One eye closed, head down, lethargic

[oceansunset73]

How is your girls eye? Any changes in her symptoms?

Mocha is no better. Her eye is still remaining closed. And it appears even more clouded and her pupil has a glare to it. Unless it's just her third lid covering her eye to protect it? I don't think it is but its so hard to tell, I don't know if I can get a picture, I can try but she is extremely high strung and we have a hard enough time just getting the Vetericyn gel on her. I haven't been able to get her eye open to get anything actually on the eyeball itself, she's very strong. I've just been putting enough of it on her eyelid crease, then when she opens her eye after we put her down, I can see it makes contact with her eye then. I'm hoping it's enough. This is so frustrating.

She is still eating, drinking, laying eggs, and preening herself though. But she is getting picked on by a few other hens, sensing her weakness. The area is large enough she can get away and she has a separate water/food station for her I set up in the coop that she can hang out in, and nobody seems to bother her in there. There are also several high roosts and stumps in the run as well, so she has been staying up on them all day, to get away from the others.

 

[Hamiam]

Mocha is no better. Her eye is still remaining closed. And it appears even more clouded and her pupil has a glare to it. Unless it's just her third lid covering her eye to protect it? I don't think it is but its so hard to tell, I don't know if I can get a picture, I can try but she is extremely high strung and we have a hard enough time just getting the Vetericyn gel on her.

She is still eating, drinking, laying eggs, and preening herself though. But she is getting picked on by a few other hens, sensing her weakness. The area is large enough she can get away and she has a separate water/food station for her I set up in the coop that she can hang out in, and nobody seems to bother her in there. There are also several high roosts and stumps in the run as well, so she has been staying up on them all day, to get away from the others.

I've had trouble making the decision to remove a bird myself. On one hand it can be stressful on the hurt or sick bird to be removed. On the other hand, it can delay healing if the injuried bird has to constantly worry about attack from flock mates or gets even more injured in an attack. If you think the bird could be contagious, she should be removed for sure.
@21hens-incharge have you ever seen something like this with 1 eye?

 

[oceansunset73]

I think it's from trauma and not illness. I have a hen cam inside the run, and Sunday when it originally happened, I saw that she was perfectly fine all the way up until 10 a.m. Then she went out free ranging along side of the house. When I saw her again her eye was closed. I want to think she may have gotten pecked in the eye from a flockmate or got poked with something, or maybe even gotten something in it originally.

I hate to remove her, she freaks out when she isn't with her flock. But right now she is not doing good. She is puffed up, and her tail is down.

 

[21hens-incharge]

Puffed up and tail down along with the eye issue and federal regs on antibiotics.......
Its time for a vet to see her.

The ointment should have helped the eye.

Since the others are picking on her the stress level is increased and with her staying up high her food intake is likely decreased.

You need to segregate her. Even if that means sectioning off part of the coop for just her to be in. It is for her own good. It also makes it easier to monitor intake and out go.

I have had a vision challenged hen. She went blind in one eye as she aged. It greatly affected her ability to judge distances when trying to eat.

 

[oceansunset73]

Thank you, I appreciate you taking the time to help me and for the advice. I just made an appointment with the Vet for this afternoon. Wish me luck.

 

[21hens-incharge]

Hoping for the best.

 

[oceansunset73]

Mocha has a corneal ulcer.

I was finally able to get some antibiotic drops for her, from the vet. And the assistants were nice enough to show me how to get them right into her eye. I guess I wasn't doing a very good job at it. I am hoping she will be on the road to recovery soon.

I truly appreciate everyone who has taken the time to offer me advice and help. BYC is the bomb! Thank you so very much. I will let you know how she is doing later on...

 

[Hamiam]

Checking in on Mocha. How is she doing? Hope the medication the vet gave is helping.

 

[oceansunset73]

Checking in on Mocha. How is she doing? Hope the medication the vet gave is helping.

I haven't seen an improvement yet. She has been resting A LOT, which is probably a good thing I suppose.

I'm still using the drops 3 times a day as instructed by the vet. My husband has been helping me hold her eye open, and I've been putting the drops in. She knows whats coming now, so when she sees my husband walk out, she's all - uh oh - and tries to walk away as fast as she can. LOL.

I'm sure they are helping, but it might be a slow process and recovery. It is my understanding that corneal ulcers can be very painful. My poor baby.

Thank you for thinking of her.

 

[Hamiam]

I haven't seen an improvement yet. She has been resting A LOT, which is probably a good thing I suppose.

I'm still using the drops 3 times a day as instructed by the vet. My husband has been helping me hold her eye open, and I've been putting the drops in. She knows whats coming now, so when she sees my husband walk out, she's all - uh oh - and tries to walk away as fast as she can. LOL.

I'm sure they are helping, but it might be a slow process and recovery. It is my understanding that corneal ulcers can be very painful. My poor baby.

Thank you for thinking of her.

I've had a scratched cornea & that was painful enough! I'll keep sending good thoughts y'all's way.