Eye Injury/Disease?

[FeathersFur]

I went outside to check on my hens today and found one who wouldn't open her eye. I tried to gently open it, and it looks like her eye is still there. There is no pus or cuts or anything like that on the eye, it seems fine besides the fact that it is closed. Above her eye/next to her comb there appears to be something wrong as well; it is dark and swollen in places. She is tilting her head so that her bad eye faces up more than her good eye, but I think that is just her trying to see better. She is also turning mostly towards her good eye, again I think because she is trying to see better. None of my other hens are acting strange, but I don't know what I should do with her. I had a different hen pass away for other reasons a while ago, but this hen is still eating and drinking fine and acting normal. I will post pictures once I get onto my computer!

 

[FeathersFur]

This picture shows part of the swelling next to her comb, but not much of the color.



You can see the color next to her comb and the eye better here.


Another view of the eye.


You can somewhat compare her eyes and each side of her comb here.



Just for reference, this is her good eye.

 

[TwoCrows]

It doesn't look like she has an infection in the eye or any respiratory sinus swelling. She may have been pecked in the eye or above the eye. One of my Barred Rocks recently got pecked right above the eye and her eye lid swelled quite a bit. The area above the eye turned black and blue and it took about a week for the swelling to go down and the black and blue area to turn red again. They will stand around with their eye closed like this for a day or two until it stops being irritated. If you have any human eye drops for redness or swelling, you can put a drop in the eye to help soothe it. Other than that, it may take a couple of days to feel better. But keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn't blow up into something worse.

I hope she heals up soon!

 

[FeathersFur]

Ok thanks! It doesn't seem like it has gotten any worse today, she is still just as active as the other hens and is eating normally.

 

[FeathersFur]

Second update for today: I was outside again and she is opening her eye a bit more today, its not constantly open but she blinks it open occasionally. It looks like it might be either puffy or cloudy, but still no pus etc and she is still eating and drinking normally!

 

[TwoCrows]

Good to hear she is opening the eye! If it continues to get more cloudy, she could be developing an infection. Terrimycin eye ointment will really help if you can locate it. First State Vet on line sells several eye ointments for eye infections.

Just watch her eye and let us know if she gets worse.

Keep us posted either way!

 

[FeathersFur]

It's been a while since I've updated, but to be honest not much changed up until now. It stayed pretty much the same for a while (and the lump went away) and then about a week ago it looked like it was getting more cloudy, so I got the Terramycin and used it today. Tomorrow I will use it again and see how she is doing!