Eyes sealing shut !!!

[southdakota]

I am having a problem with eyes closing shut on chicks up to about three months old...they are fine one day, the next day one or both eyes are shut. I am treating with Vetricyn spray and if I catch them early enough, it seems to help...but I would like to find out what is causing this? The area around the eye appears bald. The eyes are not running, no puss, not really swollen, they are just sealed shut and then the bird cannot find food or water. I have enclosed three pictures, one of each eye and one of her in my hand to show the size of the bird. She was in a 12 x 12 stall with about 100 other chicks about the same age. No outward signs of illness. It has been over 100 degrees and I am running a box fan to blow air into the stall to keep the temp down and if it gets over 102 I am using a mister in front of the hose. It does not get anything wet, but it does lower the temp in the stall.
I called my local vet and she does not do chickens at all and cannot recommend any vets in the area that treat chickens.
Thanks for looking

 

[froggiesheins]

OK, I remember reading about a disease casuing this, and I THINK it is cocci. Please PM CMV or Dawg53 or research on BYC......Hope this helps...

 

[southdakota]

It is very hot here, over 100 degrees every day. The birds are free range and in either a coop or a stall in the barn at night and some of the affected chicks are coming out of a stock tank where I grow out the chicks that I hatch in the incubator. There is no gunk or anything in the eye when I clean it, it is more like when an infant gets dirt blown into their eye and wakes up in the morning with eyes sealed shut...but I have had chicks die with only this symptom. I had one die that did present symptoms that might be cocci, so will treat for that and see if it helps.