Finch with severe 'Finch Eye'

[chickensducks&agoose]

Theoretically: My friend found a brown finch in the middle of a dirt road, totally blind with it's eyes swollen and crusted shut. She pulled her car over, got out and picked the bird up. It had no idea she was even there until she touched it. She brought it home, and called me, since I have chickens.... and finches and chickens are practically the same...

.... anyway, I told her to use terramycin on it's eyes, which is what I used when my duck had a crusty eye, and when my dog had a pinkeye sort of thing.... besides the law stuff, (i told her she shouldn't have even touched it, but she refused to just leave it...) what else should she know? She plans on keeping it until it's eyes are better, and then letting it go again.... is that a good plan? She said it's a finch or a sparrow, i honestly can't tell the difference. it's got kind of purple/brown feet though... she didn't take any photos, but she said its eyes are totally shut... she's working to get it to eat and drink. I told her to wash her hands like mad. I don't think I want it anywhere near my chickens, so I don't know if I'm even going to see it in person... but do you guys have any advice?

 

[Pretty Birdie]

I have helped a grackle before, ( he had some twine tangled round his leg that completely cut off his foot, day we released him saw a female with one leg as well, both were doing fine)so I think I might be able to help you. Anyways, here is how I did it. I placed some towels in the bottom of a small box, sort of in the shape of a nest. A general rule of thumb is that the box should be about 1 1/2 times the length of the bird, for example if you have a bird that measures 10 inches from beak to tail, the box should be a 15x15 in. box. It should be deep enough that if the bird stood upright, its head is at least four or five inches below the top of the box. Don't use shavings or sawdust for the bedding, use towels. If the bird is too weak to drink out of a dish, you can try several other things. You can get a drop of water on your finger and place it on the side of the bird's beak so that the droplet flows into its mouth, you can find a small syringe or eyedropper and use that, although you need to be careful (especially with the small birds) not to give it too much water at once, or you can try a soaked paper towel and get that into the bird's mouth. The paper towel works best with birds that are trying to bite you, because they bite the paper towel instead. Don't worry about food until the bird is properly re-hydrated. For the first 12 hours, give the bird water every 2 hours, after that, you can drop it down to every 3-4 hours. For overnight, I would recommend getting up at least once in the middle of the night and giving it water. Once the bird is perking up a bit and has had plenty of water, you can try getting it to eat seed. Because the finch can not see, you may have to place the seeds in its beak. The best seed depends on what bird it is. Try http://www.enature.com/fieldguides/search_advanced.asp for identification. If it is a finch, they really like niger seed (thistle seed). You can also give it small pieces of bread, fruit, or insects if they eat that type of stuff. This website will tell you what they like to eat. As for the crusties on its eyes, I would call the nearest exotics vet and ask them if they have any ideas. I wish you the best of luck!

 

[chicken grandma]

we brought a rabbit into our house with crusted eyes and used moistened Lipton tea bags on it's eyes. it worked quickly and we released him the next day.