Chicken with swollen lump under eye

[Ace192710]

Hi.
Last week I noticed this chook had a lump underneath her eye. Here are the pictures - https://imgur.com/a/PKXjG

I gave her antibiotics for about 5 days after which I stopped because she wasn't getting any better and it was becoming increasingly difficult to trick or force her to take the medication. Today, two days after her last dose, the lump is bigger and her eye is completely shut because of it. Last time I checked the lump wasn't completely hard but it wasn't soft/squishy either.

Is there anything else I can try because taking her to a vet is a last resort at the moment?
Also is this most likely a sinus infection? I noticed the other chooks sneezing and some of them have clear discharge coming out of their nostrils but this one seems fine apart from the lump?

Cheers.

 

[Rickba]

Perhaps she has a tooth ache? Seriously, there are 3 ways to go, antibiotics, drain it or let it alone and see what happens. Some people hate anti-B's. Draining it is easy. I use an 18ga syringe and suck it out. Sometimes they'll just reabsorb into the body after a while.

 

[MyChickens14]

I'm not an expert but this is probably just an abscess. You can just poke it with a needle and drain it. There should be puss, a little blood and the little hard abscess that will come out. Disinfect it regularly and and it should heal up just fine. If you want, you could give some antibiotics. Keep me posted.

 

[MyChickens14]

also, for those chickens that are coughing, there might be too much dust. you can get anti-dust shavings. you can add some apple cider vinegar to their water. it might also get dusty quickly, just change your water more frequently.

 

[Ace192710]

Thank you both for the replies.

I was giving her chlortetracycline hydrochloride at a dose of 40mg per kg of bodyweight twice per day, which for her was 28mg per dose. It wasn't getting any better but now that I stopped it's gotten worse. Last night while searching for answers I came across a post that said tetracyclines are weak so a higher dose might be needed, somewhere in the range of 200-250mg per kg. I'm thinking of trying that but I struggled to give her even the small dose because she was refusing to eat anything that had the antibiotic mixed in while using a medical dropper to drip in beak wasn't much better.

In regards to draining it with a needle: does it cause them significant pain/distress? I'd hate to cause her more damage while trying to restrain her if she freaks out.

 

[MyChickens14]

personally i would get one person to hold her and one to drain. rap a towel around her for better grip. she'll give a bit of a fight but it really important to hold her still since you will be working near her eye. good luck!

 

[Ace192710]

Yeah definitely will have another person to hold her down. I might try the antibiotics first though for a few days to see if the swelling goes down. I'll update with how I get on.

 

[MyChickens14]

ok, good luck!

 

[MyChickens14]

Yeah definitely will have another person to hold her down. I might try the antibiotics first though for a few days to see if the swelling goes down. I'll update with how I get on.

Definitely try the antibiotics for about a week and see how that goes. If the swelling doesn't go down then just grab any sort of needle, disinfect it and just poke the abscess and viola! Your chicken's eye should be back to normal in no time!! Good luck!!

 

[Ace192710]

I might have to go with the needle idea after all because I just can't get her to take the antibiotic. It must taste bitter or have a strong smell because she won't eat anything I mix it with and there's no way I can keep her beak open long enough drip in there and I'm worried about drowning her. Very frustrating.