Chicken with infected eye

[mellissa]

Help, my old head chook got into fight with young rooster and came off second best. Has extremely swollen eye. I have been applying chlorsig ointment (for conjunctivitis) with no improvement.

Any ideas?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

It's hard to tell, by does she have drainage from the nostril too?
Where are you located?
Chicken pus is semi-hard, so you need to remove as much as you can in order for her to get better. Having a vet express and remove that is best.
General eye care is to flush with saline or you can apply warm compresses to see if you can get the pus worked up and out of the eye. Apply your eye ointment.

 

[mellissa]

It's hard to tell, by does she have drainage from the nostril too?
Where are you located?
Chicken pus is semi-hard, so you need to remove as much as you can in order for her to get better. Having a vet express and remove that is best.
General eye care is to flush with saline or you can apply warm compresses to see if you can get the pus worked up and out of the eye. Apply your eye ointment.

Thanks for your reply. I saw the vet yesterday. She needed antibiotics to treat her eye as the infection was caused through faeces in claws of rooster who attacked her. No puss or mucus from any orifice, though I imagine they’re is puss somewhere it’s just not visible. A weeks course of antibiotics to treat infection. I am familiar with bird puss it looks like cottage cheese, needless to say I can’t eat cottage cheese anymore.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Thanks for your reply. I saw the vet yesterday. She needed antibiotics to treat her eye as the infection was caused through faeces in claws of rooster who attacked her. No puss or mucus from any orifice, though I imagine they’re is puss somewhere it’s just not visible. A weeks course of antibiotics to treat infection. I am familiar with bird puss it looks like cottage cheese, needless to say I can’t eat cottage cheese anymore.

Glad you were able to see your vet. I hope she makes a full recovery

 

[mellissa]

It's hard to tell, by does she have drainage from the nostril too?
Where are you located?
Chicken pus is semi-hard, so you need to remove as much as you can in order for her to get better. Having a vet express and remove that is best.
General eye care is to flush with saline or you can apply warm compresses to see if you can get the pus worked up and out of the eye. Apply your eye ointment.

Hi I’m just about to try your advice as her eye is no better. Is it likely to move the puss with warm wet compressions. Still eats and drinks. I’ve had her isolated as she was hiding all day as she just wasn’t up to breeding with our old rooster who she normally loves. Thanks I’ll post my results.

 

[mellissa]

Thanks for your reply. I saw the vet yesterday. She needed antibiotics to treat her eye as the infection was caused through faeces in claws of rooster who attacked her. No puss or mucus from any orifice, though I imagine they’re is puss somewhere it’s just not visible. A weeks course of antibiotics to treat infection. I am familiar with bird puss it looks like cottage cheese, needless to say I can’t eat cottage cheese anymore.

Hi I’m just about to try your advice as her eye is no better. Is it likely to move the puss with warm wet compressions. Still eats and drinks. I’ve had her isolated as she was hiding all day as she just wasn’t up to breeding with our old rooster who she normally loves. Thanks I’ll post my results.

hi I
just tried your advice, made up a warm saline wash and gently cleaned the area and gently tried to massage out with no luck. Should I try more pressure or could this push eye out.My partner is dead against me spending more money at vet on chicken. thanks

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Take your time over the course of several days, try with warm compresses and see if you can start working the pus out.
You may also want to search youtube for removal of eye pus in chickens. Do this before you eat

 

[mellissa]

Thanks for your advice. I’ve had another go this morning, to no avail but will keep trying.
The vet said try putting nick under eye with needle and saline flush. I don’t know if a needle hole will be big enough to remove bird puss?

 

[Eggcessive]

Sometimes the pus can be squeezed from the cleft in the roof of the beak, some have had to lance or cut the face, and others have gotten it out with cleaning and squeezing. Here are some threads about similar issues:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/nasty-eye-infection-pics.1071718/
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/help-extreme-eye-infection-chorzya-cholera-injury.927650/

 

[Eggcessive]

Another one:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/i-thought-it-was-fowl-pox-now-im-not-sure.1059806/