Mycoplasma getting worse… eye swelling and sealed shut. Next steps?

[Sunshine Chick]

Okay, so I don’t think the first pictures went through… so here are pictures from yesterday, and today. She’s improving already (at least she can open her eye). I’m thankful, because she’s the baby of the flock. My brother named her, my dad really likes her… It’s always the pet chicken that gets sick (sigh). Anyways, she definitely had worms… so it’s a good thing I wormed her.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Poor girl!
I'm glad you are deworming her. Are you using Safeguard for 5 days in a row?
Any lice or mites? If so, then treat those while you are tending to her.

Keep working on getting her eyes flushed out and cleaned a few times a day and apply your ointment.
Hopefully with the Tylan50 and your caring for her, she will continue to improve.

 

[Sunshine Chick]

Poor girl!
I'm glad you are deworming her. Are you using Safeguard for 5 days in a row?
Any lice or mites? If so, then treat those while you are tending to her.

Keep working on getting her eyes flushed out and cleaned a few times a day and apply your ointment.
Hopefully with the Tylan50 and your caring for her, she will continue to improve.

I didn’t know I was supposed to treat with safeguard 5 days in a row… I will continue treating for 4 more days, then. I thought it was a one-time sort of thing, with a follow-up treatment a few weeks later just to make sure.

I could barely spot any lice or mites on her, apart from a few on her eye. So far the diatomaceous earth is working. Suzy-Q was just as bad, and thankfully, from what I could see, she didn’t have a lice one when she died.

I’m afraid of pesticides and herbicides of any kind and avoid them if at all humanely possible. Especially since I grow my garden in their run area.

But once I know one has had a bad infestation I keep a good eye on them. I normally make a habit of pouring a generous amount of diatomaceous earth onto their dust-bathing area. That helps a TON in keeping parasite levels down. I’m going to start doing regular “lice checks” too. And general wellness checks. Hopefully that’ll help me catch things before they get bad.

Thank you for your kindness, and patient advice! Merry Christmas Eve!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I didn’t know I was supposed to treat with safeguard 5 days in a row… I will continue treating for 4 more days, then. I thought it was a one-time sort of thing, with a follow-up treatment a few weeks later just to make sure.

I could barely spot any lice or mites on her, apart from a few on her eye. So far the diatomaceous earth is working. Suzy-Q was just as bad, and thankfully, from what I could see, she didn’t have a lice one when she died.

I’m afraid of pesticides and herbicides of any kind and avoid them if at all humanely possible. Especially since I grow my garden in their run area.

But once I know one has had a bad infestation I keep a good eye on them. I normally make a habit of pouring a generous amount of diatomaceous earth onto their dust-bathing area. That helps a TON in keeping parasite levels down. I’m going to start doing regular “lice checks” too. And general wellness checks. Hopefully that’ll help me catch things before they get bad.

Thank you for your kindness, and patient advice! Merry Christmas Eve!

I would do five days in a row, since you are having so much trouble. This length of time will take care of most worms poultry have except for Tapeworms.

I understand and appreciate your hesitation of using Permethrin to treat her and your flock, but I highly recommend that you get some dust and dust all your birds. Treat their housing with the spray. External parasites can bring already sick birds down further.
Getting the lice/mites eliminated will improve the health of your flock.

Keep us updated.

Merry Christmas

 

[Sunshine Chick]

Here are pictures from today. I’m still giving her CORID drench and safeguard dewormer (.23ml/lb, 1x/day), as well as the Tylan 50 (.25ml/lb 3x/day) and terramycin (2-3x/day). I noticed @Wyorp Rock said to put the terramycin “in the eye”, but I’ve been putting in on the eyelid… I hope that’s alright. I don’t have any saline, so I’ve just been wiping the ick off with a damp or dry tissue before applying the cream. I’ve posted a picture of her good eye and her bad one for comparison.

A couple of days I only got 2 doses of Tylan 50 in her instead of 3… but other than that I have been giving it on schedule, with the terramycin.

She is still coughing/sneezing a lot, and kinda rattle-y when she breathes at times… usually before a cough or sneeze. Her eye still has bubbles, but is weeping less than before. There is no longer a bunch of crusty stuff building up and drying on her eyelid in-between medicine doses. The same for the breathing holes in her beak: less leaky fluid than before, since it isn’t building up and drying on there.

