Hen has a swollen eye.

[Paz]

This is my 1 year old RIRxBCM. She has what seems to be an infection around her eye. So far I have treated it with dermacombine, not sure if that’s a good idea. She is very unfriendly, so to speak, and catching her when the sun is out, is very difficult. I would just like to make sure this isn’t contagious. And get better advice on what would be the best course of action.

 

[Eggcessive]

It could be contagious if it is due to a respiratory disease, such as mycoplasma (MG) or coryza. If it is due to getting something in the eye or a peck wound, then ,maybe not. Does she have any nasal drainage, mucus from her beak causing frequent swallowing, rattly breathing, sneezing, or head shaking? I would clean her eye with a warm wet compress, then flush it with saline and apply some antibiotic ointment twice a day. Do you have anything like that available? Oh yes, the dermacombine sounds perfect to use after cleaning the eye. Saline is 2 tsp (9 grams) of salt in a liter of water, brought to a boil, and simmered for 15 minutes to sterilize it, then cool. Store it in clean jars. If an oral antibiotic is available such as tylosin or oxytetracycline, that can treat symptoms of MG.

 

[Paz]

It could be contagious if it is due to a respiratory disease, such as mycoplasma (MG) or coryza. If it is due to getting something in the eye or a peck wound, then ,maybe not. Does she have any nasal drainage, mucus from her beak causing frequent swallowing, rattly breathing, sneezing, or head shaking? I would clean her eye with a warm wet compress, then flush it with saline and apply some antibiotic ointment twice a day. Do you have anything like that available? Oh yes, the dermacombine sounds perfect to use after cleaning the eye. Saline is 2 tsp (9 grams) of salt in a liter of water, brought to a boil, and simmered for 15 minutes to sterilize it, then cool. Store it in clean jars. If an oral antibiotic is available such as tylosin or oxytetracycline, that can treat symptoms of MG.

Thank you very much. I don’t have any oral antibiotics, and it would be a bit difficult to get in my country. She doesn’t sneeze, doesn’t breath heavily, nothing comes out of her nose. She’s acting completely normal, other than scratching it.
I was watching them for an hour just now, and noticed she probably got into the bottom of the pecking order, so it might be a pecking wound, but I’m not sure. We had a couple older hens die this month, and a couple were taken by foxes last month, so there were changes in the pecking order.

 

[LaFleche]

Could this be something like insect stings, eggs or larvae? Bot fly larvae maybe?
It does not look like the usual inflammed/infected eye to me.

 

[Paz]

Could this be something like insect stings, eggs or larvae? Bot fly larvae maybe?
It does not look like the usual inflammed/infected eye to me.

I’m gonna have to check it when the sun starts going down. There aren’t botflies around here, as far as I know, but maybe insect eggs. What would be the course of action in that case? Remove them with tweezers? Disinfect with something?

 

[LaFleche]

What would be the course of action in that case? Remove them with tweezers? Disinfect with something?

Removing them carefully, flushing the eye and applying antibiotic ointment for a few days.

 

[Paz]

Removing them carefully, flushing the eye and applying antibiotic ointment for a few days.

Great, thanks.

 

[Paz]

Ok, I checked for worm or something and there’s were none.