Hen with a swollen eye

[DirtLaneFarm]

My polish hen injured her eye last summer. I had been treating her and keeping watch on this eye. It has always been cloudy but have been able to keep infections at bay. This last week, everything has went south. I have had to treat for mites. After 5 years of chicken keeping, this is a first for me and the mites are frustrating. Right after I treated them last week with sevin dust, her eye became real infected and swollen. I did not dust their crests, but I did put a drop of Frontline in each of their crests for the mites there. The eye is soft and squishy. The pupil looks like it kind of sticks out. I am quite sure she is blind in that eye as the original injury looked like she had a cut across the film on her eyeball and it turned cloudy. I have cleaned her eye with warm water and a ray. I have been cleaning what puss is in it with a q-tip. I have been using Vet-RX on a q-tip and pressing against the roof of her mouth to help clear her sinus cavity and so far, 1 injection of Tylan 50. She is not very feisty, but does eat and drink. I bought Terramycin but forgot it in the house and by the time I got done, she was tired of me. Also, I had to treat again for mites. (I really hate mites!!). She doesn't seem to have any infection noticeable in the roof of her mouth, but does have a little bit of a runny nose. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I do not want to lose her as she is one of my few Candy Corn Polish and had only just reached breeding age.TIA

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Poor thing, that does look awful.

It sounds like you are doing just about everything that can be done. I'd only recommend an eye antibiotic to apply...usually those are in the form of a cream or salve. You may be able to get some at the Feed Store if you do not wish the expense of a vet (which I suspicion you are trying to avoid with self care).

You don't need to inject with Tylan and then treat with more antibiotics as that might be overkill. Follow the dosing on Tylan and repeat as recommended (I've not used that particular antibiotic so don't have dosing in my brain).

I'm going to follow to see if anyone else has some further recommendations.

Good luck with her.

LofMc

 

[Lady of McCamley]

On another thread a poster responded that honey is a good antibacterial treatment especially when other things have failed.

I should think it would need to be a good quality honey as much of what is passed as honey is actually largely corn syrup.

Here is the medical study showing honey effectively rids bacterial infections (note it is medical grade honey which was derived from closely guarded greenhouse bees as natural honey can vary widely...the study suggests that the nectar varies widely but I suspicion because OTC honey is so diluted with other things) http://cid.oxfordjournals.org/content/46/11/1677.long

This other poster had put the honey in a bird's infected eye...straight honey, without wiping out, right into the eye, and it improved 100% within a day.

You can see that thread here:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1072082/9-week-old-hen-has-large-sores-on-back#post_16350280

LofMc

 

[DirtLaneFarm]

Thanks all. I am getting around this morning to go and check her again this morning. Gonna take me a bit of eye salve and a spot of honey with me. I am also going to give her a little yogurt to help. I will post another photo. This is all so frustrating! I feel so helpless! I am going to call a vet this morning and see if they will give some advice. These we have around here are mostly dog and cat vets. We have 1 that is a livestock vet, but mostly it is limited to cattle, goats, horses and pigs. Most do not see poultry as valuable. Well, that's their opinion.

 

[DirtLaneFarm]

OK. At first I thought this might have been even worse than yesterday, but I think it is actually draining and not as red and puffy. I was able to clean out her nose and a little off her eye before I had to leave for work. Now the even better news. I have two that have bubbly eyes and swollen sinuses. Looks to be some kind of sinus infection spreading around. Not sure what is going on. We have had a record amount of rain here last month and it is raining again today. That along with the mite problem, dusting them last night with woodash/Sevin Dust/DE. I am doing my best to keep everyone dry and warm but it is not easy since their run is not covered and hasn't dried out in a month. This weekend I plan on cleaning the coop again, misting everything with bleach water and replacing the shavings again. As soon as a vet's office opens, I will call him and see what else he recommends.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

That is bad news that the others also have bubbling eyes and swollen sinuses, and that completely changes my recommendations as this is not from a singular injury for a singular bird but something more sinister.

It sounds like you now have something going through the flock that probably is viral if the antibiotics have not been helping.

That can be anything from Newcastle to Avian Influenza (which is scary as that would need to be diagnosed as it affects not only your flock but countywide, even state wide).

