Eye pecked out- Treatment?

[Opa]

Today I noticed that the face on one of my welsummer hens was extremely swollen. The entire area around and particularily beneath the eye was about twice the size of the other side. The eye was shut and fluid was leaking from the corners of the eye. Closer examination revealed the eye was completely gone. I gave her a 3 ml injection of penicillin G and place antibiotic drops in the missing eye socket. Does anyone else have any experience with this type of injury and have I done all that can be done?

 

[Eggcessive]

My polish hen was pecked in the eye last year, and it swelled shut. Actually for a couple of days I thought the eye was ruptured, but after treating her with terramycin eye ointment twice daily for a week, the eye was still intact, and is now normal. Unfortunately the feed store told me the FDA took terramycin off the shelves, but erythromycin eye ointment is a good substitute, although I'm sure other antibiotics can be used. Just realize that eye injuries sometimes look worse than they really are. Sorry, I just noticed this was a very old thread, but I guess the info is still good.

 

[mom2chicksandpups]

I am going to watch this thread because I just had the exact same thing happen to my Dark Cornish pullet. Her eye area is badly swollen and runny and it appears that the entire eye has been pecked out. She is still acting normal, but I am going to try to separate her after reading this and put some antibiotics and/or vitamins in her water. I already put some eye ointment in her eye, but it does not seem to be helping much so far.

I plan to keep her and let her live a normal life, but I just want to get the eye healed up so it won't lead to other problems from infection.

I am not trying to hijack this thread, but I signed on because of the same problem and just happened to see this.

 

[threehorses]

Quote:
Antibiotics in the water actually aren't the ones that work for infected 'wounds' - you'd want penicillin, amoxicillin, that type of drug - which usually means an injection. The ones in the water are usually for respiratory or enteritis and will just cause problems if misused. Word to the wise.

If you do penicillin, you can buy it at the feedstore from their refrigerator. I use penicillin G procaine, as apparently does Opa.

The thing with penicillin is that it's very thick, the particles in the solution are quite large, so you need a larger needle to really do it right - 18 gauge (usually cat/dog needles used on chickens are 25 gauge). Buy the 3 cc syringe - if it comes with a needle, usually they sell 18 gauge screw-on spares. Just right before you give the injection, change the needle out. Shake the pen for what seems like ages til the stuff on the bottom is all in the liquid. Then pull your dosage. Recap the needle and let that syringe just come to nearly room temperature (put the big vial back in the fridge). Then you'll give the shot in muscle - not under the skin. The breast is a good spot - lots of meat, not lots of bone to hit. Not lots of blood vessels. Get air out of the syringe, clean a spot with a tiny bit of alcohol on a bit of tissue. Put the needle in and pull its plunger *out* first - to make sure you're not in a blood vessel. If you are, move the syringe. It doesn't have to be in far by the way. If you don't see blood, push the plunger in and then remove the syringe from the bird.

Pen G procaine is given daily for no more than four days and the dosage for a chicken (under 10 pounds) is listed as less than 1/4 cc if the Penicillin G Procaine is 300,000 I.U. (which is most often is) for animals from 1-10 kg (each kg = 2 pounds, so 1-20 pounds). The dosage is actually listed as 1ml (cc) per 100 pounds of body weight, but giving 1/10th of a cc would be troublesome and it has a high safety margin.

Definitely vitamins - particularly a safe dose of vitamin A (cod liver oil sprayed on the feed lightly twice a week for example, or vitamins in the water). You have to wash the eye out with sterile eye wash (saline or boric acid prepared for eye wash use at the pharmacy) first for best effect. Then 10 minutes later apply terramycin, or chloramphenicol or cyloxin (the latter two are available at First State Vet). It takes a while. And yes - they can live with one eye.

 

[Lollipop]

Truth of the matter is, you`ve done what you can and even if you didn`t do anything, the eye would not bother her for long. I have a Brazilian cock that lost an eye as a young stag. He had an attitude from the egg and sassed the wrong old guy. He is affectionally known as Popeye. I`ve had many over the years and they always recover enough to live a normal life. Popeye is my head guy in any Brazilian brood pen. Don`t worry about her anymore.......Pop

 

[hramon]

Good news! I little 'mommy' nurse treatment with hydrogen peroxide and Neosporin got the swelling down enough in just a couple of hourse that she is able to open her eye and it's still there! She's got some healing to do still of course but I'm so thankful it's still there.
I'm still concerned about what to do from here though. Do I mix these two again or find a new home for the aggresive one?? I don't know...any experience anyone??

 

[kathyinmo]

Oh my, how terrible. I think it would be helpful to add electrolytes to her water. She could probably use some vitamins, like children's (Enfamil) PolyVisol - 2 or 3 drops in her beak for a week. Try some probiotics, like "Probios," or even plain unflavored yogurt. Good luck. So sorry for your injury.

 

[threehorses]

Sounds exactly like what I'd recommend - just keep cleaning it with the sterile saline wash for eyes, keep dressing with the ointment, I'd say - but you've probably already decided to do that.

I would like to know how she does, though, if you don't mind letting us know. She's in very good hands!

 

[mom2chicksandpups]

Thanks for the advice. I will start treating her today.

 

[Opa]

So far so good. I'm continuing with the penicillin and antibitotic drops. I also gave her a few cc's of straight Poultry Drench and have added it to her water. I did use a hypo to aspirate some of the fluid from the huge swelling under her eye socket. She seemed better so I allowed her to free range. She came ujp missing until I found her sitting out side the run talking to the other birds. I'm keeping her isolate till I see marked improvement in her eye.