6 Day old Silkie chick with eye problem

[TJAnonymous]

I noticed this afternoon that one of my Silkie chicks couldn't open her eye. There is crusty drainage from it. I took a cotton ball soaked in warm water to try to clean it. The crust did not want to come off. I brought the chick back to the brooder while I go look for something that will help (swear I have antibiotic eye drops somewhere) and the chick began scratching vigorously at her eye... The others also began picking at her.... Not sure what to do....

She is clearly in distress now so I know it hurts

ETA - I might be able to see if the feed store or TSC has any Terramycin tomorrow morning.

 

[Eggcessive]

I would clean it with a warm wet compress, and flush it with saline. Apply either terramycin or plain Neosporin to the eye twice a day.

 

[TJAnonymous]

I would clean it with a warm wet copress, and flush it with saline. Apply either terramycin or plain Neosporin to the eye twice a day.

I don't have any saline so I will need to pick that up... I do have neosporin....

 

[SilkieSweet3]

@Eggcessive
I'm no vet, but make sure your neosporin doesn't have a pain killer in it. I read that the pain killer can be fatal for chickens. I'm having a similar problem with my 6-month old silky. I don't know about your chick, but I have become convinced that my silkie has scaly face mites. We just started treatment for that, so I don't know if it will help. I wish I could have treated for this problem sooner.

 

[Eggcessive]

@Eggcessive
I'm no vet, but make sure your neosporin doesn't have a pain killer in it. I read that the pain killer can be fatal for chickens. I'm having a similar problem with my 6-month old silky. I don't know about your chick, but I have become convinced that my silkie has scaly face mites. We just started treatment for that, so I don't know if it will help. I wish I could have treated for this problem sooner.

That is why plain Neosporin was recommended.

 

[TJAnonymous]

Well I have stopped putting antibiotics in this chick's eye back in April. He (pretty sure it's a boy) is now 11 weeks old and STILL has a weepy eye. The eye has stopped crusting shut but the area around his eye is bald. Pretty sure from him scratching at it. I'm thinking this is being caused by a plugged tear duct simply because he has had this problem from the time he was born and it has never improved, even with antibiotics.

 

[TJAnonymous]

I know no one is particularly watching this thread but I thought I'd share a breakthrough on this issue.

From the day this chick was born, his eye (yes, it's a HE not a she) has been crusting shut. I have tried many things including water, neosporin, terramycin, and tobramycin (given to me by the vet for my cat). Nothing worked. I was starting to think he had a blocked tear duct.

This weekend he had so much pus and drainage that it hardened into a giant ball on the side of his face, getting mixed in his feathers, and completely encasing the eye in a half inch thick (no joke) ball of crud. It took me nearly 30-45 minutes to get it off his face. I had to VERY carefully shave his feathers around that side of his head to fully remove it.

After close observation of the eye over several hours, I realized that he had an abscess somewhere under the eye socket. It was causing the skin under the eye to bubble up. If you pushed on it, white pus would come streaming out his eye lid. It was also very painful for him. With 30 minutes or so, his eye would start crusting shut again from the pus.

So I switched medication. I found some eye drops that my opthomologist had given to me when I had conjunctivitis. It is a mix of neomycin sulfate and polymyxin B sulfate. I figured I had nothing to lose.... And WOW! I am AMAZED at the difference. I am giving the drops 2x a day - morning and night. After the first dose, his eye stopped crusting shut. After the 2nd dose, he no longer had to squint and could open it the full way.

We are now on Day 2 and he's acting completely normal. It's still draining a little bit but it's clear instead of milky white. I'm going to continue giving him the eye drops for 5 full days and then reassess him. If it's no longer draining after that time, I will remove him from the infirmary and let him go back with his flock.

So happy that we finally found SOMETHING that works!

 

[Eggcessive]

Glad to hear that it is getting better. Neosporin ointment has polymixin B and neomycin by the way. Maybe it was a combination of getting the pus out and the eye drop. Thanks for the update.

 

[TJAnonymous]

Glad to hear that it is getting better. Neosporin ointment has polymixin B and neomycin by the way. Maybe it was a combination of getting the pus out and the eye drop. Thanks for the update.

Yeah, I noticed that earlier today when I was looking at the active ingredients. The only thing I can think of is that the neosporin was too thick to get down under the eye lid before he would shake it off and scratch at it. When I administer the drops, I gently pull the eyelid down so it can catch more medication which forces it under the lid.

Of course, he's also 4 months old now and it's MUCH EASIER to administer medicine in his eye now than it was when he was a week old....

 

[Swbertrand1]

Yeah, I noticed that earlier today when I was looking at the active ingredients. The only thing I can think of is that the neosporin was too thick to get down under the eye lid before he would shake it off and scratch at it. When I administer the drops, I gently pull the eyelid down so it can catch more medication which forces it under the lid.

Of course, he's also 4 months old now and it's MUCH EASIER to administer medicine in his eye now than it was when he was a week old....

Chicks are NOT easy patients when they're days or even a few weeks old! Been there, done that!
We're so glad to hear you've persisted with taking care of this little fella. He's clearly in good hands even if it took a while to figure out the issue