We have had to cull all 5 of our pullets for "bubble eyes". We have been medicating 2 of them for a week with no progress, The other 3's symptoms have hit hard and fast. I guess it is due to the extreme temps. These have been free ranging game chickens with plenty of shaded areas to range. Our rooster seems to be fine. No signs or symptoms. Is it possible that he is O.K.? He is the only chicken we have left. Should I cull him and start over, to make sure we are disease free? Is there a breed of game chickens that are more hardy than the others? This is our first run at chickens since I was a kid 35 - 40 years a go. I do not remember having to deal with this then.................Any help or info would be appreciated. Thanks!
I have one hen that had bubbles in one of her eyes. Also, the area around her eye swelled up. I do not know what caused this, or if it is contagious, so I do keep her isolated from my other 6 girls. I put her on a sulfa regimen, and that seemed to help. She was also getting lethargic before I did the treatment, and now, a little over a month after that episode, she seems to be doing well. But it seems when she gets stressed, the bubbles appear again. The biggest mistake I made was to purchase these chickens from someone who has hundreds of them, and I lost 3 of them due to one illness or another. It was a hard lesson to learn, I will never buy chickens this way again...I have several chicken books for reference, but so many of the symptoms can overlap for various illnesses, I just end up being confused. We do not have an avian vet here, and the vet has the mind set that it is "just a chicken". I actually had to kill one of my girls, and it brings tears to my eyes even thinking about it now. It was the hardest thing I ever had to do. I kept telling myself that I was doing her a favor, so she would not suffer any longer, but that did not make it any easier for me. So, does anyone out there know what it is that causes those bubbles???
Bubbles in the eyes can be caused by the environment; such as dirt or debris in their eyes, pollen, smoke, ammonia fumes from soiled bedding and many other things. If it's not environmental, it's a respiratory disease. Poultry respiratory diseases are contageous, and birds remain lifetime carriers. You could maintain a closed flock and treat them with antibiotics. But they only treat the symptoms and dont cure the disease. Your other option is to cull and disinfect everything. I suspect mycoplasma gallisepticum (MG) could possibly be what you're dealing with. Here's a link to respiratory diseases, you can match up the symptoms your chickens are showing to the disease in the link: http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ps044
My first flock tested positive for MG. All of them first showed symptoms with a bubbly eye. Another sign to look for is crusty feathers because they will keep wiping their bubbly eye off on their feathers.
