How do I treat her eye?

[Gotalotofpetstoo]

I know I'm likely to get yelled at for this because I know it didn't happen overnight so it was obviously overlooked. Back story.... She has been broody for months, yes, months. I haven't had one go broody so I wasn't up to date on the way to treat one that goes broody until I recently looked it up and saw they shouldn't be allowed to stay broody for more than a few weeks. She is currently sitting on 7 eggs from our larger chickens, since we don't want any more small chickens (she is a cochin bantam). She is in a coup/run with 3 others her size, 1 Roo and 2 hens. I'm thinking the other hens have pecked her eye maybe since she's been hoarding the eggs?? Right now I have wet warm cloth on it trying to break the scab loose and open up her eye, which is actually only held closed in the outer corner. There was some black crud in her ear, but I was able to get that out. A little bit of blood after I got it out but not actively bleeding. Once I get this scab off her eye, what is the best product to treat the wound in assuming I'll find underneath the scabs. Just not sure what is safe to use that close to her eye. Her eggs date back to 9/24 so they should start hatching in about a week, so we planned to move her into a separate coop this weekend since she hatched 1 egg a few weeks ago and they ate the baby . We're not trying to raise chickens, we just collect the eggs, but since we recently acquired some Jersey Giants and Golden laces wyandotts, we decided to hatch a few of their eggs to have a few more larger chickens. So, how to treat and should we move her and her eggs up to the house and keep her inside til her eye heals? I'm also concerned from the foot pic that she might have scaly leg mites. I've already trimmed her nails since the picture was taken and was able to scrape off some of what is on her toes.

 

[alinas2010]

I’m so sorry about your hen, sounds like she’s had a rough run lately. Warm compress is a great start. She may have pus in there you might have to try to work out. Let me call on some educators because they may have much better advice for you on her eye and her legs.

While we wait tho, if you have or can get it terramycin is the ointment of choice for the eyes, apply twice a day. If you can’t get any or have to wait to get some, neosporin without pain relief will work fine in the meantime or instead of. I’m not so great with scaly leg mites, I haven’t had to treat ever.

@Wyorp Rock
@Eggcessive
@azygous

 

[azygous]

Broodies do tend to let their health go downhill as they are obsessed with sitting their nest. I've had to force my broodies off the nest twice a day so they will do minimum self maintenance.

As @alinas2010 said, the best eye med is Terramycin. It's kind of pricey, but it's the best thing to treat eye infections. Do apply warm compresses to soften the scab, and pull all of the black stuff off. Then flush the eye and surrounding tissue with saline. Do this flushing at least once a day and apply the Terramycin twice a day.

The SLM should be treated with a thick layer of Vaseline each day to smother the mites. Do it for about a week.

 

[Eggcessive]

Azygous beat me to the answers. I agree that a warm wet compress may help to soften the scab. Saline or eye wash can be used to flush the eye, and the Terramycin eye ointment from a feed store (ask a clerk to get it as it is locked up,) or plain Neosporin triple antibiotic if that is not available. Azygous posted first when my battery died, but I agree the scaly leg mites should be treated with vaseline applied every other day.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Please note, you cannot put Neosporin in a human eye.

 

[Gotalotofpetstoo]

Broodies do tend to let their health go downhill as they are obsessed with sitting their nest. I've had to force my broodies off the nest twice a day so they will do minimum self maintenance.

As @alinas2010 said, the best eye med is Terramycin. It's kind of pricey, but it's the best thing to treat eye infections. Do apply warm compresses to soften the scab, and pull all of the black stuff off. Then flush the eye and surrounding tissue with saline. Do this flushing at least once a day and apply the Terramycin twice a day.

The SLM should be treated with a thick layer of Vaseline each day to smother the mites. Do it for about a week.

Thank you for that info. I've just ordered the terramycin. Well treat all 4 in the coop for scaly leg mites assuming they'll all have them. What do you recommend I treat the coop with?

 

[Gotalotofpetstoo]

Broodies do tend to let their health go downhill as they are obsessed with sitting their nest. I've had to force my broodies off the nest twice a day so they will do minimum self maintenance.

As @alinas2010 said, the best eye med is Terramycin. It's kind of pricey, but it's the best thing to treat eye infections. Do apply warm compresses to soften the scab, and pull all of the black stuff off. Then flush the eye and surrounding tissue with saline. Do this flushing at least once a day and apply the Terramycin twice a day.

The SLM should be treated with a thick layer of Vaseline each day to smother the mites. Do it for about a week.

Suggestions on how long I need to leave her with the babies, if any of them hatch? I know I definitely want to get rid of the SLM before they hatch so the babies don't get them.
And........since you were an active member when I was posting last year about Ethel, I have a question for you since you knew all of her story. I now have 1 of her sisters at my house. She's been here about a month. She didn't perch one night, then the next night she had her head in a corner, so we brought her to the house and started her on the same vitamins and tube feeding we had Ethel on. She (Mae), isn't in bad shape like Ethel was, we caught it right away, but she was behaving same as Ethel. She wouldn't stand or walk and when she tried, she did a nose dive. My husband thinks she also is blind, like Ethel. My initial thought was Ocular Marek's, since it was confirmed that Ethel had Marek's, but her eyes aren't gray, nor were Ethel's. I read something on another page that having ear mites can throw off their balance. So maybe she isn't blind? She is back on her feet and walking around ok now in the house, since being on all the vitamins and tube feeding, but she still won't eat. And Mae doesn't have a large tumor below her vent like Ethel did. I have no doubt she has Marek's since Ethel did, but how can I confirm/treat if she has ear mites? There are no mites on her body. We check that regularly. And just FYI, the new babies, if they hatch, are not on the same property so Marek's shouldn't be an issue when they're born.

 

[azygous]

You could just give the coop a good scrubbing. Or you could spray it with liquid permethrin. It's been my experience, though, that leg mites are pretty much confined to the chickens.

To treat ear mites, just squirt a little mineral or castor oil into the ear each day for a few days. Repeat in seven to ten days.

Have you ever tube fed a chicken? That's a good way to get a weak chicken over the hump.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Suggestions on how long I need to leave her with the babies, if any of them hatch?

When we had broodies hatch chicks we just let the hens raise them with no interference from us. Frankly I don't know how, or if, we could have removed them! The mothers do a far better job of raising them than any human ever could and she also integrates them in with the flock. We did remove the broodies and hatching eggs from the flock and put them in a safe place until the mothers were ready to take them outdoors, but that was it.

 

[Gotalotofpetstoo]

You could just give the coop a good scrubbing. Or you could spray it with liquid permethrin. It's been my experience, though, that leg mites are pretty much confined to the chickens.

To treat ear mites, just squirt a little mineral or castor oil into the ear each day for a few days. Repeat in seven to ten days.

Have you ever tube fed a chicken? That's a good way to get a weak chicken over the hump.

Thank you. And yes, we tube fed Ethel on and off for 7 months until she passed, and are tube feeding her sister now.