My hens eye is completely swollen shut! Whats wrong?

[papoultry08]

Theres a picture of what it looks like. Her other eye is completely fine. I noticed it yesterday and i left her out there overnight. When i went back out this morning it was way worse so i took her inside into the chicken hospital. (Quarrantine) Many people have had similar experiences with the eye and said it was a weasel while some said it was a disease. Please help old Big Marge out! Thanks!

 

[Kelsie2290]

Hello and Welcome To BYC! Sorry about your hen, hope you get some answers on the Emergencies forum.

 

[keith92]

a weasle would leave bite marks on the head. more like a gnat flew in the eye.

 

[nicole camp]

One of my hens too have this problem right now. These are the things I've been doing with her.
-wash her face with a wet paper towel soaked in epson salts and water
-clean her feet with a mild cleaning solution.
-trim or wash any feathers that have the drainage from the eye
-give her an antibiotic feed often found at stores like tractor supply
-clean her eye twice daily

 

[nicole camp]

My hen got her eye damaged during breeding. If you have a rooster this may have happened to you as well. Make sure your coop is clean outside. It could also be germs hanging on the roosts.

 

[gander007]

 

[kpborkowski]

Hi we had a chicken with a similar looking eye problem recently. It started off just slightly swollen with watery discharge. We treated by washing the eye with saline solution. Then it got to the point where the eye no longer opened so we took her to the vet and it turned out to be a bad sinus infection. Unfortunately we had to have her put down as treatment was expensive with no guarantee of her recovering. She was getting quite old too apparently it wasn't contagious though so everyone else is ok. Good luck I hope she improves soon

 

[TwoCrows]

Welcome to BYC!

So sorry about your hen. Definitely post this in our emergency section for help. I hope she makes a full recovery.

 

[chickie farmer]

Sorry about your hen. Another hen may have pecked her eye.

 

[drumstick diva]

Poor hen - eyes cause so much distress even if it were just a minor injury, which it certainly isn't. I can sympathize with her because I have a swollen eye from allergies, and it is driving me nuts.

Could you call a vet and see if he would recommend an over the counter eye ointment? She may have been pecked in the eye, or gotten a bit of thistle or something else in her eye. Apparently she needs more than saline or Epsom salts - has anyone responded to your emergencies post? Did you post and include her photo?