Chicken with swollen eye, need advice

[Hillary_S]

Hey guys, I found one of my girls this afternoon with a swollen eye. I noticed she wasn't feeling well when I took corn to the flock and she stayed by herself and didn't come to eat. There is a little blood at the top of her comb and I am thinking she may have been pecked. She is one of the smaller girls. Her eye is swollen and the flesh around her eye is swollen too. Her crop is empty so I am worried she is not eating/drinking like she should be. I have her isolated on my back porch so she can have some space and get some water with vitamins and food without the others messing with her. Her eye is tearing, but it is clear. I have 8 chickens and this is the first one to get sick/hurt, so I'm not sure what to do? There are not many vets where I am that will see chickens. All suggestions are welcome. Thank you.

*edit* Now that I'm looking more closely it almost looks like her whole head is swollen compared to my other birds. I am worried about her

*2nd edit* Also, she IS eating and drinking now that she is alone

 

[azygous]

Let's hope it's something as simple as an injury or a sinus infection. There are other causes of facial swelling, but lets' assume it's something easily treated. Treating for a sinus infection can rule out something much more serious if the hen responds.

The easiest thing to do is obtain some antibiotic eye drops and put a drop in her swollen eye once or twice a day. That will reach the underlying tissue around the eye. You should be able to get the drops from a vet or even an eye doctor.

At the very least, you can flush the eye with saline or saline eye drops in case a foreign body is causing the inflammation.

If you happen to have any elderly relatives or friends who have had cataract surgery and still have the leftover drops, you can beg them off them and use them on your hen. I've had cataracts removed and so have some friends. I have a supply of antibiotic, anti-inflammatory, and steroid drops, all of which have successfully treated a hen for swollen face around the eye which looked just like your hen.

 

[Hillary_S]

Thank you for your response! I kept her on my porch last night and put some neosporin on her comb where it looked a little bloody at. She seems better this morning. The swelling has gone down a bit, she is scratching for bugs in the hay in the cage, and she is eating and drinking. I put nutri-drench in her water too last night and she has drank quite a bit. Soft crop this morning and normal stools. We have had an issues with paper wasps in our yard and they are allowed to free range in the afternoons. I am thinking she was either pecked or stung by a wasp but definitely keeping an eye on her. I think I'll keep her inside another night and see how she is tomorrow.

 

[Hillary_S]

These are from this morning, her head is greasy from the ointment

 

[Kiki]

She already looks much better!

 

[Eggcessive]

I would agree that it could be a sting. Stings and tick bites can really cause a lot of swelling around the face, comb and wattles. Sometimes I recommend 1/2 of a 25 mg Benadryl tablet given orally or crushed in a small treat to help with swelling, but only use this once. If the swelling does not go down in a couple of days, or the eye continues to weep or develop gunk or crusts, then I would suspect MG, a respiratory disease that causes some of these symptoms. Usually with MG, there will be other symptoms, such as sneeze, cough, or gasping. Here is a link just to look at: http://www.thepoultrysite.com/disea...tion-mg-chronic-respiratory-disease-chickens/

 

[Hillary_S]

Still watching her. The swelling is almost totally gone. No coughing, wheezing, sneezing, or anything like that. She seems to be fine and layed an egg in the cage today. Eating and drinking like a champ. My bet is on a wasp sting! Thank you guys so much for your advice and calming me down

 

[CKMore]

Glad to hear she is doing better. I always keep some Colloidal Silver on hand for such cases. Works great for eye problems, but so much more.

 

[Kiki]

Glad to hear she is doing better. I always keep some Colloidal Silver on hand for such cases. Works great for eye problems, but so much more.

I've heard of this product but know nothing about...my first google search just happened and I prefer to click on .gov websites thinking they are no written by any old Tom out there.
I came across this:
https://nccih.nih.gov/health/silver

Can you share some of the proven good benefits?

 

[Eggcessive]

Great to hear that she is better.