Both eyes pasted shut...

[allieb8228]

Hi, we have 8 one-week old chicks. Everybody has seemed healthy this week but today I noticed that two of them had pasted eyes. I didn't see any discharge and they were otherwise acting as normally as one could without sight (I watched them both eating and drinking). I used a warm compress and got both of their eyes open. Is this normal or ... ? Totally new to this. I did take them off electrolyte water two days ago and just added it back in today. Thoughts?

 

[Puddin Fluff]

I had something similiar with a couple of silkie chicks during a hatch. I am sorry to say that they did not make it. I have no idea what the cause was. I too cleaned their eyes with warm water and that helped for a while but it came back.

Hope someone who knows more can chime in.

Best of luck and sorry I don't have better info. for you.

 

[allieb8228]

Were your chicks eating and drinking before they died or acting sick? I called the farm store and they said to put a lubricant in their eyes and not worry about it if they're acting otherwise normal. Curious if yours were acting normal too.

 

[DanicaDream]

My chick is having a similar issue, only one eye is normal and the other stays closed. Hubby did take a damp cloth to try to clean it out in case there was something in her eye, but it seemed like there was nothing in it, no pus or sign of injury to the closed eye. That did cause the eye to open for a while but then she closed it to take a nap and when she woke up, the bad eye didn't open again.

She is a salmon faverolle, about ten days old. We have other chicks the same age as her but different breeds. She does not seem to be getting as big as the others, although I do notice her eating and drinking with them. She chirps a lot more than they do, but she has also been more chirpy and louder than the others from day one, so I don't know if that is any different. Her poop seems normal, maybe a little more runny than the others, but not much.

The other thing, which may be part of it or just her personality, I don't know, is that she's always been more cuddly than the others. If she's with them, she wants to be under them or really close to them. She's always trying to burrow under someone or something. If you hold her, she chirps loudly unless she is nestled in your clothes and burrowed against you. If she's burrowed against you, she's quiet and content and sleeps.

Right now, she's nestled against my chest, just under my breasts (sorry for the visual), and we have a cloth on the other side of her (so I can type- before, it was my hand against her, and she was content that way too). She's sleeping contentedly, which isn't too different from the other chicken asleep on my shoulder, except the other chicken doesn't have a covering. So maybe my chick with the funny eye just isn't as warm as the other chicks?

I did Google the eye thing, and saw a few suggestions of giving her some Karo syrup, which I did. She ate some of it and then went back to sleep. She was really irritated at it getting on her. She didn't like the stickiness.

They are being housed in a wooden pen in the garage hubby built with some pine shavings on the bottom for them to walk around in. They do have a heat lamp that keeps the temperature around 100. We've been taking them out and holding them to get them used to people, and sitting with them on the couch.

Thanks for any ideas you can give me as far as what I may need to do with her or if she needs a chicken vet.

Danica

Any thoughts you can give would be appreciated.

 

[allieb8228]

We bought Vetericyn Opthalmic Gel and applied it to the three that couldn't open their eyes. (I found one more in our little flock with the same problem). The fact that we have three with the same symptoms is alarming to me. The gel had an immediate effect; their eyes flung open and they all went for food and water. One of the three, a gold laced Cochin, seems pretty lethargic but all of our Cochins sleep more than the other breeds. I half expect to find her dead every time I check in but then she starts acting normal again. I'll post again if anything changes. Let us know what happens with your little one.

 

[DanicaDream]

I realized that one of the other chicks, a black australorp, had the same eye issue, though not as bad. But it is not snuggly like the salmon faverolle. The australorp is smaller like the faverolle, but I think her food is fine. The australorp is our food pest- she likes to get in the way of the other birds when they're eating and steal their spot for the food. The other details are the same.

 

[DanicaDream]

Allie, how are your chicks doing?

We went to the feed store and got some terramycin . Hubby also saw something that said to do visine and neosporin. So we gave them the medicine in their water and do the visine/neosporin whenever their eyes start looking yucky again.

The chicks seem much improved, but their eyes still get yucky once and a while. The worst one, the salmon faverolle, is much perkier now, but she still has eye issues now and then.

We did find a vet who will look at them for $80. Not sure if it's worth it for $4 chicks. Although... I have to say even after a week, I'm pretty attached. Last night, I called Gwendolyn, the Salmon Faverolle, and put my hand on the bottom of their pen, and she climbed right on to it. Such a little sweetie. I don't really want to lose her, but I also don't want to spend $80 only to have her die anyway. UGH. She doesn't act like she's dying though.

We also put a divider in their cage to keep the healthy birds separated from the sick ones, and wouldn't you know it, one of the little stinkers (the healthy bird) keeps flying over it. Hubby is working on a better divider.

If anyone else has ideas of what else to do/try, or if I should suck it up and spend the $80 (that we don't really have) to take my babies in, let me know.

Thanks!
Danica

 

[allieb8228]

One application of neosporin cleared it up with all the birds. I still have two Cochins in the quarantine bin just to be safe but the two Australorps are back in general population with no further issues... Knock on wood! What about yours? Did Terramycin work?

 

[DanicaDream]

In one of the chicks, Neosporin took care of it with the first application. The other chick needed it for a couple of days, but she's doing fine now. The only thing is that they're all still sneezing a lot, but they are otherwise seemingly healthy.