Chicken's eye is infected and bulging out. What should I do?

[Wilmer Gehman]

We have a young chicken not fully grown that apparently got pecked in the eye. The eye swelled and bulged out of the socket. It is all black with a thing film covering it. We can tell the chicken is blind. She is always very nervous and alert. However, she is noticeably thinner than the other hens her age and sleeps a lot even during the day. Is there anything I can do to help it? I assume there is an infection there but how does one treat it if it is behind the eye? Any suggestions would be great! thanks

 

[azygous]

Can we be honored with a photo of this eye issue?

Sounds as if this infection is well underway, and necrotic tissue is now a problem, as well as systemic infection as evidenced by her lethargic behavior.

You might be able to save the chicken with an oral antibiotic and extensive wound care, including debridement and pus extraction. If you don't have time for this, you might consider euthanizing.

 

[Wilmer Gehman]

Ok thanks for your reply

 

[PoultryQueen29]

I had a chick with exactly the same problem. She was a runt, already skinny and lethargic, and got pecked in the eye. I separated her with one other chick, put electrolytes in her water, and tried to treat the eye with warm saline, vaseline, and terramycin ointment; that only made her scratch at it which made it worse. I stopped treating her after a few days but kept her separated with the other chick and kept putting electrolytes in their water. She started gaining strength immediately and it took a couple of months but her eye sorted itself out. She lost most of it but it didn't stop her from enjoying life. I just had to put her down today due to an unrelated and untreatable wound but she was a one-eyed warrior for over a year. Here are some pics of Blue as a chick and all grown up, I miss her too much already.