Hen with an eye injury after reintroduction to the flock WITH PICS

[Chickenaddict]

My serama hen who is 1 year old had been brooding chicks in the house for the past few months, She was finally ready to join the rest of her flock mates a few days ago. Last night upon nightly inspections I noticed her eye was swollen and appeared to have fatty tissue bulging out of the corner of her eye. I immediately brought her in the house and flushed the eye with sterile water and gently put a cold pack over it for a bit. Today it seems to be worse but doesn't seem to phase her at all. She still eats, poos, drinks normally. I'm not sure how to treat this injury and would love for some much needed advise on how to handle this without having to take her to the vet. We just had major well work done (pump, pressure tank, control switch)and more to be done next week and can't afford to take her in. I am hoping the swelling will go away on its own and her eye won't get infected. I used to have terramycin eye ointment on hand but recently ran out. TIA

 

[Renee]

It sounds like you have done a good job with her already. I hope she gets better by tomorrow. It does not look like the chickens I have seen with Coryza, so perhaps it is just an injury, as you suspect.

 

[nnbreeder]

I have a hen that sustained an injury like that nearly five years ago. In time it will go down but if it does like my hen it will never totally go away. Don't affect her egg laying or baby hatching though!

 

[Chickenaddict]

I am positive its just an injury, she is as healthy as a horse and always has been. She always has a hard time getting back in with the flock after brooding chicks but this time they got her eye

It seems to be getting worse yet, By morning that fleshy part will be covering her whole eye and i'm still not sure what to do about it. I really don't want her to loose her eye.

Around the actual eye is swollen too and she has a spot of blood on her comb which really tells me she got pecked pretty good. As you can see her comb had previous damage from my big cochin so she is already "damaged goods" but that doesn't bother me. She is an excellent mother. Even if she was to never lay another egg again she will always have a loving home here

nnbreeder thank you for giving me some hope, I can handle it if she turns out to have permanent damage to her eye, I have a few "special needs" hens around already and I love them dearly. In fact one of them is a hen that was blinded in her eye from an injury as well but she never got the fleshy stuff popping out of her eye like dahlia does.

 

[Matt A NC]

From the location, she may actually have something under her inner eye lid. Remember chickens have 2 sets.

I have one that did that. I gently put some pressure on the swelling from the front. A piece of something popped out. Whatever it was fell into the grass and was lost. My girl's eye is fine, but she has permanent damage to the inner lid and cannot blink it. As a result her eye waters constantly into her beard(faverolle). She doesn't act like it bothers her and has been fine for the last 4 months.

Matt

 

[ZZsBabiez]

I don't know if this is what it is.. but it sure sounds like it!

Copied from http://www.jefferslivestock.com/ssc...=WS73XG1U2VBG8NTBT5EMJ5CHD722EBGA&pf_id=16803

Details on how to use VetRX

"Eye Worm"

This affliction is most harmful to game birds, which must have good, clear vision at all times. The tiny worm works its way under the third eyelid and causes a pus pocket to form. The bird will blink excessively and rub its eye at base of wing feather.
To treat, hold bird under your arm so you have both hands free. Open bird's mouth while turning its head to side and tilting down so you can see the cleft in the roof of the mouth. Dip a small cotton swab into warm VETRX™. Press swab right into cleft. Do this slowly. Watch for VetRx to come from each side of bird's beak and pus coming from corner of each eye. Remove pus and rest bird for awhile. You may have to repeat treatment two or three times before you see results.

 

[Chickenaddict]

Thanks Matt
She has a tiny spot of blood in the center if that mass, It now looks like whitish puss is oozing out a bit. I Checked her eye when i first noticed the damage and saw nothing lodged in there. I will check again when i flush her eye with saline in the morning.

 

[Chickenaddict]

Quote:
Huh I never thought of that altho i have heard of it. I do have VetRX on hand. I literally just put her out with the rest of the flock just the other day tho and she had been fine one minute and the next she had damage which was consistant with getting pecked. SHe was fine before i put her out there, does the eyeworm affect a chicken that quickly? I may have to try this treatment in the morning too.

Thanks guys, I'll keep ya posted on how she is tomorrow

 

[Lolliegee]

How's your hen's eye? I'm curious if you did the VetRx treatment. I've got a young chicken with an injury from an opossum and I'm wondering if this method would help to clear the rest of the gunk from her eyes and sinuses.

 

[Chickenaddict]

I have not done the vetRX treatment yet But i did flush her eye 3 times today and poked around (not literally) in there to see if i may have missed something lodged in there. Her eye has swelled more and it appears that she has a torn eyelid from the peck, when i first saw this I grabbed a tweezers sterile of course and tried to pull that piece off thinking it was a shard of pine shavings or something thats when i realized it was her eyelid so i left it alone. Her eye is watering pretty good right now probably because she can't close her eye. Tomorrow morning I will be trying the vetRX treatment altho i don't think its eyeworms. Her spirit hasn't changed a bit she still went outside and enjoyed the day just like it was any other day. She is sleeping in her own special box until the eye gets better, I'm afraid if i have her around the others they may peck at her injury even more.

Lolliegee I sure hope your chicken pulls thru for you . I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow morning