Help. worms, mites, eye worms?! (gross pics)

[yellowherb]

History is I bought these chickens about 2 months ago. They were in heavy molt and a bit dirty. Being a complete nOOb, I didn't realize the dirt was from mites. One of the hens always had a milky eye, when I picked her up to look closer I found a feather turned into her eye so I plucked it and put in some antibiotic eye drops. Well after multiple treatments with eye drops the eye is still milky, weepy and infected looking. Last evening we started her on doxycycline anitibiotics, it's what I had on hand for my tiels and budgies. On the roost last night we treated with ivermectin horse paste internally for the heavy mite infestation.

Fast forward to this morning and I was researching and came across eye worms..OMG (drama queen moment). I go out and grab my hen to have a good look. I'm not sure but I think it could very well be eye worms since we do live in the south where there are tons of roaches outdoors. And it reminded me that last evening I was telling my husband the rooster had weird shaped eyes which I put down to too much inbreeding. Now I'm rethinking it and after looking at my unrelated Sultans eyes, the rooster I bought does have weird eyes and maybe he has eye worm too.

As if that wasn't enough! I go to put the hen back on the roost where she was sitting and there's worms in last night's poo. Eww, I'm officially freaked out. So much for ivermectin not killing internal parasites, since it was all they had that could have brought the worms out.

Help!
Going to try eye worm treatment with ivermectin injectable applied right to the eyes of the chickens..ALL of them I bought since the more I look at them, the more dodgy their eyes look.
Hoping the ivermectin paste internally works on the mites, the mites look more active today.
Once mites are dealt with I'll do a better worm treatment for internal parasites.
Anything else I can be doing to help this?
Should I keep giving the hen antibiotics?

Shameful to say I purchased this flock from a person who is a member here.

Last night's poo on fresh hay, gross worms! Poo looks weird but I think that's the ivermectin paste.


Hen with terrible mites and eye worms? my camera suks.

Funky eye Roo. Possible eye worm? he has a weird crust on his beak too which I thought was just dirt but from reading it can be a symptom of eye worms.

There's no rattle or sound of congestion.

 

[Eggcessive]

As much as I have read, I believe that you can see eyeworms in the eye if that is the problem. Eyeworm cause the chicken to scratch the eyes, many times blinding themselves. They are about 1/8 inch long, and Valbazen can be given mixed 1 to 1 with water or saline, and put into the eyes. Then give 1/2 ml of Valbazen orally, and repeat both the oral and the eye treatment in 10 days.
More than likely, though, it is probably a chronic respiratory disease or eye infection. Blindness can be a result if not treated. Do you notice a bad odor around the heads of the chicken affected that could be coryza? MG or mycoplasma is another that can cause swelling around an eye, but any eye infection contaminated with bacteria such as E.coli could also cause this.
I would probably send the chicken to the state vet for euthaniasia and a necropsy to see what disease is present. That way, you would know if your others are carriers, or if there are eyeworms in your area. Or you can continue to guess and spend money on different treatments. Valbazen and SafeGuard Liquid Goat Wormer are 2 very good wormers to use in chickens. Ivermectin has lost it's effectiveness. For mites, permethrin 10% spray or the garden dust will kill mites and lice, but the coop, nests, and roosts must also be treated, and bedding replaced.
Sorry that you are dealing with unhealthy chickens, and I hope that things get better. Here is some info on eye and other types of worms: http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/poultry/helminthiasis/overview_of_helminthiasis_in_poultry.html

 

[yellowherb]

There is no bad odor that I've been able to smell. No sounds of congestion other than my cross beak young roo but he always makes weird noises.

I think I did see eye worms. The chickens were really twitchy and my up close eye sight is a little bad, but I thought I seen something.

We dusted with 7dust last week. Dusted the chickens, areas they like hanging out and their coop. It didn't seem to make a difference at all to the mites. Today the chickens are scratching so I guess last night's treatment of ivermectin at least stirred up the mites. I also spread hardwood ash around their favorite tree hoping they would dust bathe in it.

Is permethrin 10% spray safe to use on chickens? Today we moved the coop, it's tractor type, and burned all their day old bedding. We sprayed each chicken with witch hazel/alcohol concoction I made up, concentrating on the "dirty" mite covered areas. This seems to work well, my hands did not have mites all over them after treatment.

I will be buying the Valbazen for worming. I wasn't sure if I would make toxic chickens by giving them the ivermectin and then dosing worm meds on top of that.

Thank you for your help.