Help! Chicken eye ingury from weasel

[chicken155]

Hi guys,

A week ago, a weasel attacked the pullet coop. Two of the six pullets were taken and one, Autumn, escaped with a bad ingury. The weasel managed to get most of her head feathers and an eye lid. All around her eye is swollen and her inner eye lid is closed. What bothers me the most is that she keeps on scratching her eye and a liquid seems to be comeing out.

I have isolated her so none of the others peck at her and I have been adding electrolytes to her water. Autumn is eating and drinking and her skin is healing but her eye doesn't seem to be inproving at all. I don't want to hurt her but I also don't want to see her in pain. Does anyone know of any treatment I could give her?

 

[Eggcessive]

Welcome to BYC. Sorry for your loss. I would put 1/2 inch hardware cloth over windows and around the run. Are you sure it was a weasel. The frequently remove the heads, but don't take the chickens' bodies. Raccoons and foxes will, however.. Do you keep your chickens locked up at night? For treatment of the eye, I would rinse the eye with saline or vetericyn eye wash, and apply plain Neosporin or triple antibiotic ointment twice a day to the eye. It's possible that she could lose the sight in the eye due to the trauma or infection.

 

[MrsBachbach]

Hi guys,

A week ago, a weasel attacked the pullet coop. Two of the six pullets were taken and one, Autumn, escaped with a bad ingury. The weasel managed to get most of her head feathers and an eye lid. All around her eye is swollen and her inner eye lid is closed. What bothers me the most is that she keeps on scratching her eye and a liquid seems to be comeing out.

I have isolated her so none of the others peck at her and I have been adding electrolytes to her water. Autumn is eating and drinking and her skin is healing but her eye doesn't seem to be inproving at all. I don't want to hurt her but I also don't want to see her in pain. Does anyone know of any treatment I could give her?

Do you have any pictures? Chickens can heal from some nasty stuff with a little help. If you can't make it to a vet, I would at least try some antibiotics. Eye is likely infected. I would get some PenG from feed store and an 18ga needle along with a 1ml syringe and give her a daily injection for about 5 days. Dose would be a tenth of a ml per day in the muscle (breast or thigh). The stuff needs to be kept refrigerated and it is thick, but it needs to be brought to room temp and shaken well before drawing a dose out. I would suggest some eye antibiotic ointment, but the closed eye and leaking is a bit worrying. So I think I would try the PenG injections. To keep her from scratching, try wrapping her foot and toes with Vetwrap. Not in a bundle, you want her to be able to walk, just wrap each toe to the end of the nail and then up around her leg. Vetwrap is like an ace bandage but sticks well to itself. You can cut less wide strips that would wrap between the toes easier, but if you keep it to one or two pieces, the stuff will be very difficult for the bird to remove. You can find it at places like Tractor supply in the horse section. That should keep her from damaging herself. Hopefully she will open the eye one day and be able to use it again. Hope it wasn't too badly damaged.

 

[chicken155]

Do you have any pictures?  Chickens can heal from some nasty stuff with a little help.  If you can't make it to a vet, I would at least try some antibiotics.  Eye is likely infected.  I would get some PenG from feed store and an 18ga needle along with a 1ml syringe and give her a daily injection for about 5 days.  Dose would be a tenth of a ml per day in the muscle (breast or thigh). The stuff needs to be kept refrigerated and it is thick, but it needs to be brought to room temp and shaken well before drawing a dose out.  I would suggest some eye antibiotic ointment, but the closed eye and leaking is a bit worrying.  So I think I would try the PenG injections.  To keep her from scratching, try wrapping her foot and toes with Vetwrap.  Not in a bundle, you want her to be able to walk, just wrap each toe to the end of the nail and then up around her leg.  Vetwrap is like an ace bandage but sticks well to itself.  You can cut less wide strips that would wrap between the toes easier, but if you keep it to one or two pieces, the stuff will be very difficult for the bird to remove.  You can find it at places like Tractor supply in the horse section.   That should keep her from damaging herself.  Hopefully she will open the eye one day and be able to use it again.  Hope it wasn't too badly damaged.

Here is a picture

The purple on her head is a disinfectant spray called Blu Kote.


I will get the the PenG from Tractor Supplies and the 18g needle with the 1ml syringe at the local pharmacy.

