HELP - One of my ducks pecked the other in the EYE!

[Cassia311]

I noticed today that one of my ducks has a slightly swollen eye that he/she keeps closed. I've seen them peck at each other and I am moving them to a larger bin right now so they have more room and might be less prone to pecking (they're growing so fast!). I was thinking I would clean the eye with castor oil (which I use when my own eyes get infected). Is this okay for ducks? Is there anything else anyone would recommend to keep his/her little eye clean?

Thanks so much!

 

[ihavechicks]

I would love to know what you did for your ducks eye. Mine just started matting & have managed to peck my girls eye, which is swollen shut. Not really sure what to do since I'm new to ducks.

 

[Cassia311]

I'm new to ducks as well. According to this article from Livestrong, ducks are incredibly resistant to castor beans. I wasn't worried they would eat the oil. I was just concerned that it might have a negative reaction on them.

There's this great online book here that recommends using castor oil for all sorts of health issues with birds. Assured, I went ahead and used a warm wet q-tip to (as gently as I could) clean the area around his eye then applied some castor oil around his eye. I didn't put it directly in because I didn't want to accidentally bump any debris into his eye or pry his little eye open to get any in; however, whenever I've had eye infections in the past, I always put it directly into my eye then dab excess with a warm wash cloth (works wonders!)

His eye is open today and he seems much better. Just didn't want him to get an infection, so I'm very relieved to see him recovering.
I hope all this helps. Thanks!

 

[Amiga]

Many of us use either saline solution or Vetericyn (spray or eye gel). Gently rinsing the eye three or four times a day generally gets things fixed up within days.

Also making sure they have a way to wash their heads (usually more of a problem with ducklings than adults, who have swim pans for the most part, or ponds).

 

[TwoDogFarm]

You should invest in Vetericyn. It's some good stuff. We have the gel for eyes, but you can also get it in spray form (the spray can be used as an antibiotic on any other type of wound--it's not specific for eyes, although I've read it can be used on eyes as well).

One of our chickens had her eye pecked and although she is partially blind in that eye now, her eye looks okay. When we first noticed her eye, she had a bloody cornea and we used Vetericyn for about a week on her. Then, we had a duck that had been pecked in the eye a while later, (her eye looked like it had completely disappeared and we thought it was gone for a while because all we could see when we pulled it open looked like her eye socket). We used Vetericyn on her eye for about a week and her eye healed very well and she can see again out of her eye. We are currently treating another one of our ducks that has his eye sealed shut from an infection. Today is day two of the Vetericyn, but we're going to keep going for about a week to see how it heals up.

Like I said and like Amiga pointed out, Vetericyn is great for treating this kind of stuff. It's worked for me in the past twice and I'm a believer. Since we only have the eye gel, I can only attest to that--I'm not sure if the spray would work to the same affect.

Good luck in getting your duck's eye better and welcome to duck owning.