Strange dark eye is concerning

[Magpie2]

I’m currently nursing a hen with frostbitten toes. She’s doing very well, I have her with a companion though and I noticed something strange about the companion hen’s eye.

Both girls are rescues* (*we didn’t know how much they were neglected when we purchased them) from a hatchery. We got them as yearlings and we’ll have had them for a year in the summer. The one with frostbite right now (speckled Sussex) still has a foggy eye which she came to us with. We have confirmed that the eye isn’t caused by anything contagious and is likely due to having too much ammonia in her previous home.
Foggy eye:

Clear eye:

The companion (black laced bantam Cochin) has always had what I’ve called “sad eyes” but I never quite noticed how dark one is compared to the other. I don’t think she came like this because I was able to find one picture where you can see the orange in both eyes. It’s like the pupil is fully dilated even if you shine a light in it. She can see on that side but I’m not sure how well.

August 2022, eyes seem normal:

February 2023, right eye is dark:

I noticed that her eye was a bit red and swollen over a month ago but I was already caring for two birds so I brought her inside but wasn’t carefully monitoring her and the redness has cleared since.

Any idea what could be going on? How concerned should I be?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

She may be going blind in the eye.
It's hard to tell.
If it's not bothering her and she doesn't have any swelling, pus or discharge, then personally, I'd just monitor it.

 

[Razzlefrazzle]

It looks like the pupil in her right eye is extremely dilated. This could be due to an injury that resulted in nerve/muscle damage in the eye or from a condition affecting the nerves like a stroke or tumor or...? Since you noticed it was red earlier I'd guess either injury and/or infection caused some damage.

 

[Magpie2]

She may be going blind in the eye.
It's hard to tell.
If it's not bothering her and she doesn't have any swelling, pus or discharge, then personally, I'd just monitor it.

I’ve been trying to tell how well she can see but she’s just not a very reactive bird in general so I can waggle my fingers on her bad side and have zero reaction, think maybe she’s blind, and then try the good side and have equally no reaction she lets me gently poke her face even. I would assume she’d flinch if she didn’t se me coming but she might honestly not care.
The only thing that I’ve really noticed is that she often misses her treats by about 0.5”-1”, so definitely some issues with depth perception.

She’s a chill girl with people but she’s no pushover with the other birds so hopefully we’ll have no issues when she returns to the coop.

Bonus picture of her chilling on a towel. Her bad eye always looks a little squinty but she might have been falling asleep.

 

[Magpie2]

It looks like the pupil in her right eye is extremely dilated. This could be due to an injury that resulted in nerve/muscle damage in the eye or from a condition affecting the nerves like a stroke or tumor or...? Since you noticed it was red earlier I'd guess either injury and/or infection caused some damage.

I don’t suppose there would be any way to treat any of that at this point?

It could be my imagination but her lower lid looks a little thin on that side, if there was an injury I would guess it was to the lower lid/eye.
Just in case I wasn’t clear enough earlier, there was redness and swelling on the lid and around the eye but I never saw anything wrong with the actual eye at the time.

I know I can’t be perfect but it’s hard watching two of our rescues dealing with issues and injuries acquired under our care. If there’s any way to help them, I’ll try it!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I’ve been trying to tell how well she can see but she’s just not a very reactive bird in general so I can waggle my fingers on her bad side and have zero reaction, think maybe she’s blind, and then try the good side and have equally no reaction she lets me gently poke her face even. I would assume she’d flinch if she didn’t se me coming but she might honestly not care.
The only thing that I’ve really noticed is that she often misses her treats by about 0.5”-1”, so definitely some issues with depth perception.

She’s a chill girl with people but she’s no pushover with the other birds so hopefully we’ll have no issues when she returns to the coop.

Bonus picture of her chilling on a towel. Her bad eye always looks a little squinty but she might have been falling asleep.
View attachment 3396766

She's cute!

She may not care if you poke around her face. I have had a couple of roosters that didn't pay one bit of attention to you messing round with their face or eyes, no flinching, no caring, but they did not have any sight issues.

Hard to know what happened with the eye. Initial redness and swelling could have been from a number of things, but it doesn't look like there's any irritation now, so that must have resolved. If you notice any symptoms in the future, general care is to flush the eye with saline and put an eye ointment in the eye.