Blinky's eye

[BlindLemonChicken]

I've had thus chicken since she was day old and her eye has always been weird. I used saline and terramycin when she was a chick and it seemed to clear up but every now and then it will get watery. It makes a mess of her feathers but she is perfectly fine otherwise-eating, drinking, trying to boss the other girls around. But yesterday I noticed it was getting really bad and had bubbles in it. None of the other birds have anything like this so I am assuming its nothing contagious but its gross and probably uncomfortable at this point. This picture is after I rinsed and applied terramycin. She hates me for nursing her but I feel like I have to do something I'm just not sure what.

 

[azygous]

You're doing the right thing. She may be more prone to eye irritation and inflammation than average. It should clear up in a day or so.

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

You're doing the right thing. She may be more prone to eye irritation and inflammation than average. It should clear up in a day or so.

I just caught the Australorp pecking it so thats part of the mystery solved. My guess is that it gets irritated like you said and then somebody pecks it. It doesn't help that she's always challenging the Australorp. Dumb chicken

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

Blinky's eye is looking much better but it seems like this clump of gunk is pulling on the skin under her eye? Its caked on her feathers in her muff and I am pretty sure trying to wash it off would be super stressful for both of us. Can I cut her feathers? That seems bad too.

 

[azygous]

Use Neosporin on the feathers beneath the eye as a sort of "pomade". This will help with any bacteria, and it will "glue" the tiny feathers down and away from the eye.

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

I'm concerned about this gunky clump of feathers pulling on her skin. Is there a safe way to remove it?

 

[azygous]

If pasting them down with ointment doesn't work, then trim them. I wouldn't try to remove them as it can cause irritation around the eye and maybe even infection.

Are you rinsing the eye daily with saline? Putting antibiotic ointment in the eye twice a day? That should be enough.

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

I have been rinsing and using terramycin at night so just once a day and shes improved greatly. The eye and tissue around it looks fine except for the gunk blob in her feathers. I want to remove it because I feel like under it is the source of the issue. Maybe an ingrown feather or something. I just dont want to wash it because of the proximity to her eye. I'm sure it would take soap to remove it. I will try to cut it out tomorrow although the thought of that makes me queasy. She has been better about letting me handle her but I'm sure when I come at her with scissors that will change

 

[azygous]

You will need to have someone hold her head steady. Chickens are notorious for jerking their heads at the last second and disaster is the result. One time I was trimming the beak on a hen and she jerked at the last second and I cut into the quick. She bled heavily and it was a disaster.

What exactly is the nature of this glob? Dried food, pus, dirt? Can you identify it? I understood it to be just feathers. If you know what it is, maybe we can figure out something to dissolve it safely.

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

I believe the glob is old pus and dirt caked on the feathers under her eye. It seems smaller this morning but I am going to see if my husband will hold her so I can at least work a wet paper towel on it and get it broken up. Then I will take a picture when I get her cleaned up because I have seen a bump there occasionally which makes me wonder if she has an infected feather follicle or something. It has been flaring up since she was a chick so maybe she was injured during hatch then the feathers in that spot never grew right...?