Baby chick has swollen eye! Help!

[veebeebee]

I have a 3 week old chick and her eye is
Swollen. She looks fine everywhere else and is eating etc. She is with 5 other chicks who appear fine. Can anyone advise me what they think this is and what I can do? Pictures of bad eye and the other good eye.

 

[BIggoMamma]

Put some allergy eye drops in its eye is what I would do to start with. If it was really an allergy both eyes would be like that but it might sooth it. It is probably an infection because the eyes are different. I would get some Terramycin eye ointment from the farm supply store and cream it up. This is more commonly found in farm supply stores that cater to horse and cattle farmers but it works well on chickens and dogs too. It is good to have around.

 

[veebeebee]

Thank you. I will go to the feed store tomorrow morning. Hoping it clears up and she will be fine. I also worry whatever it is does not affect the other chicks.

 

[veebeebee]

This morning she looked worse!! She looks and acts fine physically other than the eye but the other chicks are picking on her droopy eye piece (gross)! Any thoughts on this now?

I have separated her from the others and put her in a dog crate with bedding, food and water. Poor baby!

 

[LoveseedFarms]

I have no idea what could have happened, but I hope your baby gets better soon. And I would definitely use some allergy eye drops in her eye.

 

[veebeebee]

She is quite alert and sweet as can be. Eating and drinking. So hoping this is a freak booboo and she heals. Off to get drops and meds for her!

 

[veebeebee]

I had to order the terramycin ointment as noone has it in stock. My husband drove over an hour to TS who said they had it and when he got there, they in fact did not. I bought allergy eye drops and washed her eye out. It did not appear to hurt here. Is this an infected
Tear duct?
Sorry pic looks awful! I just flushed it. Poor baby!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I have a 3 week old chick and her eye is
Swollen. She looks fine everywhere else and is eating etc. She is with 5 other chicks who appear fine. Can anyone advise me what they think this is and what I can do? Pictures of bad eye and the other good eye.

In your first photo it looks like she may have initially suffered some type of injury - most likely from pecking. I see small wounds around the eye. Once chicks can get going with the picking/pecking they won't stop sometimes, it looks like they pulled the tissue around the eye loose.

Flushing with saline is good. While you're waiting on the Terramycin eye ointment, you can apply Vetericyn eye gel or triple antibiotic ointment (plain neosporin) to the tissue to help it start healing.

The flap of skin, I'm not sure, it may die and fall off or when the swelling goes down you may be able to press it back into place - time will tell.

Keep her separated offer some poultry vitamins to her water and wet feed. The challenge will be keeping her from scratching at it so she doesn't introduce bacteria (poopy toes

) to the wound. Do the best you can to keep it clean.

Let us know how she is doing.

 

[veebeebee]

She is doing well. This morning the hanging part is smaller (dying off it appears) and her eye seems to be healing. She lets me hold her and look carefully at the eye. I am not an avian expert but it does look like an injury and I did separate her as the other chicks were picking on the hanging fleshy booboo.

From closer inspection this morning, it might be the lower lid that was damaged heavily and was torn off by either the chicks or her scratching at it. She does not blink the eye like her good eye. I think she will heal (praying) but will have a bad eye. If the nictitaing eyelid can keep it moist and free of dust/germs, maybe she will be able to see.

I am watching her closely and have bonded with this sweet girl. Ill keep you posted. Ill post a picture of it today later on. Letting her eat peacefully now.

Thank you all for helping so far. I've had chickens for 4 years but luckily little to no injuries or diseases. I only have 4-6 at a time.

This particular one is a Black Minorca.

Vikki

 

[Wyorp Rock]

She is doing well. This morning the hanging part is smaller (dying off it appears) and her eye seems to be healing. She lets me hold her and look carefully at the eye. I am not an avian expert but it does look like an injury and I did separate her as the other chicks were picking on the hanging fleshy booboo.

From closer inspection this morning, it might be the lower lid that was damaged heavily and was torn off by either the chicks or her scratching at it. She does not blink the eye like her good eye. I think she will heal (praying) but will have a bad eye. If the nictitaing eyelid can keep it moist and free of dust/germs, maybe she will be able to see.

I am watching her closely and have bonded with this sweet girl. Ill keep you posted. Ill post a picture of it today later on. Letting her eat peacefully now.

Thank you all for helping so far. I've had chickens for 4 years but luckily little to no injuries or diseases. I only have 4-6 at a time.

This particular one is a Black Minorca.

Vikki

Thanks for the update, I'm glad she is doing well

I think you nailed it in the description of what happened. Chicks (and grown chickens) can be brutal sometimes. Once they get going and see a bit of blood, they just seem to go for it.

Hopefully the nictitating eyelid will keep the eye moist and she will be just fine. If not, then you may need to periodically check her over during her lifetime and rinse the eye with a little saline or sterile water to help her keep it clean.

Hope all goes well, keep us posted on her progress.