Chicken has a swollen eye - infection/ disease?

[aribubbs]

Hello! I noticed one of our 1 year old hens being very vocal today and went to double check her. I found her in the coop complaining while the others were all free ranging.

One eye seemed swollen and shut so I took her to the vet (they’re basically pets as far as how much part of the fam they are!) who said it looks like perhaps she had a small injury above her eye that’s healing. I’ve not noticed any issues before today and all the other chickens seem fine. There’s no other sign of issues and crop/ stomach/ general condition vet said is great. We agreed I’d do saline solution topically few times a day before seeing how she goes, as I’d rather not separate her from flock (which we’d have to do if she went on meds as couldn’t eat the eggs, we’ve 8 other layers and hard to tell which are which eggs) from fear of bullying on reintegration.

Eye doesn’t seem particularly weekly and I can’t see nasal discharge.

However coming back home and having a research, wondering whether she could have a disease of sorts instead? It’s a general vet practice and I don’t think they have so much poultry experience generally here in the UK.

The 9 hens share a 16m2 run but spend much of the day free ranging our 0.5 acre garden. Bedding is screened woodchip for poultry use.

Thanks for any knowledgeable views!

 

[Eggcessive]

It does look like she either was pecked or something poked her above the eye about 11 o’clock. That area can become swollen from a respiratory disease, such as MG (mycoplasma gallisepticum) as well. Usually with that, one would see bubbles of foam in the eye, possibly some mucus from the nostrils and beak, or sneezing, but not always. I would check in the eye for that daily. So I would watch it, and look for the bubbles or some gunk in the eye. The vet could then prescribe Tylsoin, Tiamulin/Denagard, or other antibiotic that treats MG.

 

[aribubbs]

It does look like she either was pecked or something poked her above the eye about 11 o’clock. That area can become swollen from a respiratory disease, such as MG (mycoplasma gallisepticum) as well. Usually with that, one would see bubbles of foam in the eye, possibly some mucus from the nostrils and beak, or sneezing, but not always. I would check in the eye for that daily. So I would watch it, and look for the bubbles or some gunk in the eye. The vet could then prescribe Tylsoin, Tiamulin/Denagard, or other antibiotic that treats MG.

Thank you so much!