Help! Nictitating membrane (third eye) not moving

[ChoppersChickies]

Help! I’m new to chickens and trying to do my best for them!

I have 4 hens that are 6-7months old. One of my black sex-link’s eyes is closed at all times, and when I hope the lids, her nictitating membrane doesn’t move/remains there so her eye looks cloudy.

No sign of respiratory illness - no sneezing, no coughing, no discharge from eyes nor nostrils. No foaming or bubbles from the eye. Poop is normal. I can’t see any debris or pus when I open her eye lids (for the smidge of a second she’ll let me before ruffling all of her feathers in protest). I don’t know how to move her nictitating membrane, or if I should try? She is active, eating, and still laying. The other hens don’t pick on her.

My chickens have a coop and are primarily in a run (9x12) while I’m at work but roam in my yard when I’m home.

1. Any idea what this could be? I noticed and began treating since Saturday, 2 days ago.

2. I have been administering saline drops and triple antibiotic ointment 2x per day. I was adding Spring Chicken Wellness Brew because that’s all I had on hand to their water, but I will begin adding denagard to the water tomorrow as a precautionary (it just got here today). I ordered terramycin. Is there anything else I should be doing?

3. Do I need to remove her from the others? No one is showing symptoms of anything else and she has a bestie in the run/coop that they do everything together.

I added photos of her eye from the day after I noticed it, she moved her nictitating membrane in the photos.

This is her other eye that is unaffected:

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Welcome To BYC

It's hard to see the eye really well. Does she have any signs of a cut or tear above the eye?
Is the eye bulging a bit?

I'd continue to treat as you have been, cleaning/flushing with saline and keeping ointment in the eye.
Not sure what's causing this, she may have injured the eye somehow.

If she's not being picked on and is getting around o.k., eating/drinking, I'd leave her with her flock.

 

[ChoppersChickies]

Welcome To BYC

It's hard to see the eye really well. Does she have any signs of a cut or tear above the eye?
Is the eye bulging a bit?

I'd continue to treat as you have been, cleaning/flushing with saline and keeping ointment in the eye.
Not sure what's causing this, she may have injured the eye somehow.

If she's not being picked on and is getting around o.k., eating/drinking, I'd leave her with her flock.

Thank you for the response! I administered more saline and ointment this morning. I noticed her 3rd eyelid is moving as I applied the saline drops so it’s just her eye itself that is cloudy/dull in color and she’s keeping it closed. She really fights me when I have to do the saline and ointment so I try to get as good of a look as I can. I did not notice any bulging nor any cuts above the eye.

I noticed the last couple days the chickens aren’t going in their coop at night, they’re staying on roost bars in the run. Which is abnormal for all of them. I have to go in there at night and put them all in the coop. And my one-eye hen isn’t coming out of the coop in the morning, I have to go in and get her out, but I wonder if that’s because she can’t see as well with the one eye.

The more I google, the more I’m wondering if she has ammonia toxicity. Over the holidays I went a bit longer than normal in cleaning their coop - it is a coop from chickencoopcompany.com, just big enough for the 4 of them to roost in when it gets dark.

For ammonia toxicity, I will completely clean out the coop and lay fresh bedding and some zeolite. But, should I isolate her for ammonia toxicity recovery?

 

[BigBlueHen53]

How's the ventilation in your coop?

 

[ChoppersChickies]

I was able to attach images from the company’s website of the coop I purchased from them. The windows above the nest box I open during the day but keep closed at night because they are at the same level where the chickens roost. The only other ventilation is the small sliding window above the door that opens to clean the coop.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

So your coop is essentially 22.5 inches square, the part where the chickens sleep, disregarding the height? That's less than 2 ft x 2 ft, which would be 4 sq feet. That's really only adequate for one hen. I'm sorry, but those pre-fab coops wildly overestimate the capacity of the coop. Just because four hens can be crammed into the space does not mean it's adequate for them. Each hen needs about 4 sq ft of floor space for health and comfort, and to prevent behavioral issues like bullying, feather picking and, in extreme cases, even cannibalism. So it seems that yes, lack of sufficient ventilation would cause a buildup of ammonia. They are not going into the coop at night because it's just too small.

 

[ChoppersChickies]

So your coop is essentially 22.5 inches square, the part where the chickens sleep, disregarding the height? That's less than 2 ft x 2 ft, which would be 4 sq feet. That's really only adequate for one hen. I'm sorry, but those pre-fab coops wildly overestimate the capacity of the coop. Just because four hens can be crammed into the space does not mean it's adequate for them. Each hen needs about 4 sq ft of floor space for health and comfort, and to prevent behavioral issues like bullying, feather picking and, in extreme cases, even cannibalism. So it seems that yes, lack of sufficient ventilation would cause a buildup of ammonia. They are not going into the coop at night because it's just too small.

Thank you. I understand, and share, the dislike for the prefab coops and did my best to find one adequate for my girls as we cannot build our own coop palace at the moment. With that, what are your recommendations for treating the ammonia toxicity? I am going to be more diligent with the cleaning daily. I am redoing the coop with fresh bedding and zeolite tonight. Do I need to isolate my hen with the bad eye while she recovers from this? And do you have any recommendations for prefab coops that are larger? I have my coop inside a 9x12ft run where my hens stay while I’m at work.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Thank you for the response! I administered more saline and ointment this morning. I noticed her 3rd eyelid is moving as I applied the saline drops so it’s just her eye itself that is cloudy/dull in color and she’s keeping it closed. She really fights me when I have to do the saline and ointment so I try to get as good of a look as I can. I did not notice any bulging nor any cuts above the eye.

