Chicken eye problem

[Spiderduck]

My hen got her eyes pecked at, a mother hen just one day decided to attack her!

She was laying flat upside down on the ground when we saw her in the morning, shaking and muddy

I brought her in and cleaned out her eyes as best I could careful not to rub them too much

It’s been 3 days now, the swelling has gone down quite a bit, I give her regular eye washes, with warm water.

One eye is slightly open I would say less than half open, looks swollen around the area

The other eye is closed, I don’t know whether I should be brave and gently pry it open? Or what if her eye is missing? I can see movement under the lid when I wipe it with a cloth but it won’t open

She eats and drinks, when I feed her or put the food in front of her to eat

I popped a few vitamins in her water to keep them topped up

Just want to know how long would it take to heal fully or is there anything I can do to help her

Her head/face also smells awful

 

[Spiderduck]

 

[silkiemother]

I wouldn't try to open the eye. I had a similar accident except the problem was he got his head stuck in the door. What I did was keep him away from the others and just washed his eyes with warm water for a couple days until he could open both of them without trouble. The swelling should go down in a couple days and it might take a week or two to heal completely.

 

[Mybackyardpeepers]

I always swear by vetrycin, smell is never a good thing with injuries, etc. Usually a sign of bad infection.

 

[Eggcessive]

I would wash the eye lids with warm water or saline, and gently pry the eye open to look for pus, since it looks like it may have pus around the eye. If the eye is glued shut with crust, place a warm wet compress on it and hold for a few minutes, or drip a little warm water on it to dissovle the crusts. Get some plain Neosporin or Triple Antibiotic Ointment ointment and put 1/8 into the eye twice a day after cleaning. If you find pus inside the eye or the swelling persists, it will need to be squeezed out for the ointment to work. Here is a really graphic video of getting pus out of any eye:

 

[Spiderduck]

Today I discovered the worser eye has gone more inflamed like puffy and it has yellow infection near the eye lid.

I brought her inside again and cleaned this down, I can open her eye now I can see white inside but not sure if this is her eye or pus?

The other eye doesn’t want to open much even though there’s no swelling on that side.

I have applied a warm compress to the worser eye, cleaned it and also cleaned the other eye. I do this twice a day.

 

[Spiderduck]

I would wash the eye lids with warm water or saline, and gently pry the eye open to look for pus, since it looks like it may have pus around the eye. If the eye is glued shut with crust, place a warm wet compress on it and hold for a few minutes, or drip a little warm water on it to dissovle the crusts. Get some plain Neosporin or Triple Antibiotic Ointment ointment and put 1/8 into the eye twice a day after cleaning. If you find pus inside the eye or the swelling persists, it will need to be squeezed out for the ointment to work. Here is a really graphic video of getting pus out of any eye:

I’m sure she does have pus inside her eye it looked white when I opened it slightly. However it looks so gross to squeeze out the pus!

But maybe I’ll have to check and do that if it’ll help.

We dont have Neosporin here and not sure with eye ointments to get

I may try and squeeze the pus out and drop some clean water into the eye and see if the swelling goes down
What do you think?

 

[Eggcessive]

Can you get eye wash at a pharmacy? It costs a few dollars here. Or use saline in the eye, but eye wash is pretty gentle. What do you use in the UK to treat pinkeye? That would probably be good. Can you call a vet office and just ask? Eye wash is better than saline, but you can make homemade saline at home. Boil 1 liter of water and add 2 tsp 9grams of table salt. Store in a sterile jar.

 

[HollyWoozle]

@Spiderduck - I am in the UK and finally just found a UK stockist of Neosporin on eBay. Maybe they could offer express delivery? I'm sure we have other options here but I ordered some since it's always recommended on BYC.

You can also get Vetericyn eye wash here in UK.

 

[Spiderduck]

Can you get eye wash at a pharmacy? It costs a few dollars here. Or use saline in the eye, but eye wash is pretty gentle. What do you use in the UK to treat pinkeye? That would probably be good. Can you call a vet office and just ask? Eye wash is better than saline, but you can make homemade saline at home. Boil 1 liter of water and add 2 tsp 9grams of table salt. Store in a sterile jar.

I can check at the pharmacies for eye drops or saline

I don’t have any vets in my area who even deal with chickens

But I’ll definitely make some saline right now!

I’ve just seen the hen and there’s pus urghhh coming out of her eye I will clean it now! I’ll squeeze it out now and clean it up, warm compress, saline ahhhh