Chicken with swollen eye

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pinksapphire

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10 Years
Sep 22, 2013
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One of my hens developed a swollen eye yesterday, would anyone know what the cause might be? And what treatment to try?
One swollen eye
No nasal discharge
Acting totally normal otherwise
I cleaned the eye and there was some blood inside
 

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Whatever the cause, whether from a respiratory disease or a localized infection, you need to treat the eye by removing the pus that's causing the swelling and threatening the eyesight. Then flush well with saline and use Neopsporin or terramycin in the eye twice a day.

 
You need to forcefully (but gently) open the eye and clean it out, if you don’t, she’ll never get better and it could potentially destroy her eye.

Infectious Coryza is a bacterial infection of poultry, affecting all different species of birds. Infectious Coryza is known for it’s foul rotten smelly cheesy-like smell that comes from the face, mouth or nares, followed by thick harden pus to form in the sinus cavities and around one or both eyes, creating a “swollen bulging like eye”. Infectious Coryza infected birds may or may not have thick sticky yellowish colored discharge from the nares or eyes. This disease is most commonly given by being exposed to new carrier birds. Infectious Coryza is a lifelong permanent chronic disease meaning- that you can treat and have the symptoms go away, but whenever the bird gets stressed again, the symptoms will resurface whenever birds happen to become stressed. All “recovered” like birds, remain permanent lifetime long carriers of the Infectious Coryza bacteria, spreading and shedding it through their feces, feathers, dander, respiratory secretions and other bodily fluids. This is a permanent lifetime disease of poultry and is incurable, but treatable. This is a serious permanent lifetime disease of poultry and is incurable, but treatable with antibiotics. Since Infectious Coryza is caused by a bacteria, antibiotics can help keep symptoms at bay until the symptoms resurface whenever birds become stressed again. Keep in mind that over-use and/or misuse of antibiotics also creates antibiotic-resistant bacteria, making the disease harder to treat than before. It’s critical in any livestock animal, especially poultry, to get any sick or symptomatic birds tested to find out which specific disease they have as soon as possible. That being said, most choose to cull all birds, disinfect and start over fresh. If you’d rather not, then the other option is to keep a closed flock- no new birds into your flock and no birds leave your sick flock. If you choose to start over, always quarantine any new birds that you decide to bring into your flock, 30 day quarantine isn’t always enough, therefore, it’s best to do a 60 day quarantine AWAY from your healthy birds, in another area.



Here’s more information about Infectious Coryza:



 
Sorry in advance for the long read. I have treated a lot of this disease, and I clean a lot of chickens eyes. I think you would have to neglect the chicken badly and let it crust for days to lose an eye. I have seen cataracts develop when the wound is badly placed behind the eye. I have one survivor that developed a mild cataract that is normal today with sight in both eyes, even if not 100%. Like the other posters quoted, you need some luck because it is a viral infection that doesn't necessarily have a treatment, it just needs to heal.
20210517_131720.jpg


Because there is an active inflammation going on, please do not pop the pus out like in that video. Clean ONLY the pus under the eyelid while there is an active inflammation. I let someone try that procedure on a chicken in the video and he nearly killed it. He squeezed out a pus and blood mixture and the pain was so bad I insisted he stop. There should not be any blood, if there is it means the inflammation is still active and you cannot squeeze out inflamed tissue.

Here is the procedure I use to clean the eye. You should clean it in the morning after the pus has gelified over night, and clean it evening before bed. Get a clean container full of water, an eyedropper, and some clean cotton cloth. Secure your chicken on the table, you may wrap her in a towel to prevent the wings from flapping, or just hold her in your arms. Drop a few drops of water on the eye to wet it. Let her shake her head and get used to it. Get it nice and moist. Pus may even fall out, which is what you are trying to achieve. If the eyelid opens and the eye is clean, consider stopping.

Once you get the eyelid dripping wet, try to open it. She may even be able to open it herself. You'll see what I mean because it will be easy to wipe the pus out. Dab the eye gently alternating between a dripping wet towel to keep the eye wet, and a damp or dry towel to pull the pus out. Here I did a picture with my dogs eye to demonstrate how I hold the towel because I am not near my chickens. Use the towel to dig to remove the pus.
20210517_130638.jpg


Do not squeeze the pus out of the wound until the infection is gone, or you will be torturing the animal and blood will ooze too. If you see blood, stop because the pain is torturous. Only pus that freely falls out and is around the eye.

If you clean under the eyelid every morning and every night, you will not lose the eye. I have never had to do anything like in that video. Keep that eye clean and let it heal.

She may need help eating if she only has one eye. I follow this procedure with giving her water and force feeding if necessary.
 