 

[chicken155]

Welcome to BYC. Sorry for your loss. I would put 1/2 inch hardware cloth over windows and around the run. Are you sure it was a weasel. The frequently remove the heads, but don't take the chickens' bodies. Raccoons and foxes will, however.. Do you keep your chickens locked up at night? For treatment of the eye, I would rinse the eye with saline or vetericyn eye wash, and apply plain Neosporin or triple antibiotic ointment twice a day to the eye. It's possible that she could lose the sight in the eye due to the trauma or infection.

I can still see a pupil moving around in the eye, but it may be to late to heal her by the looks of it. I can see the edges of her eye is red and it's still really swollen from the itching. Will the Neosporin stop the irritation? When ever I pour water into her eye, she seems to scratch it or rub it on her feathers.

It may not be a weasel that is attacking the coop, but by the looks of her wounds it seems like a weasel got to her. Do you want me to send you a photo?

 

[MrsBachbach]

I can still see a pupil moving around in the eye, but it may be to late to heal her by the looks of it. I can see the edges of her eye is red and it's still really swollen from the itching. Will the Neosporin stop the irritation? When ever I pour water into her eye, she seems to scratch it or rub it on her feathers.

It may not be a weasel that is attacking the coop, but by the looks of her wounds it seems like a weasel got to her. Do you want me to send you a photo?

I wouldn't use tap water to rinse with, that even irritates my eye. Sterile water or saline would be best I would think. It's an ugly wound, but she can heal with time. I had a rooster get bitten on the head and it was ugly. Head swelled up, beak crossed, he wouldn't eat for ever. I had to tube feed and water him for almost three weeks, but he healed up and started eating again and was just fine after all the swelling went down.
So, I would start the PenG incase of internal infection from the bites, and continue with the blue kote and just keep her quiet in her own place or cage so she won't be bothered by the other chickens. You can keep her near the others so she won't feel alone, but best they can't reach her to peck at it.

 

[chicken155]

I wouldn't use tap water to rinse with, that even irritates my eye.  Sterile water or saline would be best I would think.  It's an ugly wound, but she can heal with time.  I had a rooster get bitten on the head and it was ugly.  Head swelled up, beak crossed, he wouldn't eat for ever.  I had to tube feed and water him for almost three weeks, but he healed up and started eating again and was just fine after all the swelling went down. 
So, I would start the PenG incase of internal infection from the bites, and continue with the blue kote and just keep her quiet in her own place or cage so she won't be bothered by the other chickens.  You can keep her near the others so she won't feel alone, but best they can't reach her to peck at it.

I have been rinsing Autumn's eye with saline and applying Neosporin. She seems to be responding well with the saline which is great. Her eye seems to be scabbing over... I think that's a good sign. Here is a photo.

I also ordered some PenG offline with a needle and syringe. I'm hoping it will come in on Friday!

 

[MrsBachbach]

I have been rinsing Autumn's eye with saline and applying Neosporin. She seems to be responding well with the saline which is great. Her eye seems to be scabbing over... I think that's a good sign. Here is a photo.



I also ordered some PenG offline with a needle and syringe. I'm hoping it will come in on Friday!

It doesn't look near as bad as my rooster's injury. I think she should recover. It may take some time and whether her eye can be used or not, will just have to wait and see. But that could still be a couple of weeks before she opens that eyelid.

 

[chicken155]

It doesn't look near as bad as my rooster's injury.  I think she should recover.  It may take some time and whether her eye can be used or not, will just have to wait and see.  But that could still be a couple of weeks before she opens that eyelid.

Autumn's eye has opened, but she's still blind out of it. I have noticed that the pupil in her bad eye is very small compared to the pupil in the good eye. Since she doesn't have an outer eye lid, I am worried that things will get in her eye when she is outside. Is there anyway to help her?

 

[MrsBachbach]

Autumn's eye has opened, but she's still blind out of it. I have noticed that the pupil in her bad eye is very small compared to the pupil in the good eye. Since she doesn't have an outer eye lid, I am worried that things will get in her eye when she is outside. Is there anyway to help her?

Did she lose the eyelid? The eye looks almost like an eye that is affected by Mareks. I'm not sure, but I don't know if Neosporin is made to put into eyes. Or did you just apply it to the outside rim? I'm just wondering if that did it or if eyes that go blind just always look like that. I'm not sure what to do to keep stuff out. She may be fine with it just as it is. Maybe a rinse once in awhile or eye ointment. If flies or other things start bothering it,, you might try to come up with a hood or eye patch. I know they use them on falcons. It will take her a bit to become adjusted to one eye, but she should be ok as long as she doesn't have to keep an eye out for predators.