pgr
Chirping
Our chick is 7 weeks old. She developed eye swelling about a week ago, which seems to be slowly worsening. Otherwise, she seems completely fine: eating, drinking, very active.
There isn't any drainage from the eye or beak. This morning it seemed the other eye was beginning to swell, but now I'm not sure; it seems like maybe it is the one eye that's problematic. We've tried flushing it and gentamicin drops once a day (I know it should be twice but...) without improvement. It doesn't look like an injury; the swelling has progressed slowly, and is symmetrically around the eye. The rest of the face doesn't seem swollen.
My Dad spoke with a vet he knows, and she suggested the chick be put down so that whatever it is does not spread to the others (and potentially our kids, who tend to handle them a lot). We have a total of 29 chicks; this is our first flock so no exposure to other birds. They have transitioned to the coop and free-range in our fenced yard during the day.
Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
There isn't any drainage from the eye or beak. This morning it seemed the other eye was beginning to swell, but now I'm not sure; it seems like maybe it is the one eye that's problematic. We've tried flushing it and gentamicin drops once a day (I know it should be twice but...) without improvement. It doesn't look like an injury; the swelling has progressed slowly, and is symmetrically around the eye. The rest of the face doesn't seem swollen.
My Dad spoke with a vet he knows, and she suggested the chick be put down so that whatever it is does not spread to the others (and potentially our kids, who tend to handle them a lot). We have a total of 29 chicks; this is our first flock so no exposure to other birds. They have transitioned to the coop and free-range in our fenced yard during the day.
Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
