Barnevelder hen with one closed eye

[AustinTXMJS]

Hi everyone,

I noticed today that one of my Barnevelder hens (of five) has one closed eye that seems a little swollen to the touch. She was in the nest box around 5:30PM taking a snooze, and when I grabbed her to put her outside I noticed the eye condition. Her comb/wattles are slightly warm to the touch, but I assume that is because it is highly vascularized tissue. When I lightly press on her eyelid it feels slightly warm as well. The eye seems a little goopy and is cloudy.

So far, I've taken her inside and flushed it out with sterile saline. I rubbed a little chicken-safe triple antibiotic on her eyelid. She didn't like it very much and got ornery very quickly. As far as I can tell, there is no discharge from her nares or sneezing, and her breathing seems normal. She's spending the night inside so I can monitor her food and water intake and check her poops. She had a normal looking but small poop already tonight. Her crop didn't feel like it had much in it.

I plan on mixing up a low dose of injectable antibiotic tomorrow at work (mostly likely 2mg/kg ampicillin) and injecting it into her breast. Maybe a few drops directly to the eye as well. Does that sound like a reasonable treatment? Is there something better I could be doing? I've included pictures of her "bad eye" and "good eye"

 

[AustinTXMJS]

After doing some reading about swollen/cloudy eyes with discharge being a symptom of respiratory infection, I'm wondering if I should be worried about a Mycoplasma infection. Since I'm not going to be raising or selling chicks from my flock, I do not feel culling this hen is necessary. I am wondering if I should be switching from Ampicillin to Tetracycline because Mycoplasma has no cell wall and is resistant to -cillins. I found online that 15 mg/kg intramuscularly is a good dose for chickens.

Any thoughts? Am I jumping the gun on antibiotics, since this could be viral? Or is the hazy eye more a bacterial thing?

 

[AustinTXMJS]

Alright everyone, another update...

My bird is doing better. Her eye is now open most of the time. It's still red and watery, but seems clearer. I have decided against antibiotics besides the ointment I rub all over her eyelid twice a day.
I put her in the run in a dog crate this afternoon since she isn't displaying any signs of respiratory infection. She enjoyed being back by her sisters and the roo. She is eating and drinking well. I have no doubt she'll be back to normal. I wonder if she just got pecked or got something in her eye.

 

[Butterscotchbitesfinger]

I would just keep her seperate
We had a rooster who got pecked in the eye while being preened
But we treated his eye but sadly he went blind in one eye
We saved his life though

 

[Butterscotchbitesfinger]

Your hen if in with other bird might get picked on and hurt all over again