My chicks eye is hurt.

[TheBigWRanch]

From the day I got this chick it has had an eye problem. It was born on the 21st of Feb. I've been gently washing the eye with water everyday, but The problem hasn't gone away, it seems to be getting worse. The chick srcatches at it a lot, and rubs it on it's back. I have Terramycin antibiotic, but have only used it on dogs cats and rabbits. Would it be OK to use on a chicken? Do you have any other suggestions on how to get rid of the problem? Thanks a lot!

 

[chicknmania]

Oh, boy, do we have that problem all the time! Get some eyewash from the drugstore; the kind that has mainly boric acid in it but isn't contactl lens stuff. Drop some on the chick's eye, then apply terramycin eye gel twice a day. We also give them terramycin soluble powder in the water 4 tsp per gallon, and used that strength for our chicks too when they were first sick with ILT. We hold the chicken for a few minutes after applying the eye gel, so they dont just wipe if off; but it seems to feel good. If you do it right before they go to roost at night, they wont wipe it off. Three to four days max should bring them back to normal. If not, there'r stronger eye drops available; we get them through our vet supplier, but I can't remember offhand what they're called; they work well for more advanced cases. Eye problems are caused by a lot of things; our most recent episode was caused by old straw in their bedding. . We got rid of the straw, and applied the meds; cleared up in two days.