Eye Injury due to hawk attack

[girlandher15chickens]

Just on Friday, I ran inside to grab some water, I was inside maybe 5 minutes max while my girls were free ranging. When I came out there was a hawk on top of my Golden Comet Hen Cream. After bringing her inside, she had no bodily injuries or marks (Thank God!). Although her comb and waddles were slightly cut open, and her eye was bloody. Today is Sunday and her eye doesn't look too good. I will upload an image. I am washing her eye with Microcyn Eye wash and applying terramycin to her eye ball 3 times a day. Will she be blind? Has the eye deflated ?

 

[azygous]

My guess is the eye received a vicious peck from the hawk. They can't wait to get to a juicy eyeball. You're doing all the right things to treat it. Apply the terramycin twice a day if you aren't already.

Only time will tell if her sight will survive. But, you're right. It appears the eye has been torn from its moorings. It doesn't bode well.

The right eye focuses on food and close things. She will have trouble competing for treats tossed to the flock, but if you make her a food bowl in an easy to find place, she should be able to eat okay. If you have a conventional chicken feeder, she may have trouble with that.

The left eye is for spotting danger, so she's going to be okay as far as being outside her run, but it may be a while before she stops feeling vulnerable.

 

[girlandher15chickens]

My guess is the eye received a vicious peck from the hawk. They can't wait to get to a juicy eyeball. You're doing all the right things to treat it. Apply the terramycin twice a day if you aren't already.

Only time will tell if her sight will survive. But, you're right. It appears the eye has been torn from its moorings. It doesn't bode well.

The right eye focuses on food and close things. She will have trouble competing for treats tossed to the flock, but if you make her a food bowl in an easy to find place, she should be able to eat okay. If you have a conventional chicken feeder, she may have trouble with that.

The left eye is for spotting danger, so she's going to be okay as far as being outside her run, but it may be a while before she stops feeling vulnerable.

From what I can see the eye ball is still there , but she’s super sensitive to me touching it , so I haven’t been able to fully assess the damage . Luckily I caught the attack in time and I have her in a cage with water and food . I feel I should wait another night or two before fully moving her back into the coop. Also I pulled a pretty big piece of gump from the eye this morning. When I move a light over the eye while opened there is no reaction , as well as me moving my hand on that side of her face , so my guess is she has already lost vision . The pupil is not dialating or changing in size

 

[Eggcessive]

The eye looks like it is pushed back toward his back from the swelling. I hope it goes down in a few days. The pupil should react and shrink smaller to light. Let us know what happens, and you are doing good nursing care.

 

[Adolph Otto]

Are you dressing it in any way? It might be difficult to do, but a gauze might make it feel less painful. Sorry this happened. I just lost a hen to a hawk last Tuesday.

 

[girlandher15chickens]

The eye looks like it is pushed back toward his back from the swelling. I hope it goes down in a few days. The pupil should react and shrink smaller to light. Let us know what happens, and you are doing good nursing care.

Thank you . Yea the eye looks like it has definitely been pushed back, or has shrunk/ deflated . I will keep you updated, today is day 2 of isolation and medicines.

 

[girlandher15chickens]

Are you dressing it in any way? It might be difficult to do, but a gauze might make it feel less painful. Sorry this happened. I just lost a hen to a hawk last Tuesday.

No I haven’t been dressing the eye . Maybe I should do that. May be better for healing. But she does open the lid every so often, so I’m not sure if the gauze would irritate her. Thanks for the condolences. Same to you. This is our second attack. First was back in may. Lost 3 total. 1 was injured and badly wounded and passed away shortly after, and the other 2 were never found . We live by farm so while free ranging we have to watch them every minute . Luckily my golden comet was found and all 15 birds were accounted for .

 

[azygous]

Bandaging anything other than feet on a chicken is useless, wasted effort. She will only scratch the bandage off with her foot. Keeping the terramycin on the eye is enough to control bacteria.

 

[girlandher15chickens]

Her eye is still producing mucus. It’s taken me several days to remove it. I’m going to try again tonight to fully clear it out. She is back in the coop, and she is slowly opening the eye on her own.

 

[azygous]

It's encouraging she's opening the eye. It means it hurts less, so it must also mean it's healing.