Hen isolating + closing one eye

[lefttowrite]

Hi! I'm a new chicken keeper (6 Australorp hens, 12 weeks old at time of posting).

One of my girls has been acting strangely for the last few weeks, off and on. Sometimes, she integrates with the rest of the flock, behaves normally, looks happy/curious, etc. Other times, she sets herself apart, droops her tail, and frequently closes her left eye.

I've checked her out multiple times and have never seen any abnormalities with her eye, even close up--it's bright, shiny, and looks healthy....except when it's closed. Today, when I checked her out, she had a fine white dust around her eye (not in it, but around it). I'm guessing it was maybe food residue, which leads me to believe she's being pecked there.

The one constant is that she's the last to do everything. The last to come out of the coop in the morning, the last to realize where everyone went when they free range and move to a different spot, the last to come running when I give treats. Maybe this is due to poor vision, but I'm wondering if this has to do with the pecking order, (which is why I'm posting this here instead of in Emergencies/Disease/Injuries).

Has anyone else experienced this? Is it simply them figuring out who's top bird and bottom bird, and my Ella drew the short end of the stick? Or is there something more serious going on, and I should head over to the Disease thread? Thanks for your time!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Please post photos of her, her eye and her poop.

What do you feed, including treats?
How old is she?
When was her last egg?
How much coop/run space do you have (sq ft) - photos of housing may be helpful.

Drooping of the tail is often an indication that one is not feeling well. Look her over for lice/mites, see that her crop is emptying overnight. Watch to see if she's being kept from food/water. If she's not been laying eggs consistently and should be, then she may be having issues with production, if that's the case, then giving extra calcium for a few days would be an appropriate course of action to take.

 

[lefttowrite]

Please post photos of her, her eye and her poop.

What do you feed, including treats?
How old is she?
When was her last egg?
How much coop/run space do you have (sq ft) - photos of housing may be helpful.

Drooping of the tail is often an indication that one is not feeling well. Look her over for lice/mites, see that her crop is emptying overnight. Watch to see if she's being kept from food/water. If she's not been laying eggs consistently and should be, then she may be having issues with production, if that's the case, then giving extra calcium for a few days would be an appropriate course of action to take.

Thanks for responding, @Wyorp Rock! They’re still on medicated chick feed (Purina, 18% protein). They get a scratch mix (oats, mealworm, sunflower seeds, calendula petals) as treats, plus recently they’ve gotten hornworms from the garden (but I’m pretty sure the girls just torture them and don’t actually eat them).

12 wks old and not laying yet so no egg data.

Coop is about 72 sq ft for six hens. Run is roughly the same. They’ve also gotten to free range about an hour a night for the last couple weeks.

Photo of coop/run is attached. I can post photos of her, her eye, etc. tomorrow morning, as it’s night here now. We did give her a thorough look-over tonight though: crop feels fine; feet, vent, wings, and eyes all look normal. She did have her beak open a lot when we were checking her out, but I wonder if that’s a stress response.

I will watch them tomorrow to see if she’s being excluded from food/water. She seems happy and normal some of the time, but it’s these little episodes that concern me. My gut tells me she’s just being bullied (but then again, I don’t know much about keeping chickens yet).

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I like your coop!

I'd start transitioning them off the medicated starter and just feed unmedicated starter or an all flock feed. Try to limit the treats as well.

Could be she's getting bullied, but hard to know. Let me know what you observe.

 

[lefttowrite]

I like your coop!

I'd start transitioning them off the medicated starter and just feed unmedicated starter or an all flock feed. Try to limit the treats as well.

Could be she's getting bullied, but hard to know. Let me know what you observe.

Thank you! My husband and I busted our butts this summer to get it done the flock seems to like it!

As promised, here’s a photo (albeit a grainy one). This is the eye in question. I checked on them multiple times throughout the day, and didn’t see any abnormal behavior, isolating, drooping, eye closing, etc. like I saw yesterday and have seen off and on in the past. Not to say it didn’t happen; I just didn’t see it in the 5-6 times I was out there.

I watched them especially carefully this morning when they were eating breakfast. She was able to get to the feeder and waterer just fine.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

She's sweet!

For the eye, if you notice anything off or become concerned, flush it out with saline, remove any debris, etc. Sometimes they may get something in the eye just like we do. If the eye seems irritated, then you can put some ointment in the eye a couple of times a day. Terramcyin eye ointment can be found at most TSC or you can order it online (Amazon). Original Neosporin can be put in the eye if you can't source Terramycin.

 

[tofuflower]

Not an expert, but I had three chickens scratch their eye area and develop an inflammation / infection when one eye got shut from either crusted pus or pain. The behavior you describe sounds most similar when the injured chicken was already near the bottom of the pecking order. The amount of time spent in isolation was most correlated with the pecking order. (Side note: This was a few months apart from each other, so I don't think it was contagious but them scratching themselves with a dirty claw or from random sticks while foraging.)

#1 was second to last of the pecking order and spent most of the day sitting with the chicken at the very bottom of the pecking order because she was operating with only with one eye for awhile. She wouldn't try to compete for food during the group feeding time because she didn't have the vision on both sides to see incoming pecks from the other chickens. We couldn't handle her to treat, so she took three long weeks to heal.

#2 was at top of the pecking order would still go for food but would turn her head 180 degrees (like an owl! didn't know it was possible) to keep an eye out on both sides while eating. She even foraged with the group as much as possible but then took some sitting breaks alone, hiding from the group.

#3 was fourth to last on the pecking order we could handle, so we handfed her so she didn't have to deal with navigating the pecking order. We caught her infection early with neosporin so she didn't go through any noticeable isolation stages.

For the two we could handle, we put original neosporin on the red inflamed parts around the eye, which sped up the recovery by 1-2 weeks.. Your picture doesn't look anything like the red inflammation I dealt with though, so, I guess flushing out with saline can remove any internal irritation. We also used soft lenses multi-purpose contacts solution since that was on hand when our hen's eye got crusted shut. Good luck!

 

[lefttowrite]

Update here: Ella is a-OK! Two days after I posted, we took her into the garage and, as gently as we could with a big awkward squeeze bottle, rinsed her eye a couple times with saline solution. We were going to isolate overnight just in case, but she was NOT having it, so we put her back with the others.

She’s been fine ever since—no droopiness or incessant eye closing. She does still lag behind everyone but that’s just because she’s off in la-la-land when the flock moves on during free range time and then she can’t find anyone.

Thanks, @Wyorp Rock and @tofuflower for your replies.

 

[tofuflower]

Thank you for the update and good news!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Update here: Ella is a-OK! Two days after I posted, we took her into the garage and, as gently as we could with a big awkward squeeze bottle, rinsed her eye a couple times with saline solution. We were going to isolate overnight just in case, but she was NOT having it, so we put her back with the others.

She’s been fine ever since—no droopiness or incessant eye closing. She does still lag behind everyone but that’s just because she’s off in la-la-land when the flock moves on during free range time and then she can’t find anyone.

Thanks, @Wyorp Rock and @tofuflower for your replies.

Glad to hear she's doing well!
Thank you for the update