Chick with bulbous pulpy looking eye blood pooling under skin, bloody

[e'sbackyardchickens]

I am new here, I did a search and didn't find quite what i am looking at here. Came home today to find dd's 8-12 week old ameracauna chick with a pulpy bulbous looking left eye. Closer look reveals what looks like blood pooling under the skin under her beak kind of where her chin would be if chicks had chins. It was late in the evening so it's hard to tell if her quiet demeanor is because of this apparent injury or because of the late hour (just before dusk). I rinsed it with saline solution. Thinking it needs something to keep from drying out. Not sure if the eye is still present. I contacted our holistic vet that we use for our dog. Not sure he will be able to help with a chicken but I left him an email.

Any thoughts on what to do for the eye and the pooling blood? Pain relief? Necessary or possible?

Edited to add I did find some neosporin so I used that. There seems to be drainage from the corner where the eye should be and dried blood in nose.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Noobchick]

Very scary sounding. Just bumping your post in the hopes someone with more experience than me will see it and respond.

 

[e'sbackyardchickens]

thanks I keep hoping someone will respond.

Hey we are almost neighbors i'm a little south of Raleigh

 

[littlenell1]

Best thing to put on to prevent drying out is saline solution on a clean non adherent dressing. it is what we put on injuries until they can be dealt with.

 

[e'sbackyardchickens]

Any other ideas out here? my vet said just wait and see. Her head is swollen above her ete, whats left of her eye is swollen, and there seens to be blood under her skin and coming out her nasal passages. she's desperate to get with her peeps but that's not safe. i tried it for 2 seconds and someone pecked at her. She did better later in the day she escaped and ran with the othe babies in the yard and finally ate. I brought her in after 10 minutes or so and she was upset. So any thoughts on how to treat thsi. i put some arnica oil on the area above and below her eye socket to hopefully reduce the swelling.

 

[Noobchick]

Jeez. Im sorry no one seems to have ideas on what to do.

 

[AngelzFyre]

Do you have any opthalmic ointments in your first aid kit? Something withOUT steroid/cortisone in it in case the cornea is scratched.
Triple antibiotic opthalmic ointment or Terramycin opthalmic ointment would be good and apply this at least 3 times a day to keep out infection as the tissue around the eye heals. This will also keep the eye lubricated and you can use artificial tears ointment in between if need be if eye is drying out too much. All of these are available from most vet supply sites ie Jeffer's, Valleyvet and allivet. Most have expedited shipping but I know that Jeffers is usually the fastest shipper that I've used.
Make sure to keep eye clean and do keep the chicken separated until healed so the others don't do further damage to her. Also give some probiotics and added protein like scrambled eggs to help with healing and keep her immune system built up.

Hope this helps!

 

[ilvmychickens]

Hello welcome I am new as well! This site is wicked awesome! As a matter of fact there is a similar discussion from 3/5/2008 that may help you! " my chicken has swollen eye with bubbling liquid" I won't repeat it because they say it best! Search n read this discussion, has pictures and a TON of awesome advice! I hope this helps you! Good luck!

 

[e'sbackyardchickens]

Thanks for the suggestions. I am not sure she even has an eye left, it's really hard to tell. She seems to be doing well as long as she is with the other girls. When she is not with them she is one down chicken. I let her out with them this am on the lawn and she immediately started preening, drinking, eating. Once I take her back in she just calls and calls. The swelling is down in the areas I applied the arnica oil. I am putting neosporin on the eye socket/eye. I don't have any opthalmic ointments but looks like I'll be ordering some. Thanks for the suggestion on the other post I'll search for it. Just found it and it's not the same this is definitely an injury. I suspect one of the older hens reached in the pen and pecked it or she caught it on something but the older hen is my working theory of the moment.

 

[ilvmychickens]

Knowing what it is is half the battle! Glad to hear u found something to help and are seeing an improvement! Good luck!