Chicken with one very swollen eye area but NO oozing

[hudsonmama]

Hi,

I have an 11-mo old Rhode Island Red hen with one eye nearly swollen shut. It's actually the area beneath her eye, swollen like a round lump. It looks like someone inserted a tiny marble in the flesh under her eye. There is NO oozing or other symptoms.

The other ten hens appear healthy and she seems otherwise fine. I only noticed Ginger's eye today, but our chickens free range over half an acre, so we don't see them up close all the time. As soon as they are out of their hen house in the morning, they are all over the place. It was a little tricky just catching her to try to see it up close. My batteries died on my camera as I was trying to take a picture for uploading.

Could she have got her eye area poked by brambles or pecked, or dirt or debris in there? I have a hard time imagining it could be disease since we aren't in contact with other birds or animals much. In fact, the only other birds we ever see around here are way up high in our pine and cedar trees. They don't come to the ground at all.

Other info...we live in the country, don't have other livestock, the hens free range most of the day, we've had our birds for 7 months, the poop I am seeing (don't know if it's her per se) is normal, the house is a large playhouse converted to a coop with wood shavings for bedding, same as we have been using for months. We have blackberry brambles in some spots where they like to hang out. The only thing that has changed recently is that we had to buy non-organic feed two days ago because we couldn't get to the feed store that carries organic and I did notice that the non-organic feed smells like chemicals, whereas organic never does. Ick. Any chance this could cause allergic reaction?

We're chicken newbies and would appreciate any help!

Thanks,
Jodi

 

[Sportsterjeep]

Get a hold of her and make sure that there is nothing in the eye itself. If there is, try and rinse any debris out with saline or clean water. You can apply a topical antibiotic like NFZ Puffer, a canine eye and ear powder, or Terramycin- a cream. Most places it is easier to locate the puffer than it is the Terramycin. I would apply either of those for a few days and monitor her situation.

 

[TheWaddler]

I had an easter egger that I had to cull that had a similar problem. She developed a lump under her eye that would not go away. Tried several meds on her to no avail. Took her to the vet because curiosity got the best of me and I had to know what it was. The vet said chickens have air sacs that run up from their neck into their head and around their beak and that these sacs sometimes get clogged with particulate matter and swells up. He also told that for a little more than $1070ish that he would fix my $5 chicken......but no guarantees. I operated on her myself with the help of an Airborn Ranger Medic friend of mine and found nothing in there but a large bloody mass. Not knowing exactly what was going on I eventually had to cull her because she didn't lay and while she got alone fine half her face was swollen at this point. I have had 2 chickens that end up with said lump that the vet says was not viral/bacterial and they weren't "sick". They also did not have any oozing or runny noses but they did blow bubbles in their eyes from time to time. Seemed the bubbles showed up after they shook their heads from side to side.

Culling was the only answer for me, hope yours come out better.

 

[hudsonmama]

Yes, I hope we don't have to cull her. She's a nice chicken and our best layer. I'm going to try the topical antibiotic. Plus, my kids would just be really sad as these are our first chickens and they are very attached to them! I'm going into town today, so will try to find the antibiotic.

Jodi