Duck Eye Problem - Emergency!

[marothbauer]

Just a few weeks ago my 10 month old mallard's left eye became bubbly. I treated it with warm salt water which I applied 2 times daily. It looked better for a few days. The eye seemed fine, and then two days later it returned and looked worse than before.

Since then, I have been treating it with Vetericyn and epson salt baths. The infection has spread to her right eye and she is starting to lose feathers on her head. Below are pictures of what her eyes look like today. Any help would be appreciated!

 

[Amiga]

Are there drakes in the flock or is she an only duck? If there is a drake around he may be causing the problem or making it worse. If so, they need to be separated.

A vet is a good idea if you can.

There may be an underlying sinus infection. If so, you may need some oral antibiotics.

In the meantime, I would put a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar per gallon of drinking water in a container that enables her to snort the water up through her nares. I would also put some antibiotic cream (without painkiller) around the base of her bill, around her eyes and the top of her head, and start looking up information on antibiotics that work for sinus infections.

The tricky thing is, without a vet's help - a vet who will do a resistance test - selecting the antibiotic is a bit of a guess. Vets can have the labs take a sample of fluid from the duck and see which antibiotics kill it. That can save some time and effort, but we don't all have the luxury of being able to do that - just wanted to give some background on selecting antibiotics.

I would use an antibiotic that is added to drinking water in part because I would hope she'd rinse some of it up into her sinuses a little bit. But ACV is mildly antimicrobial so it may help. Won't hurt.

 

[marothbauer]

Thank you so much for the response. I just separated the two from each other. The roads are bad tonight so I will go get some ACV tomorrow morning. I will look up information on antibiotics!

 

[Amiga]

Good - it may be fine for them to just be separated with some temporary poultry fencing so they can see and even sit next to each other, but this time of year some drakes hurt and even sometimes kill their mates. They just get crazy like that. Now that you know, you can manage it.

There is a Duck Forum, folks can share their wisdom and opinions with you for dealing with drakes, which sometimes involves getting more females, sometimes just keeping them separate at certain times.

Here is the link to the Duck Forum https://www.backyardchickens.com/f/42/ducks