Chick with chronic watery eye

[Leihamarie]

Hi there! I have a 4 week old chick with a watery eye that just won't stop watering. She has no other symptoms. She's eating/drinking/gaining weight just fine. No sneezing/head shaking

At first I thought it was maybe a pecking injury, then maybe dust. I cleaned it with saline daily and put Gentamycin for 5 days and it looked better but almost immediately after treatment stopped, it started watering again.

I brought her and mama chick inside and when little bubbles appeared in the corner of the affected eye, I flushed with sterile saline and began treating again with Gentamycin ointment (2x daily for 5 days as directed).

Should I be doing something differently??? The bubbles were gone almost immediately, but the ointment gets washed out as her eye waters.

The eye is functional, dilates normally, etc... But it just won't stop leaking!

 

[tripletfeb]

I had the same thing happen to my little cockerel. Just a watery eye, no infection or signs of sickness. I just let it be. Cleaned it with a warm wet towel if he couldnt open it but it healed on its own. He is now 8 weeks and thinks he runs the roost!

 

[Leihamarie]

I had the same thing happen to my little cockerel. Just a watery eye, no infection or signs of sickness. I just let it be. Cleaned it with a warm wet towel if he couldnt open it but it healed on its own. He is now 8 weeks and thinks he runs the roost!

Thanks for the hope! This is the first time I've encountered this.

 

[tripletfeb]

Keep me updated!

 

[Leihamarie]

Keep me updated!

will do!non a side note, is the EE in your profile pic from Cackle? I have an EE hen that looks almost identical!

 

[tripletfeb]

Your girl is very pretty! And they do look alike! No, it is my own little hen, she is only 8 weeks old. Her name is Mini T-Rex, my son, the dino lover, named her. I have 2 more EEs, I will attach pictures. They all kinda look the same. The one named Chickaletta is the cockerel I was telling you about, with the watery eye. You can see in the picture that it looks good now, but I still call that his bad side!

 

[Saaniya]

watery eye is sign of CRD
U should treat ur chick with neodox forte in water for 7 days

 

[tripletfeb]

watery eye is sign of CRD
U should treat ur chick with neodox forte in water for 7 days[/QUOTE


Would that hurt the chick if it was not CRD? If not, I will do that too, if my guy ever gets his watery eye again.

 

[Leihamarie]

watery eye is sign of CRD
U should treat ur chick with neodox forte in water for 7 days

I understand why you'd associate watery eye with MG/ CRD. I can't rule it out entirely, but it seems unlikely since she's the only chick out of 6 that has it, I know it wasn't transmitted via egg and there are no other symptoms in the flock in general. Thanks for putting that on my radar though! If the eye doesn't respond to treatment I'll take her in to the vet and get some stronger meds. I hesitate to use antibiotics on such a young bird unless it's absolutely necessary because it's so hard on their developing bodies.

 

[Leihamarie]

Hi all, okay... So after multiple rounds of Getomycin, two trips to the vet, 1 round of Amoxicillin and 8 weeks later, this (now 12 week old) chick still has the one watery eye. It's never gotten better, it's never gotten worse. Zero other symptoms. Myrtle (as she's now called) is growing well, eating/drinking/preening/dust bathing/socializing normally and while having been in close proximity to her flock mates, no other chicken has developed any symptoms whatsoever. Can anyone help me with this? I don't want to overload her with antibiotics but the poor thing has walked around with a weepy right eye for most of her short life. I clean it regularly with a warm, moist cloth to remove the crusty build up and regularly remove bits of grass & bedding that get stuck in the goop. Again... No other symptoms. No sneezing, wheezing, swelling, lethargy, etc... Just a very slightly viscous discharge running from her right eye. Any experience and recommendations out there??