy- its hard to say, wish I could be more helpful!

 

[AndreaS]

Has anything changed at all? New ranging area? Is the food you are giving them new to them? New supplements, etc...?

I am waaay out of ideas here....seems like an allergy of some type, as others have said. Hope someone with experience will check this post out.

 

[chkn]

Stumped, nice table here on facial swelling related diseases:

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ps044

But I wonder if it could just be something simple like needing to clean the coop:

http://www.chickenhealth.net/

I was looking for parasites that might cause but ammonia burns can cause the face to swell.

 

[urbanfarmgirl10]

I'm beginning to think it might be a food allergy. I'm trying to find my receipt for the last sack of feed that I bought and see if that coincides with Penny's puffy face. I live in the Northwest, and we definitely don't have chiggers here. I have checked her feathers and skin for signs of mites, and there are no red markings nor any sign of eggs on the feathers.

I really appreciate everyone's suggestions! Thanks!

 

[chkn]

Poor thing, it really does look uncomfortable. If you figure anything out let us know.

 

[chkn]

I hope I'm not imposing but there's somebody here named Ruth, she does more with chickens than anyone I can think of, you might seek her out.