my chicken has swollen eye with bubbling liquid

[freez]

hello all , I was looking for a little assistance.

I have 4 white rocks , I am fairly new to owning chickens. I am not sure on there exact age as we got them at a local flea market .
The guy that sold them to us claimed all the birds were about 11 weeks old . My father in law said that a couple of the birds were definitely not 11 weeks . I would say two of them are .

Two days ago we noticed that one of our young birds had a bubbly liquid coming from her eye and it was swollen .

Today I noticed that one of the older birds eye has the bubbly liquid coming from it but it is not swollen yet . After doing a little reading on the internet I have found that it is most likely contagious.Whatever it is . I know that it is probably not good .

We feed the birds everyday laying pellets and we pretty much try to give them clean water everyday.

I have noticed in the coop that some of the droppings are diarrhea , although we cant pinpoint which bird or birds are doing it .

My father in law at one time had chickens and he recommended maybe trying a little peroxide on the birds eye , we tried it , but I am thinking after reading some that it is far more serious then that .

I am hoping to try and see if it is fixable ourselves . My problem here is that we ordered 20 more chicks from an online store but we wont receive them until the first week in april. I am feeling that we may have to put the four birds down to be able to clean up for the new chicks. Not sure

We have them in a totally enclosed coop with a house and a screened area . The floor of the coop (house ) we have hay as a bedding . And the outside are is dirt. We try to keep it somewhat clean as I have read that hay isnt a real good bedding .

I know this one may be a hard one to diagnose as there are a few diseases that have these symptoms . Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Brian]

The eye and conjunctiva are infected. That is not in dispute. Perhaps there is a respiratory infection as well. Before lab work, begin treating with antibiosis empirically now.
For the record, never ever ever put regular household hydrogen peroxide (3%) in any animal's eye. It will burn off all corneal epithelium, down to bowman's layer, and leave it susceptible to the worst opportunistic microbes available. Then you can wind up with a corneal ulcer and blindness. True for humans too.
For now, and speaking only for the eye, apply polysporin, neosporin, erythromycin or bacitracin antibiotic ointment to the affected eye 3 times a day. This can be over-the-counter ointment. It will say not for use in eyes. Use it anyway. Trust me...I'm an eye doc, you can use it.

Brian

 

[pips&peeps]

I got this info from Peter Brown tonight....

Hey Jean:

I have seen this many times before. The underlying causes are many. Things such as E.coli, Pseudomonas,Coryza, Bronchitis,etc.

I would Nasal Flush the bird using Oxine or Tylan 50 with sterile water. I would then apply either eye drops or eye ointment to the eye several times daily.

DIRECTIONS FOR TREATING SINUSITIS WITH SWOLLEN EYES




NASAL FLUSH USING TYLAN 50 OR LA-200

USING 12 CC’S OF STERILE WATER ADD 2 CC OF TYLAN 50 OR 1 CC OF LA-200 AND THEN FLUSH EACH NOSTRIL( USING A SYRINGE WITH THE NEEDLE REMOVED ) WITH 3 TO 4 CC’S TWICE PER DAY FOR 5 TO 7 DAYS. THE BIRDS HEAD SHOULD BE HELD DOWN SO AS NOT TO SWALLOW TO MUCH OF THE TYLAN SOLUTION.

FOLLOW THE FLUSHING WITH VET-RX SQUIRTED LIBERALLY INTO EACH NOSTRIL. DO THIS AFTER EACH FLUSHING.

USING THE EYE OINTMENTS IS A CRITICAL PART OF GETTING THE SWELLING TO GO DOWN. USE THE EYE OINTMENT EVERY 2 TO 3 HOURS DURING THE DAY IF AT ALL POSSIBLE. YOU SHOULD USE IT AT LEAST TWICE PER DAY. START IN ONE CORNER OF THE EYE AND LAY DOWN A SMALL STRIP OF THE EYE OINTMENT FROM ONE CORNER OF THE EYE TO THE OTHER CORNER OF THE EYE.

IT MAY ALSO BE HELPFUL TO FLUSH THE EYE ONCE PER DAY WITH AN OVER THE COUNTER HUMAN EYE WASH THAT IS BORIC ACID BASED AND THEN PROCEED WITH THE NASAL FLUSHING AS DESCRIBED ABOVE. THE EYE WASHES ARE READILY AVAILABLE IN ALL DRUG STORES.

IT MAY BE NECESSARY TO USE MORE POWERFUL ANTIBIOTICS TO CURE THIS SWOLLEN EYE PROBLEM. IF YOU ARE NOT MAKING PROGRESS , PLEASE CALL ME SO THAT WE MAY DISCUSS YOUR SITUATION AND MAKE ANY NECESSARY CHANGES.


