Injured chick! --what's wrong with her eye?-- *RIP my little one*

[Moonkit]

I am a new chicken mom to four adorable chicks.. however, the smallest of the 4, an ameraucana, has somehow managed to become injured:

Any idea what could have happened to it? Is it possible that one of the others pecked it? I have not seen any acts of open bullying, but this chick has tended to be the most sleepy and the smallest of the lot. She is drinking and eating, but tends to stand still near their heat source. The chicks are about 2 weeks old.. give or take. I bought them on Sunday and was told that they were 11 days old at the time. The polish with two black dots on its head has been proving to be an escape artist.

See above. The hurt one is standing between one of the polish and the other ameraucana chick.

What is the best way to treat the eye? Should I just leave be? Separate into another brooder?

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

I can't see it well on my computer- is the eye gone? Or bleeding?

 

[Miss Lydia]

you might wash it out with some saline eye wash or make your own using warm water and salt. then put something like neosporin w/o pain relief in and around the eye. Most likely it got pecked, it doesn't have to be bullying just had it's head in the wrong place at the wrong time, just keep an eye on things because if one gets wounded they all can start pecking it. I wouldn't seprate it unless you see them messing with it, it would be too stressful for it to be alone.

 

[Moonkit]

Neither.. it appears to be simple shut with some feather loss around it.

edit: with making my own from salt.. is table salt ok.. or should it be epsom salt?

 

[Moonkit]

All right.. went and got saline solution and the neosporin (without pain relief).. the saline solution seems to have helped, it was already opening up the eye. Using a Q-tip, we 'painted' a dab of the neosporin around the eye. After giving it lots of cuddles, and seeing that the other chicks were asleep/sleepy, I put it back in the brooder. Hopefully since its bedtime they'll be more interested in sleeping than picking on the little one. By morning, I hope the neosporin will have dried and the chick with look "normal" to the others and not get picked on.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Hurrah!!! I am glad the chick is getting better!

 

[Miss Lydia]

Quote:
Sounds good let us know how it's doing...

 

[Moonkit]

I checked on the fuzz butts this morning. The little one's eye is about 1/2 to 3/4's open now, still not as wide as the other side, but certainly better than yesterday. It seems my hope panned out in that the others were too sleepy last night to be interested in pecking at the eye. I came down this morning to find that the little one had claimed dominion over the water bowl and was drinking. Would it be a bad idea to do another rinse/neosporin dose tonight?

In other news.. the polish chick with two black dots on its head has gained her name, "Valkyrie". Every time that lid comes off now, she makes her escape and leads me on a merry chase to round her up again.

 

[Anianna]

I don't think it would hurt to give it another wash. When they're that little, they peck so gently I couldn't imagine it causing injury. It may be the chick bumped those bricks or fell face-first on them and got some debris in its eye and a bit of scrape around the eye. The concern then would be to keep it clean and keep the Neosporin on it to fend of secondary infection.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Quote:
X2 and great news!!