Help, my first sick chicken! Something with her eye...

[chickcrack]

Aww she looks pretty comfy in there! Has her eye got any better or worse since you first noticed it? Have you checked her for mites/lice? Just guessing that they could be attracted to that furry little hat she wears and irritated her eye. I agree that if you're not seeing improvement in a couple days it's probably time to add something else to her treatment. The only otc drug I know of is tetracycline and not even sure if that's called the same name in the states. If she were mine I'd watch her intake closely the next few days-inspect poops to ensure they look normal and see what the eye cream does for her. Fingers crossed! Does she have a name yet?

 

[PeepersMama]

I'd add probiotics for now. If she doesn't improve by the end of the week then sure, add antibiotics, but if she's improving, then just let her be.

 

[Des R]

Ugh lice!!!! Oh boy, now what? Could that also Explain her eye? We named her Ariel and she's eating, drunking, and pooping normal.

 

[chickcrack]

Yes I believe it could explain her eye. I've never actually had lice but have dealt with mites many times. Sevin dust is what I use because it's very fast acting. You will need to treat everyone and the coop. Hopefully that explains her eye problem, her thirst and her odd behaviour. Be really careful with dusting around her head but you will need to work some into her poof/neck/ under wings and her bum poof. In the coop dust bedding, perches and get all the crevices. This is good news actually if it's just lice...better than some kind of infection!

 

[Des R]

Thursday, because of the Holiday and limited stores open, we could not find anything to treat the lice. I gave Ariel a bath with blue dawn dish soap and I swear she enjoyed it! As soon as she touched the warm water she laid right down and help perfectly still while I washed her. Even talking to me softly the entire time... I see how easily you can end up with a house chicken lol. Blow drying her was taking forever so I set her kennel up in front of a portable heater until we had her dried. Saturday I finally bought some Sevin and treated all 20 of my flock... it wasn't nearly as hard as I anticipated. In the morning I went into the coop and brought them outside one by one and powdered them up, keeping their faces inside my robe so the dust wouldn't get in their faces. In hindsight I'm not sure I got their heads and the crests on the new girls good enough, but I plan on treating the next two weekends again. I removed everything from the nesting boxes, powder them and put in new bedding. I also rubbed Sevin into the wood of the coop everywhere with my gloved hand and aired it out all day. Hopefully two more weeks of this and I'll have it solved for good!

In the meantime, Ariel's eye MIGHT be looking a little better, not positive. But she's eating very well, drinking plenty of water with electrolytes, vitamins, and probiotics. Can they eat more out of boredom? Or is it just more obvious how much they poop when they are in a small space? Holy cow... but on the good side, according to the poop chart I found online, her poop looks completely normal. We are now treating her eye with the antibiotic ointment and also used an NFZ puffer once today but not sure how much I could really get into her eye.

At what point do I try to an antibiotic? Or how do I know it's not a permanent injury? I feel bad keeping her away from the rest of the flock, but I know it's for the best.

The biggest lesson I've learning in this mess is I'll never buy grown birds from anyone again, or at least I'll do my research and inspect the birds well. I let the man load them into my car and never put my hands on them myself. Only when I got them home did I start to see signs of what poor shape they were in. Since then I've done a ton of reading and realized they are in worse shape then I imaged.. broken tail feathers, rough feathers, scabs on their pale combs, etc. I'm hoping this all equates to the lice making them anemic... but we'll see. The difference in how they feel and look compared to my previous flock is night and day. The very "helpful" man I purchased them from has since stopped responding to my emails and has removed his craigslist ads. Hmmmm, go figure. I put my entire flock at risk here... my sweet sweet girls I've raised from a few days old and I feel terrible. HUGE lesson learned!!!

 

[18acres]

I'm glad you are taking this so seriously and have the time and drive to treat it. I had a chicken with simular problems and just left her hoping she'd get better... poor thing was dead 3 days later. I feel bad about that.

 

[Des R]

I'm soooo sorry you lost yours, it's so hard... I didn't realize when I started this adventure just how much they'd be "pets". If I loose Ariel I know I'll feel a bit defeated on my ability to care for a sick chicken. I seriously considered "returning her" to the person I bought her from, but when I realized just how bad their conditions were... I thought how can I possibly take them back to him? I can't. He clearly wouldn't put in the effort we are. I don't know. It's hard to tell when to intervene, what to do, how much to spend, and what point you've gone over the edge into crazy chicken lady! I keep telling myself this will be part of chicken keeping, but I haven't accepted it yet. Ariel and I won't go down without a fight, she's too stinking sweet! If I open the basement door and just call down to her, she calls back to me. I just have to make her better...

 

[18acres]

You're right. There are certain ones that I would really be sad in losing. I guess you are right about new arrivals. The one with the eye problem was a new one and I hadn't gotten attached. She was kind of a 'extra' I picked up at a auction.

Thankfully none of my other chickens have shown symptoms.

 

[chickcrack]

How's Ariel's eye looking now?

 

[Des R]

It's looking the same... not sure what to do next.