8 week old chick eye closed,lethargic

[EggstremeHen]

Dear fellow chicken-lovers and experts,
You know how a chicken has two eyelids; a translucent lid and then the thicker opaque lid? My 8 week old BCM gal has been slowing down and "napping" in the midst of activity and I noticed yesterday that one eye has been completely closed. Today I picked her up to examine closely, and the inner lid was down and stayed that way! It looks as if there is a fog over her eye but it is the inner lid.

Does anyone have any ideas about this? I am new to this group but not to chicken keeping and have not seen it before. No avian vet near us but there is a great vet pharmacy I can go to if steered in the right direction for care.

Thanks in advance for giving this some thought .....

 

[sassysarah]

Is he under a lot of stress?
Does he get picked on by the other chickens a lot at night?
A while ago we had to move our chickens to the garage because racoons were getting in the coop. We put 4 chickens in a small cage all crammed together until we got our coop fixed. My Easter Egger was getting pecked by the other hens all night. The next day we let the chickens out of the run to free range and she didn't want to. She was sleeping pretty much all day with one eye open and one closed. So the that night I decided to separate her from the other hens and she was back to normal in the morning.

 

[EggstremeHen]

Thanks Sarah. It does not seem any more stressful than usual in the brooder room but I think I will bring her in the house to watch her and maybe try some polysporin eye drops(?). Apparently that membrane is to protect from dust etc so that could be the answer — sensitive eye and a dusty environment, with other chicks having dust baths and stirring it up. Thanks for helping!!