HELP - Hen has swollen eyes

[dirtroaddarlin]

My buff orp hen is 5 months old. One eye is swollen shut and the other is about half swollen. Any ideas on what’s wrong with her eyes? How do I treat it? All of my birds free range during the day. I’ve never had this happen before. Link below that shows her eyes. Thanks for the help everyone.

 

[dirtroaddarlin]

UPDATE - Her eyes don’t look so red now. Her eye that was swollen shut, her eyelids are about 1/3 of the way back open but I don’t see eyeball. I see what looks like infection in that eye. It looks like yellow dry gunk between her eyelids.

 

[coach723]

Flush out the eyes with sterile saline or eye wash, the yellow you are seeing may be dried discharge or may be pus ( clear, up close pictures of the eyes would help). Remove all the gunk. You can also use a warm, wet cloth as a compress to help loosen any dried stuff. Any firm white or cream colored stuff in the eye is likely pus (chicken pus is firm, not runny) Look for any obvious signs of injury or debris in the eye. You can use terramycin eye ointment (many tractor supply stores carry it, or feed stores, no prescription required) or you can use plain neosporin in the eyes, 2-3 times a day. If it's from injury or debris in the eye then hopefully the ointment will take care of it (all pus needs to be removed or it will just keep making more). It also could be a sign of a respiratory illness. Watch for any sneezing, coughing, wheezing, discharge from beak or nares. Look inside the beak and throat for any plaques or lesions there.

 

[dirtroaddarlin]

Flush out the eyes with sterile saline or eye wash, the yellow you are seeing may be dried discharge or may be pus ( clear, up close pictures of the eyes would help). Remove all the gunk. You can also use a warm, wet cloth as a compress to help loosen any dried stuff. Any firm white or cream colored stuff in the eye is likely pus (chicken pus is firm, not runny) Look for any obvious signs of injury or debris in the eye. You can use terramycin eye ointment (many tractor supply stores carry it, or feed stores, no prescription required) or you can use plain neosporin in the eyes, 2-3 times a day. If it's from injury or debris in the eye then hopefully the ointment will take care of it (all pus needs to be removed or it will just keep making more). It also could be a sign of a respiratory illness. Watch for any sneezing, coughing, wheezing, discharge from beak or nares. Look inside the beak and throat for any plaques or lesions there.

Thank you for your response! She is not sneezing. I have two other hens that are sneezing, but their faces are not swollen and have not been. I have about 30 birds total.
Do you think it’s a respiratory illness going around since two are sneezing?

How do I remove pus from the eye? I don’t want to hurt her.

 

[coach723]

You may be able to flush the eye out with the saline. Sometimes it's necessary to use some manipulation to get it all out, or even a qtip. Hard to advise when I can't see it. Whether it's respiratory or not, I can't tell that. Some random sneezing could just be from dust, or other irritant in the environment. A lot of sneezing, or coughing, wheezing, discharge from eyes or bubbles in the eye, discharge from nares, or beak. Could indicate an illness. Sometimes a bad smell around the head, facial swelling, plaques in the beak and throat. If you have access to an avian vet then they can test for that.
There is a video here showing pus being removed from an eye, post #3 in this thread:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...orm-stubborn-film-on-my-chickens-eye.1446563/

 

[dirtroaddarlin]

Here are pics of her tonight. Last night, her swollen eye was swelled completely shut so I think it is improving some. Any and all tips and advice are appreciated!

I did spray her, the coop, and the two other affected birds (coughing/sneezing/not swollen face) with vet rx last night. I am going to do that again tonight and deep clean their coop tomorrow.

 

[coach723]

Definitely looks like pus in the left eye for sure. You really do need to get all that out for it to clear up. FYI VetRX is basically vicks vaporub for chickens, it's not really going to treat anything. If you are uncomfortable cleaning out that eye I would recommend vet care. If it stays, then she could lose one or both eyes to infection. They can also test to see if you are dealing with MG, or another respiratory illness and advise on treatment option. For many respiratory illnesses Tylan or Tylosin are used for treating symptoms, but some are chronic. You can treat the symptoms but they will recur during times of stress. The birds are not cured, they are carriers. Just depends on what it is.

 

[dirtroaddarlin]

Thank you for your response. If it is MG or another respiratory illness, the only way to be rid of it is if all birds are gone, correct?