cloudy eyes on 2 of 7 birds?

[jcasey829]

I have 7 chickens. one was picked on pretty bad by our rooster (they are now separated). anyway, the black in her eyes became cloudy and i believe she is blind. i figured it was from him attacking her so bad. i went out tonight and picked up another one of my hens and one of her eyes is cloudy now too. I looked up the symptoms and saw mareks disease, but the images of the eyes of mareks chickens dont look like my hens. they look like they have cataracts. the pupil is grayish and cloudy. i havent noticed any other "health" issues with any of them. i'm really upset too because another one of our hens just started laying eggs! i was so excited for our very first eggs, but now im freaked out because if it is something viral/bacterial/contagious whatever, i dont want to eat the eggs. which (duh) i'm not gonna do until i know what this problem is. any help is appreciated! thanks so much

 

[chickenzoo]

I have a chicken that has cloudy eyes and is some what blind due to Mareks vacc. His pupils are rough shaped now, not the perfectly circler shape it should be. If it was one chicken, then I'd say it was only from being picked on, two chickens and both eyes, makes me weary. It could be any number of other things I'm sure, but Mareks does come in a few different forms, the eyes only, is one of them. All my other chickens were vacc and only a few that were have this or another symtom.He still is in good condition and finds his way around. Find out more about it and if they do have it they can be carriers so special precautions should be taken. You can vac the rest of your flock, especially the babies, for very little $9-$10. Once all are vac their should not be a problem with the rest of your flock.

 

[spatcher]

From what I have read on Mareks, the blindness is kinda "end stage" and if there are no other symptoms (lameness, comb/wattle lesions) I would be hesitant calling it Mareks. Additionally, the description Ive read about eyes with Mareks do not include a (cataract) description. Hang in there and good luck. Can you remove the Roo for awhile to ensure the rest are safe?

 

[sammi]

it's possible if the rooster has bad habit of pecking eyes..more then one hen could have injured eyes.

chickens have a second eyelid..and if the eye has been pecked and injured, it can effect that inner eye lid..
looks kind of filmy..
I have a little bantam roo that had a pecked and badly injured eye, and the inner eye lid covered his eye till the eyes were healed...tho one still very slightly droops.

cloudy eyes can be a symptom of pink eye (conjunctivitis)

I'd clean the eyes with saline eye wash..human kind is ok..and get some terramycin eye ointment and apply as directed on package..
the ointment is available at most farm/feed stores..
continue treatment for 7-10 days...or as package directs..

watch for any other symptoms, such as distortion, grayish, overly dilated, etc..

also..eye problems can be caused by deficiency of Vitamin A..but rather then give just Vitamin A (which can be toxic if overdosed)..give poultry vitamins,
or Poly-vi-sol liquid baby vitamins, Enfamil brand, no iron..3 drops once a day on beak for a week or so, then taper off for a week.
even if it's from injury or pink eye, the vitamins won't hurt.