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

[pips&peeps]

Sometimes birds can get bacteria in their eyes, this particular thing Ellie has is often referred to as "bully eye". It looks as though she has been punched right smack in the eyeball. If she would have had other symptoms I would have presumed coryza, but I think not.

I would put her on an antibiotic until the eye swelling completely goes down. She already looks better.

ETA: I think Peter Brown recommends Neo/Poly/Dex for this. You should be able to get this at any vet office.

 

[jjthink]

Ginny, I'm so glad Ruby seems to be stabilizing

sumatra - I'm so glad to hear your hens got well in time.

P&P, I'll check around for the Neo/Poly/Dex. Oh boy - she will not make it easy! I guarantee here and now it will end up in my eyes, not hers. Maybe even in my nose and ears and mouth before it's all over!

Thanks all.

 

[MuranoFarms]

Quote:
You know, I had never heard of it either! I did the injections for Eddie when she had the problem. Then with 2 of my Silkies when they got it the next week. Everybody cleared up in about 3 days. A week or so later one of the roo's got the eye swelling and I was reading about tylan online and a few people mentioned giving it orally. So I tried it. He got better in 3 days also. I've had 3 more get it since then and have given it to them by injection or orally depending on how much feathering they have. We finally power washed the coop and cleaned it with Oxine and everyone's ok now (knock wood!)

How is Ellie feeling?

 

[RoyalHen]

I've had many birds that have done that and I just use a little antibotic cream or gel and gently put it on her eye and it will clear up in a few days. Usually twice a day. I have never sepearted my hens when this happens and I have only one time another hen wound up with it. Make sure you wash your hands extra well when you are done.

 

[jjthink]

That's great about the Tylan Lisann - thank you for that info and for checking in on Ellie. Unfortunately I didn't get home from work tonight until they were settling into 'bed' for the night (I feel bad as I try hard each day to give them a bit of freedom and treats and such...) so I couldn't get a great look. From what I could tell it didn't look worse but I didn't want to bother her too much as she was nestled with her head resting against BJ's

Will check her really well in the a.m.

RoyalHen, thank you. Did you just use regular neosporin type antibiotic? Did you put it actually in the eye, or just around it where the swelling was? Seems like delicate work! I am clutzy on a good day....!!
JJ

 

[jjthink]

Hmmm...my regular vet office (cat/dog) won't dispense Neo/Poly/Dex without seeing the critter in need (they told me it was illegal) and they don't do birds anyway. They said I can't use regular neosporin because I shouldn't put it anywhere where it could get in the eye. The 45 minutes away avian vet won't help without seeing her either and while I do bring the birds in when they need it, in non life threatening situations I'd rather not because of the enormous stress of travel for them. The local feed store couldn't answer whether they might have anything that could be used - they just don't have a clue. So I'm feeling kind of stuck. The area around her eye seems more red this morning but it still seems not to phase her in the least. Going into the holiday weekend, I hate to miss a chance to get something for her before everything closes everywhere.....
JJ

 

[klf73]

although I don't know if it was right or could hurt them, I had this happen to one of my hens last year. I had some left over neomycin eye ointment left over from when one of the kids got conjunctivitis. I used a little bit of this and it cleared it up. Do you know anyone that has ointment? Just an idea....

 

[jjthink]

Thanks. I don't know of anyone offhand but wish I did!.

Called around - 2 hours of calls so far - no one has Tylan 50. Almost no one has heard of it. Erg. Oxytetricycline was also recommended to me. No one has that either. Drat drat drat.

JJ

 

[CheepSunglasses]

I had a similar problem with some of my chicks. The eye condition was associated with bronchitis, but it needed to be dealt with symptomatically, as a separate issue. I tried using the TSC terramycin opthalmic ointment, but gave up on it and had much better success with the genticin opthalmic ointment. If you don't have a good opthalmic ointment, you might check your medicine cabinet or talk to your friends and relatives. As another poster suggested, a lot of people just have it hanging around in their medicine cabinet, or even their tack rooms if they have horses. Good luck!

 

[Chickenaddict]

I too had a similar problem with one of my serama hens. Just her one eye no other symptoms. Her eye was HUGE. I went to the feed store and bought terramycin eye ointment found over by the horse meds) Used it 3 times a day in the infected eye as well as warm wash cloth to wipe the goop off before the meds were put in. It cleared up within a week. I hope it's nothing serious and hope ellie has a speedy recovery