Keeping hens and ducks chat.

edwink

Pyxis wrote: »

Funny-looking hens!

Sorry my mistake Pyxis. How about this one then?

edwink

Couldn't resist posting this picture. Bless him/her.

edwink

Pyxis

Three French Hens.........:santa2:

Pyxis

This Diva hen plays "O mio babbino caro" on the piano! :rotfl:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFYxRp9K9L4

beautiful_ravens

Hi all
I was wondering if anyone could diagnose this chicken illness-

My old hen, who is an ex-bat, keeps getting a puffy eye and face, which comes and goes. She gets bubbles in her eyes. Sometimes her face swells a lot, sometimes only a bit, then she will look normal for a while, then it comes back. It seems worse on one side.

This has been going on for nearly a year. She shares the coop with another younger hen who shows no sign of the same thing.

One time in summer, her face was so swollen we couldnt see her eye, she was all mucus-y and not eating, hiding under bushes etc. I really thought she might die but somehow she recovered, and never had a bout that bad since.
Feeding her up with protein treats seems to get her through it.
Any ideas?

edwink

beautiful_ravens wrote: »

Hi all I was wondering if anyone could diagnose this chicken illness-
My old hen, who is an ex-bat, keeps getting a puffy eye and face, which comes and goes. She gets bubbles in her eyes. Sometimes her face swells a lot, sometimes only a bit, then she will look normal for a while, then it comes back. It seems worse on one side.
This has been going on for nearly a year. She shares the coop with another younger hen who shows no sign of the same thing.
One time in summer, her face was so swollen we couldnt see her eye, she was all mucus-y and not eating, hiding under bushes etc. I really thought she might die but somehow she recovered, and never had a bout that bad since. Feeding her up with protein treats seems to get her through it. Any ideas?

Poor little hen, bless her.

Sounds like she either has a sinus or an eye infection from what you describe. A lot of infections can and do go on their own if the hen is really healthy and everything around them is kept as clean as possible. But, sometimes they need help in the way of antibiotics. It sounds as though her immune system is pretty strong if it is settling down on its own without medication. But it also sounds as though she is not completely ridding herself of the infection therefore it keeps returning. She could possibly get it again and this time her immune system may not cope with it and she could therefore become seriously unwell with it and she could loose her life.

I would suggest that if she shows signs of it again take her along to your vets for them to take a look at her and therefore give her the appropriate treatment. Once she has the appropriate treatment and completely rids herself of this infection there is no reason I can see for it to return again.

Just a thought. What do you use in their nesting box? Straw, Hay or something like unibedding? Have you tried to have a good look at her eye? Will she allow you to do that?. If you are using bedding that is particularly dusty which some of them are that could be irritating her eyes/sinus's. I know some of the unibedding is quite dusty even though it states on the bag "dust free". The same goes for hay as that can be dusty too. If something is irritating her you would be better to try straw with her to see if that changes anything. All worth a try I suppose.

Hope that helps

Edwink

beautiful_ravens

Thanks Edwink, I think you might be right. Where is a chickens sinus? Is in front of the eye, between eye and beak?

edwink

Pyxis wrote: »

This Diva hen plays "O mio babbino caro" on the piano! :rotfl:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFYxRp9K9L4

If you don't want to know how this is done skip to the next post and don't carry on reading this one.

Hens will always peck at anything that is red or anything that is shiny like a gold ring. In that clip there is a red light being shone on to the next key/note to be played by the hen so she is following that.

Clever little hen she is or is she a chicken?

Thanks for that Pyxis.

Edwink

edwink

beautiful_ravens wrote: »

Thanks Edwink, I think you might be right. Where is a chickens sinus? Is in front of the eye, between eye and beak?

The Sinus cavity runs alongside of the face and under the eye.

Do you know if her comb or her beak are warm when this is happening to her? Because this would be an indication of an infection too.

Edwink