Eye worm?

I have a couple of young birds come up with swollen eyes.No precursors such as Sneezing,watering,or anything.Looked good one day then kinda down and closed eye they next.After the eyes swole it started having a lil nasal discharge,but it was kinda like the stuff we pulled out the eye.Like the worm burrowed into the sinus or something.Now one of the girls eye was horribly swollen today.I had seperated the birds because they are just getting to the 'fight' stage,and had been very picked on by a couple. Hubby and I worked on the pullets.One had horrible smelly "cheese" built up in her eye.As hubby was cleaning it out with a Qtip,he pulls out this blackish color 'worm'. We couldn't find one in the other pullets eye,but it may have been farther down or into the nasal cavity or something. Hoping they start looking better.Where do the eye worms come from?I'm assuming thats what it was.Haven't really been able to find anything solid about it.

I have used vet rx in the eyes for eye worm. Its cheap!
Quote:

It is believed the eye worm comes from consuming wood and cockroaches. However, the eye worm is typically clear to a whitish color.

http://www.archive.org/stream/mansonseyewormof00rommiala#page/6/mode/2up

You can use valbazen mixed with equal parts of water and put it in the eyes, it will kill eyeworm. Then use 1/2cc dose of valbazen (no water) and give it to them orally...repeat in 10 days.

Hi Whisky Bay,

Although I am new to chickens, and this forum...in the past weeks I have spent considerable time scouring the internet for information on eyeworm.

I'm not sure how much I can post regarding links...and may get links then check with forum moderators to see if it is O.K.

I saw what looked like white threads in the eye of one pullet, and then perhaps little white threads on the top of her beak. I also saw bubbles in the corner of her eyes (like tiny water bubbles). This was the wildest/shyest of my three so it was difficult to get close up. She had a tiny cough, was a little behind the other hatchling like her, and was shier and lowest in the pecking order. Another symptom is attempting to scratch the eye. I have heard that a chicken can scratch the eye out to get rid of the irritant... that sent me into a tizzie...

After lots of internet research -- I did find that

1. Vet Rx is listed as a treatment for eyeworm. (I didn't even know there was such a thing as an eye worm) My local stores didn't have it---but it can readily be orderd online.

2. This parasite requires an intermediate host. The host is a cockroach (Surinam cockroach if anyone can tell one cockroach from another). The bird eats the cockroach which contains the larval stage of the worm --- the parasite migrates up the tear duct and infects the eye. Living in the chicken's eye it lays eggs which travel down the chicken's throat in tears and exit in chicken droppings which are eaten by another cockraoch -- where the eggs hatch. I think it takes 4-months to mature. Apparently the eye worm affects wild game birds like pheasants -- they must eat a lot of bugs. I am presently trying to find out if there can be any direct infection (chicken to chicken) or if only eating an infected roach gives the bird the parasite.

3. The symptoms you described sound exactly like what my research dug up. In 1904 a man discovered the eye worm and it was named after him... I think it was 'Mason's eye worm'. A complete book with an illustration of infected chicken with swolen eye is available on the internet. You can google it and select the PDF version to see the drawings. (Lots of drawings of the worm too---but I was only concerned on the chicken side). Swollen eye, and a white discharge, which I suspect is pus. (sorry this is all so gross...but --- you will feel very empowered when you cure your bird, I am sure) At that time they didn't know about the intermediate host.

4. While awaiting my delivery of Vet Rx. (There is an example on You Tube of someone treating a chicken with eye worm with Vet Rx. ( Go to You Tube and search under chicken eye worm...... you can see a woman, I think a vet, and some kind of white bird with swollen eye. She makes it look easy to treat. ) I kept researching. I went to online vet, and spent $30 for an online vet appointment. The wonderful vet told me I could wash the chickens eye with a mixture of bicarbonate of soda -- 1/2 teaspoon of soda (baking soda) to one pint of cooled water that you have boiled to sterilize. We caught the little wild pullet, and I felt like I was water-boarding her...but she took it well...and yet, I wasn't sure that anything was killed. The on line vet was $30-- the chicken was $10 -- go figure that one out for economy. But after thinking that she could scratch out the eye, I needed to do something while awaiting delivery of Vet Rx.

5. More reasearch -- you can go to 'image' search on google and see some pictures of eye worm. Who ever said that they are small and white or transparent, or semi transparent is correct from what I saw on internet image search and my own pullet. The black one your husband saw was probably one that was dead or some debris in the eye. I also found a You Tube site where someone speaking in I think Phillipeno displays a chicken with eye worm on the video and how to treat. Although it is a foreign language, there are enough English words that you can follow the gist of the subject. So again, go to You Tube and search on chicken eye worm for access.

