Bugs Crawling Around Hen's Vent

[memerabbit]

One of the hens now has this sort of crust around the eye and the eye looks slightly swollen with a slightly droopy eyelid. I have seen no bugs crawling around the area. What is this? What can I do? Is it possibly from the mites?

 

[MrsBrooke]

One of the hens now has this sort of crust around the eye and the eye looks slightly swollen with a slightly droopy eyelid. I have seen no bugs crawling around the area. What is this? What can I do? Is it possibly from the mites?

Is she exhibiting any other odd symptoms? Hunched up? Lethargic? Wheezing, coughing, nasal discharge, or a foul odor coming from her?

I would quarantine that chicken immediately. Monitor her breathing and intake of food and water. If she is off eating and drinking, you may have to tube feed.

It's possible she got pecked. It's possible she itched her eye due to mites and cut herself, which allowed a little eye infection to set it. We will hope that's all it is for now.

An eye infection can be treated using Tylan 50 injectable (available at Tractor Supply) - you'll need syringes and needles anyway to get the medicine out. Pull a little Tylan into the syringe and mix with saline solution (salt and warm water). Wrap her in a towel and drip the diluted solution directly into her eye. It will run everywhere, and she may shake her head while making angry noises at you. It's okay. I promise. <3

Grab a little triple antibiotic ***without painkiller* and (using your ring finger, because it's smoother), dab a little ointment around her eye. If it gets IN her eye a bit, that's okay, too. No harm will come to her.

Keep her confined while you treat her. You should see improvement in a few days.

Please let us know if any other symptoms show up.

MrsB

 

[memerabbit]

Is she exhibiting any other odd symptoms? Hunched up? Lethargic? Wheezing, coughing, nasal discharge, or a foul odor coming from her?

I would quarantine that chicken immediately. Monitor her breathing and intake of food and water. If she is off eating and drinking, you may have to tube feed.

It's possible she got pecked. It's possible she itched her eye due to mites and cut herself, which allowed a little eye infection to set it. We will hope that's all it is for now.

An eye infection can be treated using Tylan 50 injectable (available at Tractor Supply) - you'll need syringes and needles anyway to get the medicine out. Pull a little Tylan into the syringe and mix with saline solution (salt and warm water). Wrap her in a towel and drip the diluted solution directly into her eye. It will run everywhere, and she may shake her head while making angry noises at you. It's okay. I promise. <3

Grab a little triple antibiotic ***without painkiller* and (using your ring finger, because it's smoother), dab a little ointment around her eye. If it gets IN her eye a bit, that's okay, too. No harm will come to her.

Keep her confined while you treat her. You should see improvement in a few days.

Please let us know if any other symptoms show up.

MrsB

Thank you this helps very much.

 

[memerabbit]

She has been picking at it and there is some dried blood, but I don't think the other bird pecked her.

 

[MrsBrooke]

She has been picking at it and there is some dried blood, but I don't think the other bird pecked her.

Is she away from other birds now??

An eye "infection" can actually be caused by a potentially fatal, highly contagious, life-long, chronic respiratory infection... Thus my reason behind quarantine.

I feel she needs to be separated, even if it's just an eye infection.

MrsB

 

[Windy Bay Farm]

Thought this might be a good place to post seeing as some of you folks seem to (unfortunately) have experience in this area.

I've been having issues with mites on my birds and some may have worms. I have the liquid Permethrin that I would like to try and spray on the birds to try and combat the mite issue. Seeing as I have never used it, can anyone tell me how much water to use when diluting the Permethrin for use on the birds ? The instructions say that you mix 8 fl. oz to 12.5 gallons of water. I really don't need all that as I only have 24 birds to treat; has anyone mixed this on a much smaller scale ? How often do you treat after initial treatment ? Is there a withdrawal period for egg use ? Where do you spray it, all over the bird, under feathers ? Also, when using permethrin to treat the premises (coop), what is the ratio of permethrin to water when mixing ? My coop is approx 70 square feet.

The Cydectin for treatment of worms; how much do you put on each bird ? Where do you apply it (back of neck, under wings) ? Do you just do one treatment or do you have to do more treatments after the initial treatment ? Is there withdrawal from eggs with this product ?

Sorry for all the questions, but I have never used these products before.

Thanks !