Inherited a chicken with an eye injury, advice?

[Lindenksh]

When purchasing a couple 20 week old pullets to add to my backyard flock a couple days ago, I was offered another with an eye injury. She's a commercial, 20 weeks old, and weighing the same as the others.

Her eye is swollen, she keeps it shut majority of the time, and when it's open it looks cloudy and a white spot in the middle (maybe site of original injury?). She walks with caution, uses her other eye, lays eggs sometimes, eats and drinks a bit, mostly likes to lie in the sun with her head nestled in. She doesnt roost at night, opts to sleep on ground (I place her on the roost) and didnt find her way back to the henhouse tonight so i found her on the ground in the ru when I went to close them up for the night.

I don't see any bleeding, washed away what was crusted around her eye with warm water. The previous owner (who got it from another) thinks another chicken pecked it.

When out in the larger run she slowly walks around and scratches, eats and drinks more when I hold it up to her face so she can feel it with her beak.

Looking for ways to manage it myself, I have saline solution and polysporin if needed. Don't have opthamologic gel as its hard to find where I am.

She's in a temporary coop with the other pullets she came with while I transition them to the established flock (plan to keep her separate longer).

Any suggestions or insights welcome!

 

[coach723]

Can you post some close up and in focus pictures of the eyes? You can use the polysporin, plain neosporin (has one more medication than the polysporin) or if you can find some terramycin eye ointment (many feed stores and tractor supplies carry it, over the counter) in the eye a couple of times a day. I would flush the eye first with the saline to remove any debris or pus first. Without seeing it, it's hard to say if it looks like infection, injury, or she may be blind in that eye permanently. If she still has one good eye she can probably adapt but will always be at greater risk of predator attack since her vision is impaired. Keep food and water in the same locations all the time so she can learn where it is and find it easily.

 

[Lindenksh]

Can you post some close up and in focus pictures of the eyes? You can use the polysporin, plain neosporin (has one more medication than the polysporin) or if you can find some terramycin eye ointment (many feed stores and tractor supplies carry it, over the counter) in the eye a couple of times a day. I would flush the eye first with the saline to remove any debris or pus first. Without seeing it, it's hard to say if it looks like infection, injury, or she may be blind in that eye permanently. If she still has one good eye she can probably adapt but will always be at greater risk of predator attack since her vision is impaired. Keep food and water in the same locations all the time so she can learn where it is and find it easily.

Thank you! I started with the polysporin today with your suggestion. Here are a couple photos - apologies as the one with her eye open aren't great since she was moving around a lot. Her eyeball though is fairly cloudy, and there is a white spot which someone suggested may be damaged tissue (?). Let me know if this helps at all, but I'll keep trying to get a better photo of her eye open.

 

[coach723]

Definitely need better pictures. If you can get a helper to hold it might be easier. The blurry picture looks like there may be pus in the corner of the eye. Chicken pus is very firm, like cheese, not liquid like in humans. If it's pus then it all has to come out for the medication to be effective. This thread has a picture you can see for comparison to what you are seeing, of pus in the eye, post #4 has a video showing removal on another bird. It's graphic, so if you are squeamish.... be aware.
Are both eyes swollen? Do both have pus in them?

 

[Lindenksh]

Definitely need better pictures. If you can get a helper to hold it might be easier. The blurry picture looks like there may be pus in the corner of the eye. Chicken pus is very firm, like cheese, not liquid like in humans. If it's pus then it all has to come out for the medication to be effective. This thread has a picture you can see for comparison to what you are seeing, of pus in the eye, post #4 has a video showing removal on another bird. It's graphic, so if you are squeamish.... be aware.
Are both eyes swollen? Do both have pus in them?

Just the one eye is swollen, the other looks perfectly fine as far as I can tell. I did wonder if it was pus because it does seem to move around a bit. I will check out the resources on how to remove pus - wish me luck!

 

[Lindenksh]

Just the one eye is swollen, the other looks perfectly fine as far as I can tell. I did wonder if it was pus because it does seem to move around a bit. I will check out the resources on how to remove pus - wish me luck!

Definitely need better pictures. If you can get a helper to hold it might be easier. The blurry picture looks like there may be pus in the corner of the eye. Chicken pus is very firm, like cheese, not liquid like in humans. If it's pus then it all has to come out for the medication to be effective. This thread has a picture you can see for comparison to what you are seeing, of pus in the eye, post #4 has a video showing removal on another bird. It's graphic, so if you are squeamish.... be aware.
Are both eyes swollen? Do both have pus in them?

Here are a few more pictures. Tried the warm compress and polysporin again tonight - she didn't stay still enough for me to remove anything unfortunately.

 

[coach723]

You are probably going to need help, someone to hold her while you deal with the eye. You can wrap her in a towel, like a burrito to help hold her wings. If you lay her on her back they are usually calmer that way. I can't tell if it's pus or not, but whatever that is it's not normal and shouldn't be there. I would do some manipulating and flushing and see if you can get it cleaned out. The eye does look cloudy, so vision may be gone or impaired, but if it's infection then it still needs to be taken care of so she doesn't lose the other eye also. I will tag another member to see if they have anything else to add.
@Wyorp Rock

 

[Wyorp Rock]

You are probably going to need help, someone to hold her while you deal with the eye. You can wrap her in a towel, like a burrito to help hold her wings. If you lay her on her back they are usually calmer that way. I can't tell if it's pus or not, but whatever that is it's not normal and shouldn't be there. I would do some manipulating and flushing and see if you can get it cleaned out. The eye does look cloudy, so vision may be gone or impaired, but if it's infection then it still needs to be taken care of so she doesn't lose the other eye also. I will tag another member to see if they have anything else to add.
@Wyorp Rock

I agree.
It is hard to tell what is in the eye if it's debris or pus, but I would also investigate it further. Wrap her and work on flushing the eye, see if any pus comes out if you press on the tissue surrounding the eye as well. Hopefully by flushing and getting ointment in the eye a couple of times a day, it will start to work it's way out.

 

[Lindenksh]

I agree.
It is hard to tell what is in the eye if it's debris or pus, but I would also investigate it further. Wrap her and work on flushing the eye, see if any pus comes out if you press on the tissue surrounding the eye as well. Hopefully by flushing and getting ointment in the eye a couple of times a day, it will start to work it's way out.

Thank you both so much! We will keep trying and see what progress we can make.