Area around one eye swollen?

[nappy501]

Hi Everyone,

I feel like screaming help! We noticed one of our chicken's face this morning. It is not the eye. Below the eye is swollen so much she can't open her eye. She seems to have got more unwell during the day, although she is still drinking. See photo http://www.flickr.com/photos/39355512@N00/9986241153/

 

[nappy501]

Worked out how to put photo up. Hope this helps.

 

[Eggcessive]

Does she have any foul odor about her head? She needs antibiotics since she probably has one of the respiratory diseases such as mycoplasma, coryza, and others. Any pus pockets inside the eye should be cleaned out with a Q-Tip. Tylan 50 is a good antibiotic to start with--3/4 to 1ml daily by mouth or as a shot into the breast for 3-5 days. Others would be Gallimycin or Oxytetracycline. Here is some reading: http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ps044

 

[nappy501]

Thank you for your response. We decided to take her to the vets as we do not know where else to get antibiotics.

We tried to go to the vets on Monday, but they did not have an appointments free. We took her first thing on Tuesday morning. The area around the eye looked a lot better. The vet said it was probably respiratory. She also found fur mites and she did not weigh very much. So we probably haven't been looking after our hens very well.

The vet prescribed antibiotics for all three hens. Noroclav 250mg, which contains 200mg amoxicillian and 50 mg clavulanic acid. 1/2 a tablet per hen morning and night for 7 days. Also cleaning the coop and run with diluted bleach. We are not to use any eggs now until 4th November.

We have been busily chopping up tablets and stuffing bits into defrosted frozen sweetcorn. I have completed cleaned the coop and hope to do the run tomorrow. I normally use Diatomateous Earth in the coop and do a complete clean once a year, but not with bleach. This summer I have only done one partial clean out which may explain the problems. We have also done our monthly worming this week, so hopefully they will all be fine now.