Shadowsbane0
Hatching
- Mar 27, 2018
- 2
- 2
- 9
Hello,
I have a 12 week old Welsumer hen who was exhibiting lethargic behavior and was very unbalanced when we got back from a weekend away during the holiday. When I started to look her over I noticed her right eye was closed. My first thought was that she was pecked by another of the more dominant hens that we have. I then moved on to thinking maybe she got some debris in her eye because I didn't see any blood. I rinsed her eye with some eye wash solution and cleaned a large chunk of crust from the corner of her eye that I hope contained the debris. I applied some triple antibiotic to prevent any bacteria from catching hold. She started opening her eye a little during the next day. It seemed cloudy but I can't tell if that is the antibiotic coating her eye. Today I went to start another round of cleaning and antibiotic and found the cause of her pain. She was in fact packed by another hen in the eye. There is a laceration in the corner of her upper eyelid.
Here are my concerns:
I've separated her into a pen we have in my garage. I'm concerned about the reshuffling of the pecking order by keeping her away from the flock for a week so she can heal. I don't have another box that I can used for shelter if I fence off a section of their run for quarantine.
I'm really concerned about the health of her eye. I can't tell if it was damaged by the peck that caused the laceration.
How long should I keep her separated to convalescence?
I'm personally invested in this hen because I've already had to save her life once before. I made the mistake of putting chicks of different ages together and she wasn't able to get to food and water. She nearly died. I had to stay up til around 3 a.m. forcing fluids down her with an eye dropper every 30 minutes. She made it through. If there is anything else I should be doing I open to suggestions.
I have a 12 week old Welsumer hen who was exhibiting lethargic behavior and was very unbalanced when we got back from a weekend away during the holiday. When I started to look her over I noticed her right eye was closed. My first thought was that she was pecked by another of the more dominant hens that we have. I then moved on to thinking maybe she got some debris in her eye because I didn't see any blood. I rinsed her eye with some eye wash solution and cleaned a large chunk of crust from the corner of her eye that I hope contained the debris. I applied some triple antibiotic to prevent any bacteria from catching hold. She started opening her eye a little during the next day. It seemed cloudy but I can't tell if that is the antibiotic coating her eye. Today I went to start another round of cleaning and antibiotic and found the cause of her pain. She was in fact packed by another hen in the eye. There is a laceration in the corner of her upper eyelid.
Here are my concerns:
I've separated her into a pen we have in my garage. I'm concerned about the reshuffling of the pecking order by keeping her away from the flock for a week so she can heal. I don't have another box that I can used for shelter if I fence off a section of their run for quarantine.
I'm really concerned about the health of her eye. I can't tell if it was damaged by the peck that caused the laceration.
How long should I keep her separated to convalescence?
I'm personally invested in this hen because I've already had to save her life once before. I made the mistake of putting chicks of different ages together and she wasn't able to get to food and water. She nearly died. I had to stay up til around 3 a.m. forcing fluids down her with an eye dropper every 30 minutes. She made it through. If there is anything else I should be doing I open to suggestions.