Her poop has become quite runny… probably the antibiotics and the wormer both causing that? I’ve heard wormer can cause softer poop, and antibiotics can cause diarrhea because of how hard it is on the digestive system.

I didn’t notice any parasites today, nor did I see any worms in her poo.

That’s pretty much it. I believe tomorrow is supposed to be her last day on all of the medicine. Any thoughts? She definitely isn’t all better yet.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I noticed @Wyorp Rock said to put the terramycin “in the eye”, but I’ve been putting in on the eyelid… I hope that’s alright. I don’t have any saline, so I’ve just been wiping the ick off with a damp or dry tissue before applying the cream.

Yes, I did say in the eye. Terramycin eye ointment can be put in the eye to help with infection, so I would put a dot of it in the eye too.
Saline can be made at home - the recipe is to boil 2 cups of water for 15 minutes (this sterilizes the water), stir in 1 teaspoon salt. Let cool, then use to clean or flush the eye. Make fresh daily.

I do think she's looking a little better. I'm sorry that her symptoms have not resolved completely.
Since she's been on antibiotics, it would be good to give her some probiotics. These can be purchased at feed stores or if you have plain yogurt or buttermilk, you can add 1 tablespoon of either of those to her feed once a day.

It's good that you don't see any parasites, I would keep checking daily, hopefully you have those beaten.

 

[Sunshine Chick]

Yes, I did say in the eye. Terryamycin eye ointment can be put in the eye to help with infection, so I would put a dot of it in the eye too.
Saline can be made at home - the recipe is to boil 2 cups of water for 15 minutes (this sterilizes the water), stir in 1 teaspoon salt. Let cool, then use to clean or flush the eye. Make fresh daily.

I do think she's looking a little better. I'm sorry that her symptoms have not resolved completely.
Since she's been on antibiotics, it would be good to give her some probiotics. These can be purchased at feed stores or if you have plain yogurt or buttermilk, you can add 1 tablespoon of either of those to her feed once a day.

It's good that you don't see any parasites, I would keep checking daily, hopefully you have those beaten.

Thank you. I will try to get some in her eye…
I have been giving her a tablespoon or two of yogurt daily for probiotics, and will continue to do so. I will add probiotics to that.
Since her symptoms are still there, should I continue antibiotics, or stop them and just use the yogurt and probiotics? I know it’s best to wait to use the added probiotics until her antibiotics are done, since the antibiotics would just kill them anyway.

 

[Sunshine Chick]

Yes, I did say in the eye. Terryamycin eye ointment can be put in the eye to help with infection, so I would put a dot of it in the eye too.
Saline can be made at home - the recipe is to boil 2 cups of water for 15 minutes (this sterilizes the water), stir in 1 teaspoon salt. Let cool, then use to clean or flush the eye. Make fresh daily.

I do think she's looking a little better. I'm sorry that her symptoms have not resolved completely.
Since she's been on antibiotics, it would be good to give her some probiotics. These can be purchased at feed stores or if you have plain yogurt or buttermilk, you can add 1 tablespoon of either of those to her feed once a day.

It's good that you don't see any parasites, I would keep checking daily, hopefully you have those beaten.

Also, the pictures didn’t upload properly the first time. The first picture was her good eye, the ones I added afterward are the eye that still is having problems. I didn’t know if you saw the post before or after I fixed that and edited it.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

No, I had not seen the other photo. Poor girl! She's still struggling a bit isn't she.
There is some improvement I think, but not what I would have expected.

I finish the 5 days of Tylan50, but personally I would not extend it. If there's not been a great improvement with a full course (5 days) then giving for a longer period of time is likely not going to make a difference.

You could try a stronger antibiotic like Baytril to see it that knocks it out, if it doesn't, then you are probably dealing with a virus. Something to consider.

Is there a bad odor to any of the discharges she has?

 

[Sunshine Chick]

No, I had not seen the other photo. Poor girl! She's still struggling a bit isn't she.
There is some improvement I think, but not what I would have expected.

I finish the 5 days of Tylan50, but personally I would not extend it. If there's not been a great improvement with a full course (5 days) then giving for a longer period of time is likely not going to make a difference.

You could try a stronger antibiotic like Baytril to see it that knocks it out, if it doesn't, then you are probably dealing with a virus. Something to consider.

Is there a bad odor to any of the discharges she has?

Hmm… okay. No, no bad odor… at least, I don’t think so. I just got over Covid, and my sense of smell hasn’t fully recovered yet.