Baby Chick with swollen eye

[CasaKely]

Hi there. My baby chick is 3 weeks old and she has an eye that is swollen shut.




What could this be? I will wash out with saline and do a chamomile compress.

I was told by a friend with chickens to try Vetericyn eye gel.
Does that sound right?

Thank you! K

 

[Eggcessive]

Welcome to BYC. Does your chick act sick, or have signs of a respiratory illness such as cough, sneeze, noisy breathing, or nasal discharge? Could the eye have been pecked by another chick? Vetericyn eye gel is a good treatment for an infected eye, and terramhcin eye ointment or plain triple antibiotic ointment would also work. If there is pus or crusty eye drainage, you will want to cleanse the eye with normal saline twice daily before using the gel or ointment. If you suspect a respiratory disease which could have come from a carrier bird or through a hatching egg, then you can treat with Tylan, oxetetracycline, or LS50 in the water. Respiratory diseases typically will show up in chicks around 3-4 weeks if they have been exposed.

 

[CasaKely]

Thank you! She is acting normally...for her. She is the smallest and has never been the most active but she eats and pecks the ground. She is free of pasty butt and she drinks water.
I gave them some chopped up garlic and dirt today and she ate some.
There is no puss in the eye and it is not runny.
I got her along with 10 others on mypetchicken.com. She seemed like the others until she was a day or two old and I noticed the pasty butt. Otherwise she was ok. Now the others have grown much bigger than she has.
How would I identify a respiratory illness, aside from the swollen eye?
Thank you so much again!!

 

[Eggcessive]

You can identify a respiratory illness by the symptoms I listed in my first post. I would treat this as an injury for now. If you notice any others with similar symptoms, then look more closely at it being a respiratory disease, such as MG or coryza. An eye infection can result from a peck wound or injury.