I have a hen with a swollen eye. At first we thought it was from a weasel attack, or an injury, but I'm thinking now that it may be something infectious rather than an injury.
I have one other pullet who is just keeping her left eye closed - it isn't swollen or anything, but she's keeping it closed and seems to be moping a bit. I had another pullet do this about 6 weeks ago [just keeping the eye closed and acting like she didn't feel good] - and she died. Nothing in 6 weeks since, which is why I didn't think infectious at first.
I talked to a friend I gave some chickens to last week and she has one with a "bubbling" eye now [one I gave her]. So I'm thinking it must be infectious.
But I'm not sure exactly what it is [there is no nasal discharge, no foul odor, nothing but the closed or swollen eye].
I'm thinking I need to treat my flock. One thing that was recommended was injectable "tylan" [which my feed store doesn't carry, I'd have to order it online]. This was supposed to be the best thing, but I have 50 birds, I'm not sure how hard it would be to inject them all daily for 7 days or so....
Another suggestion was an antibiotic that I could put in their water to treat the whole flock, but it would take longer to work.
*Should* I treat the whole flock? Or just the two hens who seem affected? Is there anything detrimental to treating them all?
And is it weird to have only one or two sick chickens in a flock of 50 birds? It seems like if it were something horribly contagious that it would have spread more....
How would you handle this?
Thanks in advance,
Kelly
Here are pics of my bird with the swollen eye, just so you can see what I'm talking about [she is doing much better today - up walking around, eating, and being her usual curious self. Eye is still swollen]:
I have one other pullet who is just keeping her left eye closed - it isn't swollen or anything, but she's keeping it closed and seems to be moping a bit. I had another pullet do this about 6 weeks ago [just keeping the eye closed and acting like she didn't feel good] - and she died. Nothing in 6 weeks since, which is why I didn't think infectious at first.
I talked to a friend I gave some chickens to last week and she has one with a "bubbling" eye now [one I gave her]. So I'm thinking it must be infectious.
But I'm not sure exactly what it is [there is no nasal discharge, no foul odor, nothing but the closed or swollen eye].
I'm thinking I need to treat my flock. One thing that was recommended was injectable "tylan" [which my feed store doesn't carry, I'd have to order it online]. This was supposed to be the best thing, but I have 50 birds, I'm not sure how hard it would be to inject them all daily for 7 days or so....
Another suggestion was an antibiotic that I could put in their water to treat the whole flock, but it would take longer to work.
*Should* I treat the whole flock? Or just the two hens who seem affected? Is there anything detrimental to treating them all?
And is it weird to have only one or two sick chickens in a flock of 50 birds? It seems like if it were something horribly contagious that it would have spread more....
How would you handle this?
Thanks in advance,
Kelly
Here are pics of my bird with the swollen eye, just so you can see what I'm talking about [she is doing much better today - up walking around, eating, and being her usual curious self. Eye is still swollen]:


