Injured eye?

[Jennifromtheblock]

Hi all! So we are new at having chickens. Everything has been smooth sailing for the past 3 months. Chickens are happy and healthy. When closing up their yard the other night however, I noticed one of our Rhode Island Reds was laying in the nesting box and not in the coop with the others. Upon further investigation, her left eye appears to be popping out (yes you read that correctly) I’m not sure what could have caused this as I can not find anything remotely similar. I have her separated from the rest of flock in case it’s a packing injury or some type of weird infection. I have also been putting Terramycin on it as of yesterday. This morning looked to be no change. Anyone have experience with anything similar. Will she lose the eye? Her other eye looks completely normal.
She is drinking water and eating still.

 

[azygous]

The blackened tissue is either dried blood or necrotic tissue. The pus needs to be removed or bacteria will continue to grow and multiply under it. Your choices are cleaning the eye out yourself, have a vet do it, or euthanize the chicken.

The eye ball is securely fastened by ligaments and nerve fibers. You will not pop the eye out. Watch the video again. Exert pressure laterally and that will move the pus toward the edge of the eye so you can lift it out.

Infectious coryza is a form of upper respiratory disease caused by the bacterium Haemophilus paragallinarum.

Often just the topical antibiotic is adequate to treat it, but you can also add an oral antibiotic for more punch. The fish antibiotics are what many of us use for chickens. No prescription is required.

I do not have a human helper when I need to treat a chicken. So I have old bath towels I keep handy to wrap the chicken securely to immobilize wings and feet. This also helps calm the chicken so they're less likely to move.

 

[SmiYa0126]

@Wyorp Rock @azygous @Eggcessive eye super swollen please help!

What antibiotics do you have on hand? Human grade or animal grade?

 

[Eggcessive]

It looks to me like there has been an injury to the eye, or she might have hemorrhaged into the eye itself, noted by the redness inside the eye. Is there pus in the eye or dried mucus in the nostrils? I would clean away any pus, and keep applying the Terramycin eye ointment 2-3 times daily. Could you see a vet?

 

[azygous]

The topical antibiotic is just a dab in each eye twice a day. If you get amoxicillin (fish mox or aqua-mox) it's 250mg once a day for ten days. You may do both.

 

[SmiYa0126]

She looks to be doing slightly better. She’s only been in the antibiotics for 2 days and ill continuing to put the Terramycin on her eye. I am not able to get anything to pop out of it however. I still feel like it’s her eye but I’ve tried to apply slight pressure to see if anything would pop out (pus/mucus) but nothing happened.

@Jennifromtheblock Try to do a tea bag compress on her eye. Brew a chamomile tea bag, let it come to just slightly warm then let it sit on her eye for as long as she tolerates it. Then try to see if you can pop the pus out.

Try to put pressure closer to her beak rather than the back of her eye where the scab is. Like azygous said, you can't pop her eye out.

Offer treats afterwards and cuddles if she tolerates it.

 

[Jennifromtheblock]

Update: I attempted to try to pop anything out and was able to get some slight liquid pus/mucus out from near the beak. The rest of it seems pretty stuck on. I didn’t want to pull to hard since occasionally she made a little noise as if I was hurting her. I am attaching photos of after the draining. Are we sure the black portion that’s protruded is not her eye?

 

[picklestheduck]

Update: I attempted to try to pop anything out and was able to get some slight liquid pus/mucus out from near the beak. The rest of it seems pretty stuck on. I didn’t want to pull to hard since occasionally she made a little noise as if I was hurting her. I am attaching photos of after the draining. Are we sure the black portion that’s protruded is not her eye?

Oh dear that doesn’t look pretty! Sorry I have like no experience with eye issues but hopefully someone else can give you some more advice soon

 

[SmiYa0126]

I didn’t have chamomile tea, but I did use a warm rag Connor’ compress for a bit. That’s how I was able to get the pus to release. I still have her quarantined away from the others. She is still eating and drinking normally no less than usual.

Chamomile is a natural anti inflammatory and very soothing. It will help with her inflammation.

 

[Jennifromtheblock]

Any update on this girl?

Not really any update. No improvement with compress and antibiotics. I’m still not 100% certain it’s coryza. Another group said the black area was her eye Andi’s she most likely got it caught on something and that it needed to be popped back in or taken to the vet. There are no vets on my area that will treat birds of any sort. Right now she’s back with the flock and we’re more of less waiting for her to lose that eye. she has taken on a liking to me for treating her though and has since started following me inside the house, she’s definitely a friendly little gal despite what her eye is going through.