Ellie's Eye - what could this be - what do I do?

[jjthink]

Murphy's Law - just started a new job on Monday and poor Ellie has a problem right now and I'm late for work. I am hastening to post this before I leave in case anyone can provide some insight on what might be wrong and what I should do about it. A friend was at the house for a bit yesterday when I was at work and said Ellie seemed normal except that a few times she dozed off - related, unrelated, I don't know. At one point when I got home I noticed her comb seemed very pale but then it went back to normal a couple of minutes later. She is eating, drinking, pooping, laid egg yesterday so all other systems seem okay. She is normally a happy go lucky energizer bunny.

I did not notice this swelling when I came home last night and tucked them into bed. But this morning it was teh first thing that jumped out at me.
My poor sweet feather-baby. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I've never encountered an eye problem before. p.s. Her beau, BJ, is fine. They only have each other. Bug bite? Some other crazy thing that would affect only one eye?

When I go to the BYC site at work, the system probably won't recognize me - I'll be able to read (assuming I access the site w/o difficulty) but I won't be able to respond till I get home and log on, recognized there as jjthink. I can access [email protected] if there is any urgent advice. Wish I could get these photos to an avian vet 45 minutes away - I don't think they use e-mail.

Thank you kindly for any help.

Ellie's left eye swollen all around

What her eyes normally look like

 

[MuranoFarms]

Infectious bronchitis. Treat with tylan 50 for 3 days 1/2cc if she is standard size.
I just went through this: https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=329528
It will pass to others in the flock and quarantine didn't seem to help for me. I think it was passed before I noticed the symptoms. I cleaned the coop completely with Oxine. I fogged the chickens and the coop, plus changed all shavings and washed all surfaces that I could.

You can get the tylan 50 at TSC. You can chose to inject it just under the skin of the breast of give orally. I've done both, and really didn't see either method working any better. I think it's less traumatic for them to just open their mouths and shoot it in though. lol (you will need a needle to get the tylan out of the bottle, it has one of those medicine stoppers made for injectables. I just pull the needle off and give it orally.)

 

[jjthinkagain]

Hi - after totally screwing up my normal log in - blocked out till kind BYC folks rescue me - I created a new registration to access in the case of urgent matters during problems with my normal log in.

Thank you so very much for your time, and for the lead. Eyes can certainly be tricky - probably anything from bug bite/sting to irritant in the eye to sinus or other infection. It was distressing to see that someone had lost birds with eye issues being the outward symptom....

I called the avian vet and they can see me tonight if I can get back in time. Murphy's Law - 92 sweltering degrees in NJ today (20+ degrees above normal), a huge strain on Ellie even without this problem. I pray she'll be hanging in there still when I get home

Then the stress of a long drive to the vets.....will see how she seems when I get there.... Onluy 10:58 and it's already in the 80's here...

JJ

 

[Lunachick]

Hi jj. I hope Ellie will be fine. I had my RIR have the same thing in one eye. I just kept watching her, and it went down in a couple of days. I hope that's all it is. Please let us know how she does, or what the Doc says. I hope it's not an infection.

Nice weather we're having!

 

[jjthinkagain]

Quote:
Hi Ginny!! Thanks for your note.

Glad to hear you had a situation where it just resolved. I hate to make her endure nearly 2 hours in a car later today and the terror of the vet (and in this heat) if it is something that will self-resolve. Wish I had a crystal ball. This is the only night the vet is open. And with the new job, I haven't accrued any time I can take off during daytimes yet...if only I could be home to observe her to see if she sleeps like my friend (ex-DH) observed yesterday. The job I had up till this week would have made it very doable...sigh. Hope you are having a good day and staying cool.

JJ

 

[MuranoFarms]

Did you make it to the vet? What did he say? How is she today?

 

[jjthinkagain]

Hi, and thanks for checking in on Ellie! I raced home from work in crazy traffic and got there at a point that would likely make me late for the appointment, their last available. I could maybe have gotten the vet to wait for me (his office in in his house) but he wasn't offering and it was so bloody hot (in the 90s and humid) and Ellie was already stressed from the heat - she began panting when I picked her up. Her eye looked like it might be slightly less swollen and the vet would not venture a guess as to which thing should trump which (possible heat stroke vs. risk of not treating the eye) so I gave up and let her be. This morning it looked the same as last night so whatever it is isn't clearing up yet, but it's not worse. She is otherwise acting perfectly normal. The vet office isn't open again at night till next Wednesday. If she deteriorates I will have to bail on my new job to get her there much sooner but I'm hoping she continues to improve.

! Very anxious to see how she looks when I get home tonight. Maybe I'll take another photo to compare so we can see if I'm hallucinating that it seems to be a bit less swollen. p.s. Murano/Lisann, yours may be the first post where I've read of someone giving Tylan orally - interesting to hear that may be a way to administer the stuff when called for (I have cared for chickens for along time but have never given an injection to one) JJ

 

[Lunachick]

I was just going to ask about Ellie. I wonder what it could be, but glad it's not getting worse! Poor baby.

Ruby isn't getting worse either. Holding her own so far. Hope you have a great weekend jj and Ellie gets better too!

 

[sumatra]

I had a similar problem with some of my chickens last year. Check her nose for anything runny and in her mouth/throat for any signs of infection. if you pull her eyelids out in that eye you will probably see white streaks between layers of pink tissue. It is chicken pus, which tends to be of a consistency of hard cheese. Sometimes eyes will get infected and they swell up like that. If she seems to have trouble breathing or something try Tylan. If the only thing infected seems to be her eye, it will get better as her body slowly absorbs it. I think it took 2 months for one of my hens to get back to normal.

 

[jjthink]

Hi - Thank you so very much. Just got in and took a quick photo (naturally the camera battery was dead but charging it for a few minutes gave me enough juice for a photo). Now I'm thinking it really isn't that different from the first photo. Not worse at least. She certainly is a otherwise so perky, running around, eager to explore once I let them out of the run to stretch a bit.....No discharges from anywhere that I can tell. I'm going to go see if I can get a better look at it..and maybe a better photo as this one is blurry (I tried several times and she always moved exactly when I snapped the shot!). Incidentally, her actual eyeball looks totally clear, despite this photo.

A bit later...okay, no luck with more photos - it got dark and she wiggled wayyyyyyy too much!