How to stop self harm - chicken with ear injury keeps reopening wound. Help!

[Eggcessive]

Have you added any new birds to your flock recently? The swelling and foam in her right eye could be a sign of MG, a common respiratory disease in poultry. She may have already been harboring MG since you inherited them. What antibiotic did the vet prescribe? You can try to get Tylosin powder from Jedds.com to treat MG symptoms. Denagard is also used by some. The other eye looks red which is common with conjunctivitis, another MG symptom. While you are waiting for the antibiotics to arrive, I would flush her eye with saline or Bausch and Lomb Eye Relief eye wash twice a day. Apply either the Terramycin or plain Neosporin triple antibiotic ointment twice a day. I would separate her inside a wire dog crate with her own food and water, but leave her near her flock for comfort. Also take her aside twice a day and give her a small bowl of wet chicken feed and some bits of soft cooked egg. She probably cannot see well, and respiratory diseases will make them lethargic.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I'm worried all the scratching or bonking her head on the pen while fluffing caused something else. Right side is the one with the cut ear, though hard to tell with it clean.

She's very pale.
Does she have Mites?

I agree, it looks like she has infection in the eye(s). Good care suggestion from @Eggcessive in post#11

You mention she's bonking her head on the cage? Is she stressed by being confined?
She's crested, so may have suffered some type of head trauma in addition what ever else is going on. It may be a good idea to give her 400IU Vitamin E and 1/4tablet B-Complex daily.

 

[Skylark47]

She's very pale.
Does she have Mites?

I agree, it looks like she has infection in the eye(s). Good care suggestion from @Eggcessive in post#11

You mention she's bonking her head on the cage? Is she stressed by being confined?
She's crested, so may have suffered some type of head trauma in addition what ever else is going on. It may be a good idea to give her 400IU Vitamin E and 1/4tablet B-Complex daily.

Thank you, yes her pale comb has happened over the past two months, it used to be fairly bright red. I think she's confused by the cage and my attempt to put a roost bar for her may have been too close to one end for her to turn around (I've been adjusting it to find the most comfortable spot) but also after she scratches the ear she shakes/fluffs her head to shake it off and has bonked her beak a few times on the cage. She likes to roost right up against one side.

I'll look into the vitamin complex. She's getting Nutridrench in her water but now that her other eye seems to be getting worse she can't see and I notice she didn't drink anything last night or this morning. Though she did manage to blindly peck at the watermelon and has eaten a lot of that which has some fluids.

No mites, the vet checked her, and her fecal came back clean from parasites.

Thanks for the link to the other post on eye infection, I will check that out!

 

[Skylark47]

Have you added any new birds to your flock recently? The swelling and foam in her right eye could be a sign of MG, a common respiratory disease in poultry. She may have already been harboring MG since you inherited them. What antibiotic did the vet prescribe? You can try to get Tylosin powder from Jedds.com to treat MG symptoms. Denagard is also used by some. The other eye looks red which is common with conjunctivitis, another MG symptom. While you are waiting for the antibiotics to arrive, I would flush her eye with saline or Bausch and Lomb Eye Relief eye wash twice a day. Apply either the Terramycin or plain Neosporin triple antibiotic ointment twice a day. I would separate her inside a wire dog crate with her own food and water, but leave her near her flock for comfort. Also take her aside twice a day and give her a small bowl of wet chicken feed and some bits of soft cooked egg. She probably cannot see well, and respiratory diseases will make them lethargic.

No new birds to the flock and I know the previous owners raised all of these from chicks, but I don't know any of their activity prior to us being here. But looking back at photos from when we first moved in, I do think it has something that happened not long after we moved in (or at least no visible signs back in August).

I will definitely look into MG, since the other eye seems more red today and she can't see at all, blindly pecking for food.
We've been giving her shots of Oxytetracycline, pill form of Meloxicam, and the Terramycin on her eye (now eyes). I will try a flush though. I did buy some Veterycin eye wash I can try before applying the Terramycin.

The wet/soft food idea seems good given that now she suddenly can't see at all! I've been putting the raspberries inside the watermelon rind bowl and she's been eating those, but the feed and water bowls are untouched. I'll try some egg and food mash inside the watermelon!

Thanks for your advice!

 

[Skylark47]

Have you added any new birds to your flock recently? The swelling and foam in her right eye could be a sign of MG, a common respiratory disease in poultry. She may have already been harboring MG since you inherited them. What antibiotic did the vet prescribe? You can try to get Tylosin powder from Jedds.com to treat MG symptoms. Denagard is also used by some. The other eye looks red which is common with conjunctivitis, another MG symptom. While you are waiting for the antibiotics to arrive, I would flush her eye with saline or Bausch and Lomb Eye Relief eye wash twice a day. Apply either the Terramycin or plain Neosporin triple antibiotic ointment twice a day. I would separate her inside a wire dog crate with her own food and water, but leave her near her flock for comfort. Also take her aside twice a day and give her a small bowl of wet chicken feed and some bits of soft cooked egg. She probably cannot see well, and respiratory diseases will make them lethargic.

If it is MG, does this mean she can never rejoin her flock? I'm not even sure yet if she will recover enough to do this since they attacked her after her first eye incident. Or would they likely already have been exposed this whole time so she could rejoin? We are taking it a day at a time right now but I know I will after to eventually figure out what comes next after healing.

 

[townchicks]

If it is MG, all of the flock has been exposed, and are now considered carriers. They may never show symptoms, or could break out at a later time. So putting her back in the flock does not endanger them, but it will be difficult to reintegrate her safely, especially if she is blind. Most likely it came from wild birds. If you can swing it, a blood test can tell you if that is what is going on. You are giving her the best care you can, she is a lucky girl in that respect.