Banana01 said:
Sorry in advance for the long read. I have treated a lot of this disease, and I clean a lot of chickens eyes. I think you would have to neglect the chicken badly and let it crust for days to lose an eye. I have seen cataracts develop when the wound is badly placed behind the eye. I have one survivor that developed a mild cataract that is normal today with sight in both eyes, even if not 100%. Like the other posters quoted, you need some luck because it is a viral infection that doesn't necessarily have a treatment, it just needs to heal.
View attachment 2674132

Because there is an active inflammation going on, please do not pop the pus out like in that video. Clean ONLY the pus under the eyelid while there is an active inflammation. I let someone try that procedure on a chicken in the video and he nearly killed it. He squeezed out a pus and blood mixture and the pain was so bad I insisted he stop. There should not be any blood, if there is it means the inflammation is still active and you cannot squeeze out inflamed tissue.

Here is the procedure I use to clean the eye. You should clean it in the morning after the pus has gelified over night, and clean it evening before bed. Get a clean container full of water, an eyedropper, and some clean cotton cloth. Secure your chicken on the table, you may wrap her in a towel to prevent the wings from flapping, or just hold her in your arms. Drop a few drops of water on the eye to wet it. Let her shake her head and get used to it. Get it nice and moist. Pus may even fall out, which is what you are trying to achieve. If the eyelid opens and the eye is clean, consider stopping.

Once you get the eyelid dripping wet, try to open it. She may even be able to open it herself. You'll see what I mean because it will be easy to wipe the pus out. Dab the eye gently alternating between a dripping wet towel to keep the eye wet, and a damp or dry towel to pull the pus out. Here I did a picture with my dogs eye to demonstrate how I hold the towel because I am not near my chickens. Use the towel to dig to remove the pus.
View attachment 2674154

Do not squeeze the pus out of the wound until the infection is gone, or you will be torturing the animal and blood will ooze too. If you see blood, stop because the pain is torturous. Only pus that freely falls out and is around the eye.

If you clean under the eyelid every morning and every night, you will not lose the eye. I have never had to do anything like in that video. Keep that eye clean and let it heal.

She may need help eating if she only has one eye. I follow this procedure with giving her water and force feeding if necessary.
Click to expand...
Thank you very much for all that information, her eye has since healed, I did not squeeze the eye as I did not feel this was the right thing to do but instead as you suggested cleaned it a few times a day with wet cotton wool and sprayed colloidal silver on it, this worked within a few days and the swelling went down on its own.
 
Nendei said:
You need to forcefully (but gently) open the eye and clean it out, if you don’t, she’ll never get better and it could potentially destroy her eye.

Infectious Coryza is a bacterial infection of poultry, affecting all different species of birds. Infectious Coryza is known for it’s foul rotten smelly cheesy-like smell that comes from the face, mouth or nares, followed by thick harden pus to form in the sinus cavities and around one or both eyes, creating a “swollen bulging like eye”. Infectious Coryza infected birds may or may not have thick sticky yellowish colored discharge from the nares or eyes. This disease is most commonly given by being exposed to new carrier birds. Infectious Coryza is a lifelong permanent chronic disease meaning- that you can treat and have the symptoms go away, but whenever the bird gets stressed again, the symptoms will resurface whenever birds happen to become stressed. All “recovered” like birds, remain permanent lifetime long carriers of the Infectious Coryza bacteria, spreading and shedding it through their feces, feathers, dander, respiratory secretions and other bodily fluids. This is a permanent lifetime disease of poultry and is incurable, but treatable. This is a serious permanent lifetime disease of poultry and is incurable, but treatable with antibiotics. Since Infectious Coryza is caused by a bacteria, antibiotics can help keep symptoms at bay until the symptoms resurface whenever birds become stressed again. Keep in mind that over-use and/or misuse of antibiotics also creates antibiotic-resistant bacteria, making the disease harder to treat than before. It’s critical in any livestock animal, especially poultry, to get any sick or symptomatic birds tested to find out which specific disease they have as soon as possible. That being said, most choose to cull all birds, disinfect and start over fresh. If you’d rather not, then the other option is to keep a closed flock- no new birds into your flock and no birds leave your sick flock. If you choose to start over, always quarantine any new birds that you decide to bring into your flock, 30 day quarantine isn’t always enough, therefore, it’s best to do a 60 day quarantine AWAY from your healthy birds, in another area.



Here’s more information about Infectious Coryza:



Click to expand...
Thank you very much for that information, sorry I missed your message and only saw it now, I don't think it was Coryza as there was no nasal discharge and there was no odour from her eye, or could it still have been?
 

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