2yr Old + Chicken has watery Eye and is swollen on one side

[tomhoogstra]

One of our hens has had one watery eye for a while and I thought nothing of it when I first realized, this was about 3-4 weeks ago.
Originally I just thought it was something caught in her eyelid and it would go away by it self.

When I went outside today to feed the flock I picked her up and realized the side with the watery eye was still watery and she had a swollen cheek (where the red part is, not sure what its cold).
I've been searching for a while and I can only find some threads about sinusitis. I thought it may be a possibility but its just odd that only one side is affected.

Should I be worried? If its contagious, etc.

Would appreciate your thoughts and can get a picture if needed.

 

[Matilda hen]

Hi , im very sorry to hear , and have no idea what the name of this disease is , but last autumn and winter , i had an outbreak , 4 of my chickens got it and all at separete times. Their face was swollen , eyes watery , and they seemed down , and un-alert , not as perky like! I brought each sick chicken into my room to sleep in a box , gave them a cardboard box with straw , food and water at all times as they didnt seem to want to eat , and then after a few days they would seem to start to recover! But we left one girl in the henhouse , another hen caught it from her and the original hen died unfortuantley :/ we also brought them to the vet , but she had no idea , so if you maybe bring them in , it seems to help their recovery 100%. Good luck , let me know how it gets on.

 

[tomhoogstra]

Hi , im very sorry to hear , and have no idea what the name of this disease is , but last autumn and winter , i had an outbreak , 4 of my chickens got it and all at separete times. Their face was swollen , eyes watery , and they seemed down , and un-alert , not as perky like! I brought each sick chicken into my room to sleep in a box , gave them a cardboard box with straw , food and water at all times as they didnt seem to want to eat , and then after a few days they would seem to start to recover! But we left one girl in the henhouse , another hen caught it from her and the original hen died unfortuantley :/ we also brought them to the vet , but she had no idea , so if you maybe bring them in , it seems to help their recovery 100%. Good luck , let me know how it gets on.

My problem seems a bit different than that. this one chicken seems to be the only chicken with the problem and she still eats like crazy and drinks.
Thanks for the response!

 

[Matilda hen]

oh , ok well i dont know then. maybe mites? try that , if not just bring her to the vet

 

[zooweemama]

Watery eyes is usually a sign of either an eye infection or respiratory illness. These things are generally contagious. You definitely want to remove the sick ones and put them in a quarantine. If anymore die you should consider looking into a necropsy. It can tell you the cause of death. You will know what is in your flock, how to treat it and if your chickens will be life carriers and could infect future chickens (meaning you would need to close your flock, not taking in new nor re-homing ones you already have).

Push electrolytes/vitamins - I really love Rooster Booster for this. If your flock is already closed and you do not plan on adding to, or giving away hatching eggs/chicks/chickens to anyone in the future you can try to treat and just enjoy the ones that survive.

There are several respiratory things it could be.
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/diseaseinfo/

<3

 

[tomhoogstra]

Watery eyes is usually a sign of either an eye infection or respiratory illness. These things are generally contagious. You definitely want to remove the sick ones and put them in a quarantine. If anymore die you should consider looking into a necropsy. It can tell you the cause of death. You will know what is in your flock, how to treat it and if your chickens will be life carriers and could infect future chickens (meaning you would need to close your flock, not taking in new nor re-homing ones you already have).

Push electrolytes/vitamins - I really love Rooster Booster for this. If your flock is already closed and you do not plan on adding to, or giving away hatching eggs/chicks/chickens to anyone in the future you can try to treat and just enjoy the ones that survive.

There are several respiratory things it could be.
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/diseaseinfo/

<3

Thanks for the response, I don't think its contagious reason being because I realized it a month ago and thought it would be a short term something caught in eye or along those lines.
The chicken is eating and drinking as she always used to.

Though I do have one chicken that also seems like shes brain damaged and is not quite as energetic as the other chickens.
Shes at the bottom of the pecking order as well, so she stands in corners hoping not to get attacked.

Ill post a picture of the chicken with the swollen face in a few minutes.

 

[tomhoogstra]

Here are the photos!

This is the infected side

This is the normal side of her face

The right side is the bad side and the left is normal

 

[Matilda hen]

Ok , so the hen is 2? did she get her vaccinations? It is identical to what my hens had , and they all got it at differnat times , i could swear it was some bacteria in the coop or something , my rooster was fine apart from the swollen face on one side , maybe older chickens handel it better. Honestly , the only thing you can do to make a suck animal better is go to the vet an get medication , i brought mine in the house , and within a while they were better but i suppose some dont agree wit having chickens sleep in ypur room lol

 

[zooweemama]

I still stand by my first response. It's a pretty sound one and it's the same I get every time something is up with my chickens. I had something go through my flock recently and I finally sent in a dead chicken for a necropsy and was able to figure out what was wrong. Aspergillosis - they had it in their respiratory tract. So while it was not contagious I then had the job of finding the source, taking care of it and culling the ill ones from my flock. But at least I knew what was going on. Sometimes we cannot know what is wrong without seeking outside help (necropsy or seeing the vet)...and it's often worth it to ensure the rest of the flock is safe. I have nearly all heritage breed chickens and they cost me bank- I needed to know if I had to start over because closing my flock was not an option.

This could be something as simple as an eye infection. Try Vetericyn drops in the eyes. But because you had a hen who had an issue recently, now this chicken...some diseases move very very slowly through the flock. Some chickens will become infected but maybe get it so mildly you may not notice and then simply become carriers- infecting new chickens. Or like I said maybe it's as simple as an eye infection. It's just hard to say without more symptoms. A vet visit could help rule things out. I know most people do not like to take chickens to vets but I see it as taking in 1 chicken as a representative of your whole flock. A diagnosis and treatment could then be made for the rest of the flock- the vet will not need to see each chicken.

Please keep us updated. I hope she gets better soon!

 

[tomhoogstra]

My parents don't think its worth taking a chicken worth $20 to a vet which will most likely charge $100+.

We had another chicken die today but that was a different cause. I think she had internal problems and her body didnt function properly. And she never really had anything in her crop though she was eating.

Thanks for the responses and I will try get some eye drops.