If bacterial, it might be Coryza, which Sulmet is a good treatment for and some antibiotics might not treat well.

Since it came, went away, and came again it could be Mycoplasma Gallisepticum (MG) which is bacterial and infects the bird life long coming on at times of stress, treatable by antibiotics, and is highly infectious.

Yes, definitely see what your vet says and stress that others are now bubbling in the eyes with swollen sinuses. I'll link some reading for you below.

LofMc

https://poultrykeeper.com/respiratory-problems/respiratory-disease-in-chickens/

https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ps031

 

[DirtLaneFarm]

So, the vet told me that she only knows some things about poultry because they talked about it in veterinary school. the other two vets in town are closed today. So I called one in another town. She says to continue the treatment that I have been doing for 3 to 4 more days, keep the eyes cleaned up and the sinuses clear with the Vet-RX. Give the other 2 a round of antibiotics and put a powdered antibiotic into the water for the other hens. Sounds like alot of antibiotic but I will do whatever. Going out tonight and cleaning eyeballs, giving shots and generally becoming unpopular in the hen house.

What is crazy about all of this is the fact that I have not added any new birds for over a year! No one goes in my pens, I don't go to anyone elses and I only have 4 older birds besides these guys that are not sick at all.

 

[DirtLaneFarm]

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So this is tonight. A little more cleaning, I lanced it but nothing came out but a blood clot. Hardly any yellow infection tonight. She is still eating and all. That is not pus in her eye, it is an antibiotic ointment the vet said to use. $20 for a tiny tube!
One of the others that had symptoms is doing fine and the rooster seems like he is starting to do a bit better. I will continue to treat aggressively for a while and put someTerramycin in the water for everyone else for 3 more days. Maybe there is a light at the end of the tunnel for my little flock.

 

[DirtLaneFarm]

Today began much better! Went to the coop to do the morning eye cleaning and salve application. The hen was just coming down from the roost to go eat and being her normal cranky self with the others. I have given them some yogurt to eat as a treat for putting up with me and my poor administrations. The eye is still swollen, but it is pink and there was no drainage or pus this morning. The rooster and the second hen look great. I will continue all of their treatments for 2 more days to make sure that I get this mess nipped in the bud. I am still trying to put 2 & 2 together with all of this. This is what was different in the last few of weeks:
1. Had a terrible outbreak of mites. Dusted coop with sevin dust and DE. Applied Ivamectrin to each one.

2. Had a crazy young rooster trying to mate with anything that would stand still long enough or keeping the pen stirred up. (He is now separated and in the process of being rehomed)

3. The pour on did not work to get rid of the mites. Dusted everyone with Sevin Dust/DE. This was a diffcult 1 person job and had it all over the place and in the air. I noticed that when I was using the DE that everyone has recommended, it was kind of stingy to my hands and irratitating to my nose. All the girls were kind of sneezy too. Right after this is when I began to start having some issues.

4. Rain! Record amounts in December. It is raining again today. Weather that is fairly warm and then freezing.

I am guessing with everything happening in the last few weeks, my bunch is pretty stressed out. Time to let them roam around the yard for a while this weekend and maybe that will help some. There is no free ranging if I am not at home anymore.

Anyway, this is where we are and just trying to get everyone healthy again.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Glad to hear your birds are doing better.

DE is very irritating to the respiratory system to both birds and humans. I have asthma, and I choose not to use it for that reason. Federal government has warnings about DE for that reason. It can be very harmful to the lungs.

For Ivermectin to work on Northern Fowl Mites (if that is the kind you have), you need to apply in 3 consecutive applications, small drop at base of neck and base of tail (do not let it get inside vent) at 7 days apart. Ivermectin is ineffective against Red Roost Mite (the kind that live in the coop).

With the crazy rainy weather, cold, and dust, and a recurrent bout, I strongly suspicion MG/CRD is at play for your one bird and likely others. It is highly contagious and it never leaves their system after the original infection. Subsequent bouts can be triggered by stressors like cold, dust, and stress....or all that simply lowered their immune system for something opportunistic like IB.

I agree keep treating for several more days (perhaps a week) to make sure you are through this.

LofMc