Eye problem

[siz8003]

I have a 2 month old silkie and lookin at him i see that his eye is stuck shut! what could it be and how do i fix him? there is some sneezing and head scratching there is nothing in the nose and still eating any ideas

 

[siz8003]

nothing? wow ok

 

[robin416]

I'll have to do some searching but it does sound like there is an infection going on. Right off I can not remember the antibiotic recommended, I'll do some searching to see if I can find the answer. If not Wes or Diana will know.

 

[Buckguy20]

You might try VetRX. It is inexpensive and has been used effectivly for years. You can put it their water but also drop some in each nostril and the throat. You can also use "people" eye drops for the eyes. Murine, Visine or whatever. I used some of my wife's prescription allergy eye drops on a hen with a bad eye and it cleared it right up.
Monty

 

[robin416]

I took a second look at the bird's age. There is a possibility that it hatched that way. I've had two Silkie chicks, completely unrelated hatch with one eye bulging. But as they got older you would never know they had been that way. I don't know why they do it but some do.

 

[chicknmania]

This is a really common thing in chickens. It can be caused by a lot of things, but here's our standard remedy that has always worked: 4 tsp of water soluble terramycin in one gallon of water, for their drinking water. Was the eye gently with a clean qtip or cotton ball soaked in saline solution or eye wash (like you buy for people at the store); twice daily. Apply terramycin eye gel (you can get it at most TSC's or farm supply stores, feed mills) twice daily, til the eye opens. After the eye opens, continue to apply the gel around the eye for a few more days. Keep the bird isolated, unless you have several with the condition; then it's ok to treat them all together as far as the drinking water. They should be on the terramycin water about ten days to two weeks. Remember, you have to discard the eggs during this process and for at least two weeks after they are off the terramycin. If the tmycin gel doesn't work, there is a stronger medicine you can get from a vet or also on line; the chickendr carries it. (www.firststatevetsupply.com) (I'm really not a sales rep for this guy..I refer to him a lot..but he is a lot cheaper than if you go to a vet.)

 

[siz8003]

OK so the older ones have been on the terramycin for about a week and nothing has changed so do you think it will work for the babys?the little ones are between 3 weeks and 3 months only some sneeze and only the silkie has the bad eye 2 of the 18 weekers have runny poo i just cant pin point the causeand its pissin me off

 

[chicknmania]

Oh, yeah, once you start this, the eye should open up in a couple of days, but, just like people, you want to keep up with the meds a while longer.

 

[chicknmania]

You might want to switch to a stronger antibiotic if they've been on it that long, but, unless you're using the eye gel too, it's hard to know. I don't think you said what strength you're dosing them with the tmycin; don't use the strength on the package, cause that does nothing; you have to use 4 tsp per gallon. And you can use the same strength for the babies. Also, a nasty thought...they might have someithing like ILT. This is very contagious, and can be lethal, but, fortunately, it is curable, by an eye drop vaccine. You can't treat it just with antibiotics. We went through it and came out on the winning end. The Chickendr gave us a lot of help with that, too. Are any of your birds showing any bloody stuff when they cough or sneeze?

 

[chicknmania]

Hmmm, I just re-read your last post...don't remember if ours had runny poo, but with ILT they don't necessarily show any symptoms much at all..the most common one is the sneezing, coughing. There'r so many things that it could be, too that have similar symptoms....but it would probably be worth it to uhhh, maybe a get a stool sample to have it checked, or take just one to a vet, to get a diagnosis. If one dies, it'd definitely be worth it to you to have a necropsy done, cause a lot of this stuff can wipe out your flock in nothing flat. There are a lot of things you could try, but you'd be wasting your money and time, as well as possibly complicating something, by buying a bunch of antibiotics and stuff. Here in Ohio the Ohio STate University Ag School at Wooster will help you for free with your poultry ailments; they're not always correct with telephone diagnosis, but it's an inexpensive place to start. I imagine colleges with an Ag program would do the same thing; they might even look at your bird for you. A last resort is, of course, to cull, disinfect, and start over...but that's an extreme measure we never wanted to take.