Can you help? my HEN has a Swollen eye and bent over comb??

[LilbitChicken]

Well, as much as I have read, and read, the result in my issue...is still not clear, as to WHAT I should do.

Her eye is swollen....couldn't open it at all a few days ago.....(ok almost a week now)
It was instant, she was fine a few hours prior, I went to collect eggs in the noonish time, she (Crystal) was laying on the coop floor...(resting), I said hello, her response was normal, looked at me BUT with only one eye open? I thought she must have blinked, so I looked again, and NO- it was swollen shut, I picked he up, put her in a cage so i could try to diagnose.....flushed her eye out with eye solution, a few times, put Soluble Powder antibiotic in her water.....a few days later, she can force her eye open to see food and whatever I might have for her....she tried to rush out and get back to the coop where her family is.

Another issue I noticed, her comb always lays to the left side, BUT since the 'eye thing" the lay is more severe....so her right eye can see perfectly....but has the comb laying right above it....the left, she has to force open........not fun......I don't know what to do!

I am going to try the terramycin? sp? (what else do I do?)

She has no "bubbles" in her eye, her feathers remain to be normal, she gets up and walks no problem......

 

[Jameberlin]

Sorry, i don't know what could be causing the eye problem... maybe her cornea was scratched by something? If it's just one eye and there aren't any other symptoms but swelling, that would be my first guess. Is she acting lethargic at all? Eating and drinking normally?

As far as her comb, i have one gold star who has a big fat comb and it's been flopping to the side for ages, sometimes when they're bigger they just do that.

 

[threehorses]

First, don't medicate yet. You don't know what the problem is, and terramycin isn't effective on a number of bacterial illnesses that fit this description. Well not the most effective - rather weak on some.

Second, could you please provide us a more complete history? There's a set of questions in the 2nd sticky in this forum that are a wonderful guideline. That helps us to get a more clear and detailed history of your whole flock, which is very important to any diagnostic processes that you'll take on.

Third, in addition to those questions, please tell us (in excruciating detail /grin) everything you can think of about your flock, their environment, the behavior of this bird, diet, their care, etc. It's all interrelated, and sometimes the smallest pieces are the ones that "solve" the puzzle! In fact, more often than not, someone will say "oh well this isn't important, but..." and it ends up being the one clue needed!

So the more details you give us, the more accurate we can be when helping you.

Do that, and we'll do our best to help you out.

In the mean time, I'd recommend flushing the eye wither sterile eye wash (from the pharmacy first aid section) or saline eye solution (eye section of store). Also wipe her nares.

Because the eyes drain into the digestive tract, you'll want to give her some probiotics to make up for any bad bacteria that get into her gut. Probiotics can most easily include plain unflavored yogurt (1 teaspoon). Do NOT use yogurt if you use a medicine that has -mycin or -cycline drugs as their active ingredient. (Read the label.) You must use a different probiotic - like acidophilus capsules (from the pharmacy).

You must use a probiotic after antibiotics with poultry to avoid secondary digestive illnesses and diarrhea as the antibiotics kill the good bacteria of the gut that keep their system running. So use daily during medication, every other day for 2 weeks after medications are done.

IF you medicate, please make sure you're using the right one. Put off medicating until you KNOW that it's bacterial, not viral. And once you start an antibiotic, you must not stop it before 7 days for most antibiotics because they you might not be able to use it effectively again. (Antibiotic resistance).

In the mean time, please answer the sticky's questions in this thread. If you have any other chicken issues, please post them in this same thread - they are likely related even if they don't seem that way. that keeps threads (and information) from being spread about where they don't get noticed.

Thanks! I look forward to your reply.