My chickens appear to have swollen eyes! Please Help!!!

[OrpieLover31]

A couple days ago I went to check up on my chickens and noticed that one of my chickens had a swollen eye! It looked really disturbing so I was not able to look at her for very long before I ran inside like a little baby! But I decided I was going to treat this so I got warm water and epsom salt to go put on her eye. After I did that I noticed that another one of my younger chickens had bubbles in her eye!!! I did the same to her eyes and left it as it is. The next day I came out to check to see if they were doing ok but another chicken got it!!! This was on one of my oldest chickens! Her eye was swollen shut! I got warm water and epsom and put on all of my chickens eyes. The next day my older chicken whose eye was swollen shut did not leave the roost at all for the entire day! She even laid her egg from the roost! Both of her eyes were swollen shut! I kept on putting warm water and epsom salt on all of my chickens two times a day for three days intel I finally saw improvement! My older chickens eyes are doing a lot better now! But she is still very weak and rarely comes out to free range. And sadly I noticed that one of my Buff Orpingtons just got it to! This is so frustrating! By now I know that all of my chickens have been exposed to this mysteries infection or something by now. What do I do!!??? And what is this!!?? Please anyone give me some advise! I really dont want to lose any of my chickens! I will get some pictures for you guys if you want them.

 

[Pyxis]

The bubbly eye thing sounds like a respiratory infection/disease. Plus it's spreading, so it's definitely not just a case of an injured eye. Go to your local feed store and pick up some Duramycin or tetracycline (Duramycin is just brand-name tetracycline) and dose them with that. I will warn you that there are some really nasty respiratory diseases that chickens can contract, caused by Mycoplasma. One, Chronic Respiratory Disease, is never cured. Every time a chicken gets stressed they get sick again and show symptoms and they have to be medicated again. Once a bird is infected it's a carrier for life and will infect every new bird you bring into the flock. It can even be passed to chicks through the egg. I'm not saying for sure that's what's happening to you, I just wanted to make you aware of the possibility. If it is what your birds have, you should never sell them or their chicks to anyone else or let them come in contact with anyone else's flock, or they'll infect them too. Again, that's the worse case scenario. Maybe they just all have respiratory infections.

 

[realsis]

you can also give tylan injectable if they are not drinking. please look up dose for chickens. it says for cattle or swine on bottle however people have had GREAT success with using tylan 50 injectable for chickens with respatory illness. i keep some on hand incase my chickens get ill.sometimes an injection is the course of action because they are not drinking as they should be and it gets into the blood stream very quickly at a stronger concentration than trying a water soluable antibotic..it sounds like your chickens need a stronger concentration at this point in the illness. you need to act fast. i hope this helps
if they are not drinking as they should be id consider this route. this will insure a higer concentration of antibotic into the blood much faster. if they are drinking you can try the water antibotic but at this point id seriously consider injection. best of luck.

 

[OrpieLover31]

you can also give tylan injectable if they are not drinking. please look up dose for chickens. it says for cattle or swine on bottle however people have had GREAT success with using tylan 50 injectable for chickens with respatory illness. i keep some on hand incase my chickens get ill.sometimes an injection is the course of action because they are not drinking as they should be and it gets into the blood stream very quickly at a stronger concentration than trying a water soluable antibotic..it sounds like your chickens need a stronger concentration at this point in the illness. you need to act fast. i hope this helps
if they are not drinking as they should be id consider this route. this will insure a higer concentration of antibotic into the blood much faster. if they are drinking you can try the water antibotic but at this point id seriously consider injection. best of luck.

Well they all seem to be eating and drinking just fine. Should I still do the injection? And do I inject all of my chickens with that? Im new to the chicken world so sorry if I annoy you with all of my questions, I just want to know whats going on with my birds.

 

[Pyxis]

I've always done the tetracycline, so I'm not sure about the injectable stuff, although I do think it's stronger and I know a lot of people do it. However, you have to be comfortable with sticking a needle in your birds, and I would think you would have to do all of them...that's why I did the tetracycline when I was concerned one of my birds had a respiratory infection this winter - all the birds were treated so I worried less.

 

[OrpieLover31]

The bubbly eye thing sounds like a respiratory infection/disease. Plus it's spreading, so it's definitely not just a case of an injured eye. Go to your local feed store and pick up some Duramycin or tetracycline (Duramycin is just brand-name tetracycline) and dose them with that. I will warn you that there are some really nasty respiratory diseases that chickens can contract, caused by Mycoplasma. One, Chronic Respiratory Disease, is never cured. Every time a chicken gets stressed they get sick again and show symptoms and they have to be medicated again. Once a bird is infected it's a carrier for life and will infect every new bird you bring into the flock. It can even be passed to chicks through the egg. I'm not saying for sure that's what's happening to you, I just wanted to make you aware of the possibility. If it is what your birds have, you should never sell them or their chicks to anyone else or let them come in contact with anyone else's flock, or they'll infect them too. Again, that's the worse case scenario. Maybe they just all have respiratory infections.

Is there a way to tell if you have the worst kind of respiratory disease? Because the chicken that first got it seems to act just fine now. Her swelling has gone down a lot if not completely. And the older chickens swelling has gone down a lot to! She just seems tired and not laying any eggs. She is always on the roost. I think she could be stressed. But the others act as if they dont have anything going on with them. They all go out and free range for the day and lay their eggs and they come back at night to go to sleep. I sure hope that they all only have respiratory infections as I imagine that is easier to cure.

 

[Pyxis]

I think the only way to be sure is to get a test done. I believe the state vet does it for free, maybe? I had a scare once with one of my chicks and thought he had CRD (really he just got pecked in the eye and my vet jumped to conclusions) and I think someone told me that. The vet said he could do it too but he wanted outrageous amounts of money.

 

[OrpieLover31]

I've always done the tetracycline, so I'm not sure about the injectable stuff, although I do think it's stronger and I know a lot of people do it. However, you have to be comfortable with sticking a needle in your birds, and I would think you would have to do all of them...that's why I did the tetracycline when I was concerned one of my birds had a respiratory infection this winter - all the birds were treated so I worried less.

Im not sure if I feel ok with sticking a needle in my birds but I will do it if I have to. I feel attached to these guys! They are like my dogs to me. They are very special to me and I would hate to lose one..

 

[Pyxis]

Im not sure if I feel ok with sticking a needle in my birds but I will do it if I have to. I feel attached to these guys! They are like my dogs to me. They are very special to me and I would hate to lose one..

If the ones who were acting bad at first are already starting to act a little better even without treatment, I think you're fine to go with tetracycline if that makes you more comfortable. I'm a vet student, so the needle thing wouldn't bother me personally, but I know it's not like that for a lot of people. I think even I'd worry that I was going to do it wrong and somehow hurt them, so I totally get where you're coming from.

 

[OrpieLover31]

I think the only way to be sure is to get a test done. I believe the state vet does it for free, maybe? I had a scare once with one of my chicks and thought he had CRD (really he just got pecked in the eye and my vet jumped to conclusions) and I think someone told me that. The vet said he could do it too but he wanted outrageous amounts of money.

Oh boy. Im not sure if I want to bring my chicken to the vet...