Pink Eye? ....w/Pics

[cainiac]

This is about a 10 week old White Rock. Last night we notice that she had laid down in some poo and was trying to clean herself. One eye looked like it had "pink eye"; the eye had a thickish weepy look and was reddish. This morning one eye is closed the other open and looking normal. Can they get pink eye? Aside from warm wash what else is there to do?

 

[Mr chickenmath]

I would suggest taking it to a vet or looking up home remedies for chickens with pink eye

 

[cainiac]

Isolation, wash and antibiotic ointment is what I am trying now.

 

[StephieSky]

I use a boric acid eye wash for my cats. Its less toxic even than table salt and is a great antiseptic, antiparasitic. Cats can get pink eye so I don't see why a chicken couldn't.
1/2 teaspoons to an 1/4 cup of lukewarm water for cats. Its an antiseptic, antimicrobial and anti inflammatory. Eyes heal quickly but they also get infected quickly.
I got my boric acid powder at Bi-Mart. I used on one of my cats when she had conjunctivitis or allergies or something. Not too sure what it was as there was nothing physical in her eye, but it cleared it right up.

I have no idea about chickens. But I wanted to give you this information so maybe you can find out if it will work for birds too.

 

[cainiac]

She is only getting worse. Now both eyes are shut, one discharged alot of thick white gunk today. There is also a spot of blood on her nostril as well. I picked up some tetracycline at the feed store yesterday but there is no effect yet. Electrolytes from an eye dropper perked her up a little.

 

[StephieSky]

She is only getting worse. Now both eyes are shut, one discharged alot of thick white gunk today. There is also a spot of blood on her nostril as well. I picked up some tetracycline at the feed store yesterday but there is no effect yet. Electrolytes from an eye dropper perked her up a little.

The infection can dry out inside of the ducts surrounding the infected eye and cause deposits of puss that need to be forced out.
I rescued a turtle once that had both eyes swollen shut. He/She had calcereous puss from the infection. Left untended the poor turtle would have died as they can't force that out themselves.
I had to soak its eyes beneath a warm damp cloth and then gently pull back the lids and press until the deposit worked its way up and out. It was like a dry cheesy puss substance and once it was out the turtle started opening its eyes again.
It was a native oregon pond turtle so I couldn't keep it no matter how badly I wanted to. I had to turn it loose at the pond where I found it.
Have you tried working both her eyes open so the puss or any deposits can drain out completely?

 

[cainiac]

I have pushed a little puss out of alternating eyes each morning after removing the dried up bits holding her eyelids shut. The swelling has gone down slightly and she can open her eyes if she wants to. When she does the eyes are a bit sunken (swelling my cause the sunken look) and bubbly. She forages, eats and drinks though poor sight is slowing her down.

 

[StephieSky]

I'm hoping she gets better! It sounds like you're doing everything you can think of for her and taking really good care of her.
She's so lucky to have you

I don't think I'd be letting her out to forage in her condition though. The more energy she can store up by resting while getting plenty to eat and drink the better she'll be able to fight this off. Chickens are sight birds. They become stressed at night when they can't see and they hear strange noises. I imagine being temporarily sight impaired will produce the same result. Stress. Keeping her calm and safe ( to her way of thinking safe is holed up someplace secure, familiar and comfortable ) is going to help her keep her stress levels down.

It was suggested to me I have my chickens on Vitamins, Electrolytes and Probios while they are ill and undergoing treatment. It was a great recommendation! These will be highly effective in helping my hens not get dragged down by their illness or the side effects from the cure. The Tetracycline will kill off the beneficial bacteria too. You'll want to do a search here for the benefits of ProBios and get some vitamin supplement.