Please help - Baby Chick with Eye Problem!!!

[Raah]

Hi everyone, i'm new to this forum and would really, really appreciate some help with a issue i'm having with a chicks eye.

It's a baby chick, not sure of sex as yet. The breed is a bit of afew things, but mainly bantom features etc.
I'm not sure how long it has had the issue with its eye, but at least since its been in my care which is about 5 days. Its eye has continually gotten worse, and i removed the chick from the coop tonight as i've noticed it seems slower and less energetic than the other chicks. Sitting off to the side as its brothers and sisters run about mum as she scratches. It has been eating (cracked corn), but not as much as it was the first few days. So far i've been flushing its swollen red eye with saline solution (from the hospital supplies i have), but today when i got the chick out, the eye seems to have completely closed over with a layer of crusty yellowish stuff =S This is a picture of the chicks eye from a day or so ago before it was covered with the layer. I will take a photo of the way it looks at the moment as well.
I really, really appreciate any help you can give me! I want to give this little guy/girl the best chance at life i can! I have it in its own box in my room, and it seems to have grown extremely attached to me since, and i to it. Thank you for your help everyone!

 

[eggchel]

First, let me say WELCOME to Backyard Chickens!!!

Im sorry to hear that you have a little chick that is having problems.

Is this chick new to your flock?
If so, it could have either caught something that your original flock is carrying or it could have brought an illness home to your flock.

In that case, I would keep the chick away from the others in case it was sick with something contagious before you brought it home. It could just be an injury or bacterial infection in the eye, however, swollen crusty "stuck shut" eye(s) is also a symptom of CRD or Coryza.

If the chick was hatched among your flock, or came to you with a flock, then it could be either a injury with infection or a virus that is already carried in that existing flock. In that case, just treat the symptoms and hope for the best.

I would suggest cooking egg yolks to feed the chick. A spoonful of yogurt would be okay, too.

I dont generally recommend antibiotic use unless you know exactly what illness you are treating since there is no point in treating with the wrong medicines or with antibiotics at all if the bird has a virus (which wont respond to antibiotics).

Good luck.

 

[Raah]

Thanks for getting back to me! I'm happy to have found this site, i've been reading through a lot of the information these past couple weeks.

The hen & chicks are from a friend who has a lot of birds and lets them freerange her property during the day.The chick arrived with its mother & 4 other siblings. They're the first of the flock, so i don't have any other chickens it could have caught it from, or give it to. Apart from its family, but i'm assuming its siblings would have contracted the same thing by now if it was contagious? But then again, i'm not sure, hehe. So i have Abel, the chick, inside the house in its own lovely storage box i've decked out for it.

Would you suggest anything different than the saline solution i've been using to flush the eye? I've just been using that as i know it's useful in flushing wounds & infections etc in humans. I'll cook it up some egg yolks if you think it'll appreciate it and see how it goes. It seems pretty happy where it is at the moment, although it won't stop cheeping unless i'm holding it. haha, but i guess thats just separation anxiety? LOL! Or is there something i can put in the box him it that will comfort it a bit? I'm such a sucker for its calls of distress!

Thanks again for all the help! =]

 

[Raah]

Thanks for getting back to me! I'm happy to have found this site, i've been reading through a lot of the information these past couple weeks.

The hen & chicks are from a friend who has a lot of birds and lets them freerange her property during the day.The chick arrived with its mother & 4 other siblings. They're the first of the flock, so i don't have any other chickens it could have caught it from, or give it to. Apart from its family, but i'm assuming its siblings would have contracted the same thing by now if it was contagious? But then again, i'm not sure, hehe. So i have Abel, the chick, inside the house in its own lovely storage box i've decked out for it.

Would you suggest anything different than the saline solution i've been using to flush the eye? I've just been using that as i know it's useful in flushing wounds & infections etc in humans. I'll cook it up some egg yolks if you think it'll appreciate it and see how it goes. It seems pretty happy where it is at the moment, although it won't stop cheeping unless i'm holding it. haha, but i guess thats just separation anxiety? LOL! Or is there something i can put in the box him it that will comfort it a bit? I'm such a sucker for its calls of distress!

Thanks again for all the help! =]

 

[OhMyItsAndyy]

That chick is such a cutie

There are eye anti biotics, terramycin (Sp?) is one, maybe try that
Sorry i can't help much

Hope he/she's much better soon

 

[Frosty]

Opthamalic eye ointment may help keep it from crusting... At that age, I think I would stick to something easier to digest than cracked corn. Do you have any chick starter feed? Egg yolks would be better, too. A little chickie that size, I really don't know if it has enough rocks in the gizzard to process the corn. Hope it gets better soon!