Barred Rock hen with eye problem

[sharonwolff]

I have a Barred rock hen about 7 months old. She had an injured foot and was staying in the coop. A few days ago we noticed her right eye was bloody and swollen. We're keeping her penned in our house and giving her antibiotics in her water. We've sprayed the eye with Vetericyn. It seemed to be getting better but now it is closed and somewhat crusted and swollen. Also the feathers around it are gone. It looks terrible. She shakes her head a lot but it's not bleeding or draining. She was laying eggs every other day but hasn't for the past week. Our other chicken stopped laying too. Any ideas on what it is or what to do for her would be appreciated.

 

[Lothiriel]

Sounds like she either got it pecked or poked, and the eye may have gotten infected, hence the swelling. I have no experience with wounds/treatments, especially on the eye, but hopefully someone who is or has gone through something similar will pipe in here! Good luck!

 

[ramirezframing]

Get a warm washcloth and put it on the eye for a minute than gently wipe the eye clean. Some pus stuff or even cheesy looking stuff may come out. If there's cheesy looking stuff in there, get it all out. You will have to keep the eye wiped so it doesn't stick back close so just repeat when needed. good luck

 

[dawg53]

Get a warm washcloth and put it on the eye for a minute than gently wipe the eye clean. Some pus stuff or even cheesy looking stuff may come out. If there's cheesy looking stuff in there, get it all out. You will have to keep the eye wiped so it doesn't stick back close so just repeat when needed. good luck

x2 Once you've cleaned the area as best as you can, put neosporin in and around the eye. I recommend that you seperate her or she'll continually be pecked.

 

[Henny Maple]

I had a hen with a bad eye and tried all kinds of antibiotics and although it got better initially it eventually got much worse, spreading to her nose and nasal cavity.
I used honey, fresh unpasturized from a local beekeeper. I cleaned the eye twice a day and swabbed it with honey twice a day. Within a week she was better. Each day she got a little better, it got so it really dripped and she kept wiping her eye on her back so she was quite a mess. I noticed even the first day it stopped running and eventually the swelling went down. She is completely better now.
If you look up honey as an antibiotic there is a lot of info about it.
It worked for me even though it seems wrong to do.

 

[PoultryPedia]

Get a warm washcloth and put it on the eye for a minute than gently wipe the eye clean. Some pus stuff or even cheesy looking stuff may come out. If there's cheesy looking stuff in there, get it all out. You will have to keep the eye wiped so it doesn't stick back close so just repeat when needed. good luck

Caution: Apparently you've got to use care with some cheesy-looking stuff in eyes.

Some kind apparently actually grows out of the eye (with Coryza or some other similar disease) so it's hard to detach. I'm wondering if in those cases you have to wait a little longer & it will progress to where the base dies off enough that the cheesy plus is easier to detach?? Or you should cut it off rather than try to pull it out (though I don't know if it'd bleed too much or be too painful, or maybe not even help to do that unless the whole thing got removed)??

I don't know--I just know that I tried to help a friend who had a big problem with this in her flock. I couldn't pull out the cheesy plug in the one chicken I tried to help, & the attempt seemed to be pretty painful for the chicken.

I didn't know quite how hard it can be on a chicken in some instances until my friend later told me she's had some birds die when she was trying to do that. She said she thinks they died from the pain.

So be very, very careful if you deal with that.

 

[Henny Maple]

I know what you mean about the "cheesy stuff" attaching to inner eye.That happened with my hen too. It did bleed when I pulled it away. The hen didn't like it but she seemed to calm easily after. She always ate right after I cleaned her eye so I think it is better to clean it than to leave it.
If I couldn't get it all out and I was worried I was stressing the hen I left it until the afternoon and tried again then. Eventually I got it all.
It does get harder the longer it is in there and it can slide out better when it is harder. Yuc what we will do for our chickens!

She took a break from laying too when her eye was bad. She started laying again when she felt better. I have her in with bantams now and just ladies , no roosters so she has companions but I don't want her to get pecked if that is what happened. She is a pretty Aracauna.