Damaged Third Eyelid.. Help?!

[chalidobrenz]

Hi.. Just a question about my white created polish hen.. She scratched her third eye lid and had to have 3/4 of it removed. I understand the purpose for this membrane, but am wondering if my little bird will be able to get by and keep a healthy eye without it! She is on pain medication, so she isn't eating much and just sleeps quite a bit. I'm hoping it's the pain meds and not the eye that's causing this. Any advice from someone who has dealt with this before or has any experience with it would be appreciated! Surely I'm not the only one who this has ever happened to! Thank you! Here is a photo of my regal bird.

 

[aart]

Did a vet remove the eyelid, what do they say about the future health?

I have never heard of this.

 

[chalidobrenz]

Yes, a vet removed it. She said dry eye could be an issue, but I just want to know how long I should expect to wait until she starts acting normally again. :/ just wanting to find someone with first hand experience with this type of injury.

 

[aart]

I had them move your post to the injury forum, hopefully someone with experience will see it and chime in.

 

[chalidobrenz]

Thank you!!

 

[Eggcessive]

Did she get an anesthetic during her vet procedure? What pain medicine is she getting? Have you tried holding the pain medicine to see if she becomes more alert? I've never heard of having this procedure done before, so I don't know how common it is. I would try offering her some egg, and chicken feed containing water with electrolytes and vitamins, until she is drinking/eating better. Here is some reading about what the nictitating membrane does for a chicken's eye:
http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2013/05/chicken-anatomy-nictitating-membrane.html
http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/the-outside-of-the-chicken-eyes-ears-skin-and-feat.html

 

[chalidobrenz]

Thanks! She was on metacam and has since been taken off. She's eating and acting much more normally now, but my other birds just yesterday pulled a quarter of the feathers out of her head and I came home to a bloody mess. SIIIIIGGGHHH.

So she's separated again and I think we're going to have to build a separate coop for the two polish birds. Never ends!