TYLAN 50 OR LA-200 - 2 TO 3 DROPS DIRECTLY INTO THE EYE TWICE A DAY FOLLOWED BY THE EYE OINTMENT TWICE PER DAY FOR 5 TO 7 DAYS

CILOXAN EYE DROPS GIVEN AT THE RATE OF 2 TO 3 DROPS IN THE AFFECTED EYE 2 TO 3 TIMES A DAY FOR 5 TO 7 DAYS


Ciprofloxacin Eye drops or Chloramphenicol Eye Ointment available in the online store on this site.

This should take care of the problem.

Keep us posted if you will.

Keep em Healthy,

Doc​

 

[sammi]

Mike...look for the Tylan in the livestock section..not the poultry section.

also available online from jeffers livestock supply and foys pigeon supply..

http://www.firststatevetsupply.com/

http://www.foyspigeonsupplies.com


http://www.jefferslivestock.com

 

[faerieeeiren]

I have had this problem for about a year with a very nice Bantam I have it just lingers. Recently after trying all suggested I took it off antibiotics and began just washing out its eyes which seemed to help greatly then it began having problems standing up straight so I began varying the diet to include vitamins and occassionally potassium in case washing the eye made it loose potassium which helped a little bit. While handling the Bantam that never seems to die eventually it scratched at the side of a couple of my nail beds and it got infected so I tried various things to find that iodine helped along with tea tree oil mixed with camphophenique suggesting thus that this is not a parasite and not a bacteria or virus but quite possibly a fungus as it has affected my nail beds. Medicine for Fungus can be very deadly or cause cancer but many natural products help kill fungal growths. Since I have been putting these ointments and oils into the ear opening this Bantam has begun walking upright and keeping its head upright along with drinking water and feeding itself. When I did not feed the Bantam prior to this it would climb it's cage for me to feed it so I have continued to care for it because obviously it wants to live. I suppose putting it out of its misery would have been more humane but it still acts like it desires to live. My guess is the bird got ahold of some fungus from a pidgeon that got into the yard that is common for them to contract after getting very cold from going up into a tree in my backyard over my porch near my bedroom window that I would check on them or talk to them out of occassionally on a cold rainy night where I could not reach it to bring it in. As often inner ear infections I have had have been helped by ear drops I used this first on the bantam with great success and when I ran out I puchased in the Afro American section for hair and skin that tends to be dry various natural oils with antibiotic capabilities that I have used on my very dry skin in the past such that I knew about its existance for use on dry skin and hair. I am very glad my black friends told me about these products such that I have used them with great success in the past for myself and now for my little bantam who use to talk to me until he got a headcold he never recovered from.
Fungus is very difficult to cure so make sure you keep old moldy food out of their containers especially if your birds are inbred and less resistant to disease. As this is a very tiny white Bantam my guess is there is some inbreeding from this bantam that did not exist in my others who experienced similar things and did not get this sickly.

 

[Akita]

I have been treating my hen with swollen eyes for about 10a weeks. Tylan50 did not work. Neomycin ans polymyxin B did not work. Neither did Baytril. Out of despiration i started an eyedrop with Dexamethasone. Shes the much, much better now.

 

[casportpony]

Well, because that law got passed earlier this year that you can't buy antibiotics without a vet license, I took a few to the vet. He said it was PROBABLY coryza. Gave them some antibiotic powder for the water. I'm a little confused since antibiotics don't help with viruses, which Coryza supposedly is (per vet). Ah well, they've started to recover anyway.

Glad you were able to see a vet.
According to this, Coryza is a bacteria:
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/diseaseinfo/82/infectious-coryza/

 

[pips&peeps]

"Bubbly eye" is usually a sign of bronchitis or LT. Have your bird swabbed and send it in to the avian health lab.

You don't want to get chicks with this stuff going on. Bronchitis will spread fast and can last up to six weeks, but LT is slow spreading, and if the live through it they will be carriers.

Another example of why "not to buy adult/started birds", especially if you don't know or can't see where they came from.

 

[CUDA]

Do the birds rattle when they breathe, or have runny noses? If so, it is probably CRD. Either way, you need to get these birds on an antibiotic. I would start off with Tylan, and see where that gets you. Tylan is a very good respiratory antibiotic, and usually when bubbles show up in the eyes, it is from a respiratory problem. I use Tylan 200, and inject a 1/4 cc in the breast for three days in a row, in different spots of the breast, and just under the skin. You should see signs of this improving after the first day of treatment. Good luck!

 

[keystonebantams]

The bully eye is a sign of conjunctivitis which is comony associated with Infectious Bronchitis(IB) or Infectious Laryngotracheitis(ILT). Your best bet would be to havea necropsy done on your sickest bird, you will not get it back since it will be killed to perform the necropsy.

But immediately get them on an antibiotic like Terramycin, it is specifically formulated to treat respiratort infections. mix it 4 teasponns to 1 gallon of water, keep them cooped up with no other water source and darkness seems to help. keep them on the antibiotic for 10 days and off for 2 weeks, if it comes back retreat,

In the meantime it is best to vaccinate your entire flox except the sick birds with LT-IVAX and an IB vaccine. Do not vaccinate with both the same day, do one then wait about a week and do the other.

Good Luck,

mike