Swollen Wattles

[buggal]

I have a hen that has swollen wattles. The neck seems to be swollen too. She is not closing her beak and seems to be mucus around her mouth. I have noticed her trying to drink but is not able to close her mouth so I am not sure how well she is getting anything down. My husband pulled her as soon as we noticed something wrong (yesterday) and put her in a carrier by herself. My husband said she is moving her head back and forth doing the Stevie Wonder dance with her head. She did lay an egg today. As soon as I figure out how to post pics I have them. The neck today right above the wattles was blue. That can't be good. It hasn't been below 78 at night so I wouldn't think frost bight. My husband thinks it could be a copper head snake.(we have found 3 on the property). We have a friend that his uncle is a vet and he said it could be gape worm or avian flu.



The vet has only seen the pics not the bird in person. We are planning on going to get Tylan 50 in case it is an upper respiratory infection. PLEASE if this is wrong let me know. Any help is appreciated.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Look her over for any signs that she may have been bitten by the snake.

Fowl Cholera and Infectious Coryza also cause swollen wattles. Does she have an odor to her at all (like something rotting)? If no smell, then talk to the vet about Fowl Cholera.
If the vet will see her, that would be best, he can also get you better antibiotics and possibly do some testing.

I'm not sure how effective the Tylan would be, but if that's what you have you can try. Looks like sulfonamides, penicillin, tetracycline and erythromycin may be what you need, but do some research.


https://www.cuteness.com/article/chicken-comb-diseases
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ps044

 

[quackersandfern]

Poor girl She is very cute!

Have you tried out PoultryDVM's Chicken Symptom Checker yet? Here is a link - http://www.poultrydvm.com/views/symptoms.php

 

[buggal]

Update... we haven't given her any medication just kept her by herself but she seems to be improving. The wattles are starting to go down. I will be giving her baby food tonight along with some pedialite to help her out. None of the other chickens are showing any signs of this so, let's hope it is nothing serious.
Will keep you posted and maybe get a pic for you tonight showing the swelling going down.
Thanks to all participating for the info.

 

[JChicken77]

Aw, poor girl!

I hope she gets better soon!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Update... we haven't given her any medication just kept her by herself but she seems to be improving. The wattles are starting to go down. I will be giving her baby food tonight along with some pedialite to help her out. None of the other chickens are showing any signs of this so, let's hope it is nothing serious.
Will keep you posted and maybe get a pic for you tonight showing the swelling going down.
Thanks to all participating for the info.

Glad to hear she is improving.

Must have been snake bite?

Keep us posted.

 

[buggal]

Update. The swelling is still going down but not quite back to normal. We put pedialite and baby food in her enclosure. She ate all the baby food by herself!!! Can't really tell if she has drank any of the pedialite but it is there, plus she has water and crumbles that we feed our baby chicks. We have put some cucumber in there just in case she decides she want it.
She is "new" to our flock (about 1 month) and she hadn't gotten a name yet, now we call her Wattles. I really think she is going to make it. The only problem is we haven't figured out what caused all of this in the first place.
Will update when I know more.

 

[buggal]

Final Update.... She is doing great. Her appetite is completely back she is laying eggs (she never really stopped) the head swaying back and forth has stopped for about 3 or 4 days now and the swelling is completely gone. We are planning on keeping her separate but still where the flock can see her until all the antibiotics are out of her system.
Thanks for all the words of encouragement and advice.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

This is great news!

 

[Betsy57]

My 4 1/2 year old rooster had that yesterday. Saturday his face/wattles were fine. Monday night he was so swollen. I've never seen this before! His wattles were purple too. I had brought him into the basement to try to get him to eat more (he hasn't been eating much for the past year) and when I came home from work he was all puffed up and weezing. I put him down. He was such a gentle giant Black Australorp, Sambo. I could walk right up to him and pick him up, no problems. Rest in peace Sambo.