Advice Needed, Eye Injury!

[CJsCoop]

I have a 2+ week old chick with an injury to one of her eyes. It occurred Wednesday evening between 5 & 9pm. For the past 2 1/2 days I been flushing it with saline solution and putting neosporin in it twice daily. The eye is still closed, swollen, and hasn’t changed at all (no better, no worse). She scratches at it and shakes her head occasionally. She’d been eating, drinking,preening, and pooping normally. Yesterday she seemed sluggish, so I bought her nutri drench, and began giving her one drop every eight hours. She has perked back up some, but still no change in eye. Now what?
(One pic is of good eye for reference)

 

[CJsCoop]

Oh, and she is thinner than her sibling now too.

 

[Eggcessive]

She may be weak since she cannot see well enough to get enough feed or water. The NutriDrench is good for her. I would mix a little cup of wet chick feed with a lot of water and a 1/4 tsp of plain yogurt, and offer it to her every 2 hours throughout the day. Can you see any debris or dirt in the eye? Have you had any birds with MG or respiratory issues before? You are doing well in treating. You can buy Terramycin eye ointment by asking for it at feed stores. Vetericyn eye gel or eye wash are also good for eyes, but a bit pricey.

 

[CJsCoop]

Thank you Eggcessive!!
No MG or respiratory issue ever (thank the Lord!). And I think I’ve ruled out illness, because 60+ hours have past with no other symptoms (no drainage or anything), and no problems with her 11 other brood mates. Good advice for extra calories. I’ll give her some when the other kids go outside to play today. I’ve been keeping her in because I figured the sun may bother a sore eye.

 

[CJsCoop]

Also had searched the web for “how” to flush chick eyes with no luck. So, I’ve been using dropper, holding her eye open, and putting a couple drops in her eye. BUT her third eyelid remains closed. So i really don’t think her eye is being properly flushed. I have no idea how to open third eyelid without harming her more though.

 

[Kiki]

If you are for sure it was caused by an injury I personally would stop messing with it. Having to try to flush it / medicate is probably causing more stress for her. Chickens heal well on thieir own. Just make sure she eats and drinks well.

 

[Eggcessive]

I would just add the saline with the dropper just as you are. The third eyelid is just a protection. You don’t need to get under it. If there is no crust or drainage on around the eye, then it might be best to stop the flushing. Repeated opening of the eye could be causing more of a problem.

 

[CJsCoop]

Thanks so much!

 

[CJsCoop]

I assumed she was pecked or something, because there were/are no signs of illness. I also now wonder if she could’ve gotten a wood chip in it. One day when I was adding chips, there was a disturbance in the force. I have no idea who did what, but a few of the them ran towards the falling chips. I don’t even if the time line fits. It was one of those things that didn’t occur to me until way into overthinking.

 

[CJsCoop]

Update: I followed advice (thank you again, btw!) and have left her eye alone since Saturday. Still no better or worse. It literally looks exactly the same. She is still eating and drinking. She she still occasionally cries and frantically rubs her eye on her wing or scratches- much less frequently though. Fortunately she appears to be adapting to one-eyed life. No more freaking out when someone comes up from her blind side.
If she does lose her eye, she better be a she! It’s hard enough to find a good home for a normal rooster. If I kept another roo, it’d have to shack up with a rabbit or ducks. I can’t add any more pens here.
Any further recommendations?