Help! Swollen Eye!

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5raven5

5raven5

In the Brooder
5 Years
May 27, 2014
31
6
26
Maine
I have a 20 week old EE who suddenly has a swollen eye, noticed yesterday. All of my hens free range in a fenced in one acre pasture, which they cannot get out of. Yesterday afternoon I found Tilly by herself, which is not uncommon for her as she is somewhat of a loner, although she does stay with and near the rest of the flock. The only symptoms she has is her left eye is swollen shut. No wheezing, runny nose or eyes, no blood, no noticable injury. She still forages, but not as much as usual. I am noticing that she wants to just stand around doing nothing, so this indicates to me she is either uncomfortable or disoriented (or both.) I live in Maine so I really don't believe she has eye worm. All of my hens are extremely healthy, so my thought is maybe she got something in her eye that is irritating it, but if that is the case would she act sick?

Hope someone has some ideas here! I do plan to call a vet as soon as they are open, but not sure if my vet has experience with chickens.
 
It may be MG, which is a respiratory disease. An insect sting may also be possible, but I would treat for disease. I would go to the nearest feed store and get Tylan 50 injection, and 3 to 5 syringes and 5 22 gauge needles. Give her 1 ml of Tylan 50 into the beast muscle 1/4 inch every day for 3 days, and no more than 5 days. That may help if there are no other symptoms. Here is a link to read about mycoplasma gallisepticum (MG:) http://www.thepoultrysite.com/disea...ction-mg-chronic-respiratory-disease-chickens
 
Last edited:
Eggcessive said:
It may be MG, which is a respiratory disease. An insect sting may also be possible, but I would treat for disease. I would go to the nearest feed store and get Tylan 50 injection, and 3 to 5 syringes and 5 22 gauge needles. Give her 1 ml of Tylan 50 into the beast muscle 1/4 inch every day for 3 days, and no more than 5 days. That may help if there are no other symptoms. Here is a link to read about mycoplasma gallisepticum (MG:) http://www.thepoultrysite.com/disea...ction-mg-chronic-respiratory-disease-chickens
Click to expand...

I doubt very much that it is a repiratory disease. Their coop, which is a 12x12 foot horse stall, has excellent ventilation, plus I clean it out daily. They are rarely in the coop anyway, except to grab a bite to eat of their organic layer pellets. The rest of the day is spent outdoors foraging, resting and dust bathing. I suspect a bee sting or an insect bite. She is much better today - more active, eating, drinking and pooping normally. Her eye still looks the same - no better, no worse - but if it is a sting it will take a few days for the swelling to go down. She's impossible to pick up so giving her injections may give her a heart attack because of fright!!
 
Any handling of my birds (worming, dusting, medications) is done after dark when they are asleep with me wearing my trusty headlamp. If one is ill, they will usually hang around the coop on the roost after you let everyone out in the morning, and sometimes are easier to get. It very well could be a sting, but I had the same thing happen once with one of mine who had not been exposed to other chickens, and who lived in excellent conditions as well. She had no symptoms but a swollen eye, and it completely went down and she returned to normal with 3 days of Tylan 50. I don't medicate my chickens much, so that was a big step for me.
 

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