Genesis Farms
In the Brooder
- Jul 14, 2023
- 12
- 44
- 49
We have a flock of 11 gold deathlayers, all of whom don’t exhibit any signs of illness. We recently started hatching small clutches to test their egg fertility and so far it’s been going great!
However on our latest batch that hatched a couple days days ago, one of the chicks came out of the egg with watery eyes that don’t look fully open (may be important to note that we did not see this issue while they were in the incubator — very hard to see everyone in there!). When we first put it in the brooder it was pecking at the air like it was seeing something, but nothing was there. It was standing around a bit, but we’ve seen newly hatched chicks do that before and they always snapped out of it and became more active and alert by the next morning.
We left it to see how it would be the next day, and it still had watery eyes but was a bit more active. It seems to be eating and knows where the food and water is. It doesn’t look smaller than the other chicks.
We gave it another night, and this morning one of the eyes was having trouble opening at all. I didn’t see any crustyness, and used a warm compress on both eyes to see if that would help. The eye opened, but both eyes still don’t look quite right and are always watery. There are no other symptoms that I can see, other than it doesn’t chirp as much as the others, even when picked up. I used the warm compress again in the evening.
It is already on medicated feed and daily flock leader in their water to help with stress. The other chicks are all completely normal. I’m wondering if its eyes just didn’t develop correctly? There isn’t anything protruding like a tumor or any puffiness or bubbles. It does seem to have trouble seeing, but it gets around fine. I’m hoping it’s not MG or another illness since there aren’t really any other symptoms. Any help or suggestions are appreciated!
Here’s a picture of the little one, both eyes look like this (feathers around the eye are wet from the compress):
However on our latest batch that hatched a couple days days ago, one of the chicks came out of the egg with watery eyes that don’t look fully open (may be important to note that we did not see this issue while they were in the incubator — very hard to see everyone in there!). When we first put it in the brooder it was pecking at the air like it was seeing something, but nothing was there. It was standing around a bit, but we’ve seen newly hatched chicks do that before and they always snapped out of it and became more active and alert by the next morning.
We left it to see how it would be the next day, and it still had watery eyes but was a bit more active. It seems to be eating and knows where the food and water is. It doesn’t look smaller than the other chicks.
We gave it another night, and this morning one of the eyes was having trouble opening at all. I didn’t see any crustyness, and used a warm compress on both eyes to see if that would help. The eye opened, but both eyes still don’t look quite right and are always watery. There are no other symptoms that I can see, other than it doesn’t chirp as much as the others, even when picked up. I used the warm compress again in the evening.
It is already on medicated feed and daily flock leader in their water to help with stress. The other chicks are all completely normal. I’m wondering if its eyes just didn’t develop correctly? There isn’t anything protruding like a tumor or any puffiness or bubbles. It does seem to have trouble seeing, but it gets around fine. I’m hoping it’s not MG or another illness since there aren’t really any other symptoms. Any help or suggestions are appreciated!
Here’s a picture of the little one, both eyes look like this (feathers around the eye are wet from the compress):
