PLEASE HELP ME! I HAVE SCOURED THE INTERNET AND CAN'T SEEM TO FIND MY ANSWER!!
I am in Arizona and we are new chicken owners!! On Tuesday 7/10/12 - we found one of our chickens (She's about 3 months old) plopped on the ground between two cinder blocks barely moving. We couldn't find any signs of trauma or any other symptoms other than lethargic, unable to stand up and her eyes were closed and she would not open them for nothing!! She was literally on deaths door. We figured she was suffering from heat stress& dehydration. The other chickens are all fine - so I started to wonder if she had injured her eyes and was keeping them shut because they hurt and therefore - unable to find water or feeder. We brought her into air conditioned house and gave her water and watched her over night. By morning she was standing and cooled off and drinking if we put her beak into a bowl of water. Today is Friday (day 4) and this morning I noticed there were 2 little drops of watery blood on her food dish and above her right eye... it looked to me like she had scratched the skin right above her eye - - almost like a paper cut. She scratches her head/eye from time to time and perhaps she cut it that way? I dripped some saline over her eyes and dabbed with soft cloth. A couple minutes later she opened her eye half way and then shut it again. At that point I saw a little bit of fluid form along the crease of her eyelid. She seems to be feeling fine BUT SHE KEEPS HER EYES CLOSED so it's like having a blind chicken! I made her a new home in a large dog crate and I go in every few hours and get her off the perch and put her in front of her food and water dishes. When she seems satisfied I put her back on her perch or I let her stand on the floor of the cage. After she eats - she preens herself a little bit and then sits for a bit and then tucks her head into her wings and goes to sleep.
Has anyone ever heard of a chicken with an eye infection only? no other symptoms? No sneezing, raspy breathing etc.
I will take care of her as long as necessary and if she never opens her eyes I will try and find a some one who is willing to keep a blind chicken in their home. She wont survive in the coop with our 13 other chicks if she can't see.
Thank you in advance for any ideas or suggestions.
I am in Arizona and we are new chicken owners!! On Tuesday 7/10/12 - we found one of our chickens (She's about 3 months old) plopped on the ground between two cinder blocks barely moving. We couldn't find any signs of trauma or any other symptoms other than lethargic, unable to stand up and her eyes were closed and she would not open them for nothing!! She was literally on deaths door. We figured she was suffering from heat stress& dehydration. The other chickens are all fine - so I started to wonder if she had injured her eyes and was keeping them shut because they hurt and therefore - unable to find water or feeder. We brought her into air conditioned house and gave her water and watched her over night. By morning she was standing and cooled off and drinking if we put her beak into a bowl of water. Today is Friday (day 4) and this morning I noticed there were 2 little drops of watery blood on her food dish and above her right eye... it looked to me like she had scratched the skin right above her eye - - almost like a paper cut. She scratches her head/eye from time to time and perhaps she cut it that way? I dripped some saline over her eyes and dabbed with soft cloth. A couple minutes later she opened her eye half way and then shut it again. At that point I saw a little bit of fluid form along the crease of her eyelid. She seems to be feeling fine BUT SHE KEEPS HER EYES CLOSED so it's like having a blind chicken! I made her a new home in a large dog crate and I go in every few hours and get her off the perch and put her in front of her food and water dishes. When she seems satisfied I put her back on her perch or I let her stand on the floor of the cage. After she eats - she preens herself a little bit and then sits for a bit and then tucks her head into her wings and goes to sleep.
Has anyone ever heard of a chicken with an eye infection only? no other symptoms? No sneezing, raspy breathing etc.
I will take care of her as long as necessary and if she never opens her eyes I will try and find a some one who is willing to keep a blind chicken in their home. She wont survive in the coop with our 13 other chicks if she can't see.
Thank you in advance for any ideas or suggestions.
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Keep up the good work. If you can get opthamolic antibiotic ointment that would be even better.
