Baby chick with eye problem....

[Nanni]

Hello, I have just hatched my first baby chicks and all is well except that one of the chicks has a problem with it's eye. One eye seems to be ok (maybe a little smaller than it should be) but the other eyeball is larger and the eyelid closes from the bottom. Yes, like an upside down eye! Does this sound like something anyone has seen before? I can post a picture tomorrow if I need to but it looks just like I have described. The eyelid is gray and is shut most of the time but when she opens and shuts it again it shuts from the bottom....

 

[Nanni]

I believe my baby chick is blind. She just stands in one place when the others are hopping around and as soon as she is close to mom she gets underneath her. She is also smaller than the others. I will try to help her tomorrow but don't really know what to do short of taking her to the vet. The bulging eye that has the eyelid that closes from the bottom up is staying shut most of the time. Any suggestions would be appreciated... I failed to mention that I haven't seen her eat or drink and I don't know what to feed her if I have to do this myself....or how to feed her? I will call my vet if I don't get any help here but would rather hear from someone who has actually dealt with this particular problem... Thanks !

 

[chooks4life]

The good news is that all birds naturally close their eyes from the bottom up. If it has one good eye then you shouldn't need to feed or water the chick, it should be doing it by itself.

The bad news is not so bad because I don't know for sure what's wrong but if it's just an eye injury or irritation it should be easily overcome. At least both eyes aren't infected so you can guesstimate that it's not a symptom of disease, probably. Sounds like an irritation/injury to me anyway. Even if for some reason the eye is not recoverable, a one-eyed chicken often copes fine. I'd bet it's got something stuck under the lid or in the socket.

I would bathe her eye in something naturally antiseptic/ antibiotic/ antimicrobial/ antibacterial because 1) natural alternatives don't kill healthy cells too, and 2) I am obviously the sort who uses natural treatments in lieu of pharmaceutical ones. Someone who uses man made meds can advise you on doing it that way if that's your preference, but I don't have any experience with that. Personally I used chamomile with a chick that had a stab wound into the eye socket. The swelling pressed her eye down in the socket until her lid hung inwards, so it seemed she had lost the eye. (We called her Popeye). But after bathing her with that a few times her wound was clean and she healed fine with the eye moving back to normal position, and she grew up normal with two working eyes.

In general the advice would be to bathe the eye in something that will kill infection and soothe inflammation, whether you are using natural or man made things for the purpose. Rubbing at the eye is not a good idea, just soaking it so some seeps in through the lid. But that may need to be done differently with pharmaceuticals.

If the eye is actually swollen (are you 100% sure it's not just the skin around the eye being swollen?) --- then there is a chance the chick is deformed or has a tumor in its orbit or skull or on its eye which is causing it to protrude, or it could have a blockage in the eyeball preventing fluid being maintained at the right levels and causing it to swell. Damage to the eye could also cause this though.

Anyway, best wishes, hope she/he recovers.

 

[Nanni]

Thanks so much! I'm on my way to get Chamomille and whatever else I may find at the Farmers Coop...Will keep you posted

 

[Nanni]

No Chamomile in this town! Just put a little warm water on the eyes with a cotton pad and tried to get some chick starter "mush" down her with an antibiotic mixed in but not really sure if she got much. Just doing what I can with what I've got....sure hope it's enough

 

[chooks4life]

Best wishes with that. We must all do the best we can with what we have, and it must be good enough because it's all we can do. Hope she/he recovers. One good thing to remember is that wounds almost always look worse than they are. The ones that don't look so bad are usually the ones that get you.

 

[Nanni]

Well, I'm pretty sure this little chick isn't gonna make it. I tried getting her to drink water with an antibiotic in iand she really wanted nothing to do with it but I managed to get some down her anyway. She's very small and weak so I really don't expect her to make it through the night. Best, I thought, to just let her have her momma and say a little prayer Thanks for your input and concern. I'll let you know.....

 

[chooks4life]

Thanks, best wishes, I hope she makes it.

 

[Nanni]

She didn't make it...Hope I never have to do that again But I still have 5 fluffy little chicks and a very good momma hen! This part should be fun

 

[chooks4life]

Yeah, best wishes with the remainder of the clutch. Sorry to hear about the one that didn't make it.

If it happens again with another clutch, I would post mortem the chick. It may be genetic or environmental. An injury to the eye shouldn't have killed it. If you're sure of who the parents are, I'd take a note of it in case it happens again, personally. Strange bad genes exist. But here's to hoping that's not the case. All the best.