I noticed the last couple days the chickens aren’t going in their coop at night, they’re staying on roost bars in the run. Which is abnormal for all of them. I have to go in there at night and put them all in the coop. And my one-eye hen isn’t coming out of the coop in the morning, I have to go in and get her out, but I wonder if that’s because she can’t see as well with the one eye.

The more I google, the more I’m wondering if she has ammonia toxicity. Over the holidays I went a bit longer than normal in cleaning their coop - it is a coop from chickencoopcompany.com, just big enough for the 4 of them to roost in when it gets dark.

For ammonia toxicity, I will completely clean out the coop and lay fresh bedding and some zeolite. But, should I isolate her for ammonia toxicity recovery?

I don't think it's ammonia toxicity, she and the others would be showing signs of conjunctivitis, crusty eyes with pus, redness and swelling - usually in BOTH eyes. Sometimes if toxicity is severe, they can also have some respiratory symptoms.

Her "good" eye is bright, clear and beautiful. Her nostrils are clear and I don't see much that's concerning except for the left eye, it looks slightly off. If you can get clearer photos of that eye(?)

Your other hens would likely be exhibiting symptoms too.

I lean more toward some type of injury for now. A peck to the eye, she scratched it somehow, etc.

I would not remove her from the flock, this will cause stress and I don't think it's necessary unless she's being bullied.

I do agree, the housing is a bit tight and ventilation is poor. If they are not wanting to go inside at night and this is new - investigate to make sure there's not any mites or lice in the coop. A mouse?

IF possible, add ventilation. Up high. Is there another vent at the peak on the pop door side, think about adding another vent there if possible, this will give some cross ventilation.

The "high" roosting bar is likely too small/short for all to roost on. This can cause bickering an distress, also not much room to jump down.
Take that out and hopefully they will use the low ones at the floor.

You've got decent cross ventilation over the nesting boxes. If they roost lower, then you can leave these open. If you find that it's too much of a draft on them, then staple some plastic 1/2 way up the opening over the nesting boxes, this will still give ventilation but partially block some of the direct draft. Does that make sense?

I for sure am not a coop designer, not the best at making suggestions about how to make this work. You may also want to post on the coop/run forum and ask for suggestions. Be warned, most on BYC are not prefab fans, so you'll get feedback that you need a new coop While yes, that would be nice...sometimes we have to work with what we have, there's room for improvement and I think you can make a few changes (slowly) that will be beneficial.

Add another vent on the opposite peak, cover with hardware cloth.

 

[ChoppersChickies]

I don't think it's ammonia toxicity, she and the others would be showing signs of conjunctivitis, crusty eyes with pus, redness and swelling - usually in BOTH eyes. Sometimes if toxicity is severe, they can also have some respiratory symptoms.

Her "good" eye is bright, clear and beautiful. Her nostrils are clear and I don't see much that's concerning except for the left eye, it looks slightly off. If you can get clearer photos of that eye(?)

Your other hens would likely be exhibiting symptoms too.

I lean more toward some type of injury for now. A peck to the eye, she scratched it somehow, etc.

I would not remove her from the flock, this will cause stress and I don't think it's necessary unless she's being bullied.

I do agree, the housing is a bit tight and ventilation is poor. If they are not wanting to go inside at night and this is new - investigate to make sure there's not any mites or lice in the coop. A mouse?

IF possible, add ventilation. Up high. Is there another vent at the peak on the pop door side, think about adding another vent there if possible, this will give some cross ventilation.

The "high" roosting bar is likely too small/short for all to roost on. This can cause bickering an distress, also not much room to jump down.
Take that out and hopefully they will use the low ones at the floor.

You've got decent cross ventilation over the nesting boxes. If they roost lower, then you can leave these open. If you find that it's too much of a draft on them, then staple some plastic 1/2 way up the opening over the nesting boxes, this will still give ventilation but partially block some of the direct draft. Does that make sense?

I for sure am not a coop designer, not the best at making suggestions about how to make this work. You may also want to post on the coop/run forum and ask for suggestions. Be warned, most on BYC are not prefab fans, so you'll get feedback that you need a new coop While yes, that would be nice...sometimes we have to work with what we have, there's room for improvement and I think you can make a few changes (slowly) that will be beneficial.

View attachment 4022943
Add another vent on the opposite peak, cover with hardware cloth.
View attachment 4022947

Thank you for being so kind while offering new ideas

I am currently working with someone local that builds coops who can have a larger coop delivered in 2-3 weeks.

I cleaned out the coop last night and replaced the bedding. I didn’t notice anything inside that shouldn’t be there. Thank you for the advice to remove the top roosting bar, I’ll try that tonight!

I did remove my hen with the bad eye last night from the flock. I wanted to give her a quiet, warm, place where I count monitor how much she is eating/drinking, but I will place her back with her besties in the morning after I can administer saline and antibiotic ointment. I still can’t see any injury to her eye, but she fights me so much when I go to clean it so it’s hard enough to clean it let alone get a picture.

 

[ChoppersChickies]

I also noticed I have been getting 1 less egg per day the last 2 days. If my hen in question is the one not laying, that’s a change in her behavior too. If it’s not her that isn’t laying, it’s my other black sex-link, but she isn’t showing signs/symptoms of anything.