6. My Vet Rx came and I caught the chicken again and used Vet Rx on her as per the instructions. The next day there was a watery discharge from her eye. (the Vet Rx running out perhaps?) She did seem better. As far as the black worm that your husband found....it could be that this worm turns dark when dead. I think I had seen two brown-ish worms expelled and on the beak of my pullet.

7. Vet Rx said that you may need to do the treatment 2 or 3 times. I wasn't sure if this meant twice in one session, or if time goes past and you treat again. I also wasn't sure if the worm was killed by Vet Rx or just washed out. If just washed out, it could probably not live outside it's parasitic host. I think I will do Vet Rx again in a day or two. (If I can catch her)

8. People have posted cures using stronger medicine -- Ivomec, Ivermectin etc. I am very reluctant to do that to my chickens. I also would prefer to avoid egg withdrawal that the stronger meds would require. Vet Rx has no with drawal.

9. I am researching another product -- That is in an eye-dropper form -- for poultry -- no egg withdrawal, no danger, can even be used on chicks.

I hope that this will help you a little bit. If you have nothing on hand, but baking soda, you could begin treatment without buying other products or to decrease the infestation until you get other products. Please also post your results for the cure. We did use a syringe (no needle--readily available in ranch/farm supplie stores and online vets for about 99-cents) to put the solution in her eye. An eye dropper would probably work too.

Oh also, I found one person on the internet who posted curing a banty by putting Diatomecious Earth in the infected eye. People can post anything on the internet and I would be cautions about doing that... this person thought that their bantam would die if they didn't take immediate action...

Hopefully this may save you lots of midnights of googling. You Tube did have actual videos. I will post too when my pullet is completely cured... Good luck with yours it definitely sounds like what my research said about eye worm. I also see that you are in gulf states... I think these parasites like warm climates...I'm in TX, the Phillipines and I have seen some info from folks in Australia. For those with colder climates, it is probably more rare. (I'm in South Texas)

Hi Whiskey Bay,

I see that hinkjc in the previous post did paste a link to the book/scientific paper by the eyeworm discoverer.... It is Manson's eyeworm not Mason's as I previously wrote. (too dyslexic). When you follow that link there is a choice on the left of the page on how to view. If you select the PDF you will be able to see the pictures/drawings.

Thanks to hinkjc for the accuracy I lacked. (Nice website too! i will bet that there are some lovely bird. there)

Wait, here is the link to the full archive on the worm

http://www.archive.org/details/mansonseyewormof00rommiala -- Again on the 'view other formats' button, if it isn't already there click on .pdf to see the picts.

Quote:
I did read the whole thing actually last night. Still not sure on the black worm that was found,but it was MUCH larger than the typical eyeworm.However,it is always possible their could have been a secondary contributor.The eye could have been already started bad,then another fly or something laid in it.They also state their are LOTS of varieties of the eyeworms besides Mansons,and this could possibly have been a newer one. Anyway,from reading the Manson's book ,it does have a part about it being VERY contagious from bird and often ends in death....I have cleared them from a couple of the birds eyes and flushed them. I always have VetRx on hand. I use it for my birds,rabbits,goats,dogs,horses...everything. One of them is doing real good,the one with the dark worm is doing ok.Not as lively as the other,but swelling is going down some and eating...

Hi Whiskey Bay,


good news that you are seeing improvement! What a relief.

I just got an email from someone in the Phillipines that reassured me that the eye worm can't travel chicken to chicken and must come through the intermediate host. But now you are telling me that there are more kinds of eye worms. Drat.

I put Vet Rx in my pullet's eye again. It must be good stuff. I'm still worried about that pullet, but hopefully the other two won't 'catch' it from her.

Hope that soon your birds are all in tip top condition.

Hey eyeworm combatants -- I saw a number of differnt cures -- VetRX seems to be the most common for administration direct into the eye and into the mounth -- however -- I see VetRx has some nasty stuff in it including alcohol and camphor -- to put into the eye.

I also see some post saying that Ivermectin mixed into the eye cures it.

Also Valbazen given in the mouth works. Not sure if Valbazen is given into the eye too.

I got some stuff from the feed store that is supposedly "mixed up by a vet" but they won't/cant tell me what's in it.

I can tell you my chickens hate - that is HATE putting that stuff in their eyes. Don't know if it is VetRX re-packaged or if it is something else but they sure don't like it and I can't see where it has any lasting effect on the eye worms beyond a few days.

Does anyone have any thoughts on ivermectin in the eye, or ivermecitin in the mouth, or Valbazen in the eye,or in the mouth. Which one(s) do your chickens not mind? Which are most effective?

See post #4. Valbazen kills all known types of worms that chickens can get. Ivermectin doesnt.