Eye worms? Need help identifying infection in hen's eye

[User635240]

Hi all, this is a 2yo French Copper Marans hen. She has white discharge by the bottom of her eye, and a white protrusion coming out from under the top eyelid. It looks like it could be a worm since it has a definite shape, but it has one or more tentacles. I tried wiping away the white 'mucus' but it wouldn't come off. I put Terramycin in the eye last night, and there is no change this morning. We are in the Midwest, and it's been rainy and warm here lately. Any ideas? What would be the treatment? Would topical or oral ivermectin work? Thank you

 

[Eggcessive]

It looks more like bubbles and gunk from a possible respiratory disease, mycoplasma gallisepticum (MG.) I would clean the eye twice a day with cotton and saline, and apply antibiotic ointment twice daily. Any pus needs to be removed or squeezed out. It may be easier with an assistant. Q tips or tweezers can be carefully used.

I would get some Tylan 50 to give orally or Tylosin powder for the water.Jedds.com sells Tylosin powder.

Eyeworms are rare, but the eggs can be seen in a fecal float by the vet, and treated with a common wormer fenbendazole (SafeGuard liquid goat wormer or the horse paste.) Dosage is 0.25 ml per pound given orally for 5 consecutive days. That would be 1 1/2 ml for a 6 pound hen. That will treat most other worms as well.

 

[User635240]

It looks more like bubbles and gunk from a possible respiratory disease, mycoplasma gallisepticum (MG.) I would clean the eye twice a day with cotton and saline, and apply antibiotic ointment twice daily. Any pus needs to be removed or squeezed out. It may be easier with an assistant. Q tips or tweezers can be carefully used.

I would get some Tylan 50 to give orally or Tylosin powder for the water.Jedds.com sells Tylosin powder.

Eyeworms are rare, but the eggs can be seen in a fecal float by the vet, and treated with a common wormer fenbendazole (SafeGuard liquid goat wormer or the horse paste.) Dosage is 0.25 ml per pound given orally for 5 consecutive days. That would be 1 1/2 ml for a 6 pound hen. That will treat most other worms as well.

Ok thanks. I gave her some Tylosin. I tried cleaning the eye, and got the mucus off, but it looks like her upper eyelid was torn, which appeared to be debris.

 

[Eggcessive]

They may scratch at their eye if there is eye drainage. Let us know how she gets along.

 

[User635240]

They may scratch at their eye if there is eye drainage. Let us know how she gets along.

OK. There are actually 4 chickens with this same eye condition. A few questions:
- is it possible the disease was latent in the entire flock, and expressed during a period of stress (loss of the head rooster)?
- some of what looks like discharge appears to be distended skin, like a skin tag. are these to be removed? i just pulled with tweezers and it caused distress
- do you know anything about boron, boric acid, or borax? i read that this mineral is effective against the human type of mycoplasma. is there a non toxic application that would help prevent spread?
thanks!

 

[Eggcessive]

Do all have the pink tissue hanging down with the white flecks? That may be part of her conjunctiva or the pink part of the eye. Clean out the drainage or gunk. The Tylosin should help if it is a respiratory disease. Those are contagious, and spread through the flock. The SafeGuard can treat for eye worm.