cyst growing on eye---looks painful

[tiki244]

I have a hen who developed a circular white cyst on the upper part of her left eyeball. It was about one quarter the size of her eyeball. It has been there for about 6 weeks that I know of. I didnt think there was anything I could do and it didnt look like it was bothering her so I just let it alone.

Within the past 2 days I have noticed her closing her eye a lot. It does look painfuland now appears to be growing bigger. It seems to be shooting out little tendrils.

What can I do? Anybody ever have anything like this?

 

[chicknmania]

Can you post a picture? Maybe it's some kind of localized infecion. Have you tried washing it with eye wash or putting any terramycin eye ointment on it?

 

[chicknmania]

Can you post a picture? Maybe it's some kind of localized infection...you haven't tried eye wash or eye ointment?

I have no idea why this posted twice.....

 

[tiki244]

Quote:
Maybe its a quirk in the machine

I can't post a picture right now. I can work on that. It looks like a white very spherical cyst attached very firmly to the eyeball. Except within the last two days it is showing slight tendrils on the side of the sphere. I have not put anything in her eye yet. But I am open to suggestions as to what would be best.

 

[dlhunicorn]

as there is no photo... here are some collected articles on opthamology and eye disorders:
http://dlhunicorn.conforums.com/index.cgi?board=linksgeneralinfo&action=display&num=1161254850

 

[tuffolbird]

Marek's disease is often responsible for the growth of tumors in a chicken's eye. It has been found that vaccination for Marek's disease may not prevent the formation of eye tumors even though no other symptoms of Marek's are present. The ocular form of Marek's, commonly called "gray eye" usually leads to blindness in one or both eyes. The color of the iris (the colored ring inside the eye) gradually changes to gray, and the pupil becomes irregularly shaped. In normal chickens the pupil is round.
I cannot be sure that what your chicken is displaying is ocular Marek's but it does not sound like a bacterial or fungal infection. If the eye color has changed to gray then, most likely, it is ocular Marek's. This in itself does not pose a threat to the rest of your birds. (I am assuming that your birds were vaccinated for Marek's as chicks) I don't know of any treatment for the eye. I would suggest making a few phone calls to local vets to get opinions before actually taking the bird there. You can be fairly sure that eye surgery would be expensive if you can even find someone to do it.
I hope this helps for diagnosis but I'm sorry it is not good news.

 

[tiki244]

My chickens have been vaccinated for Mareks. I fear the surgery would be out of my price range. I can try and post a photo, but wont be for a few days.

Thanks for your help and I will look at those articles Diana.

 

[tiki244]

The other night I cleaned her eye with saline solution and half of the white thing just dropped out. I am currently giving her neomycin eye drops. Took pics but cant post them yet. Argh. She is doing a lot better. Thanks chiknmania for the suggestion.