Please help! Chicken eyelid and surrounding area puffy and swollen

[Karennjeff300]

One of my chicken’s eyelids and surrounding area is puppy and swollen. When we got her she had an ear infection that we treated with Tylan for five days. It has resolved however now her eye and surrounding area is puffy and swollen. is this a secondary infection or eye worm??? Any advice or information would be wonderful. I am newbie!

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Hi, welcome to BYC!

Sorry your girl is having trouble.

I have been wondering about an ear infection in one of my birds, though I think it's wishful thinking and actually a genetic tick. But do you mind sharing how you diagnosed yours please?

Here is a symptom checker tool. It list ALL the possibilities of illness that can correlate to the symptoms you put in, and then you work to rule things out...
http://www.poultrydvm.com/symptoms

Could be infectious Coryza, Mycoplasma, sinus infection, swollen head syndrome, New Castle's, conjunctivitis, and a few more.. even B6 deficit. Not eye worm as far as I can tell, but also here to learn.

Hope she feels better!

 

[lilmillefleur]

That looks terrible! I hope she gets better.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Hi @Karennjeff300 Welcome To BYC

It looks like her ear may still be swollen - is all the pus gone?
Is the other side swollen too?

As for the eye - is that a discharge or bubbles (red arrow) it's hard to tell, could just be a reflection of flash.

She has scabbing around the eyelid (which can cause swelling) - that could be from pecking /scratching or other injury - I'm thinking that it's most likely that, since it looks like she has some other small scratches/scabbing on the face. General eye care is to flush/rinse the eye with saline and apply an ophthalmic eye ointment like Terramycin or if you can get some Ciprofloxcin drops that would be good.

The swelling could also be an indication that her ear infection has not cleared up or she may have something else going on like a respiratory illness like Mycoplasma that causes facial swelling - but usually you will also see symptoms of mucous, coughing and sneezing.

If you have vet care that is always best. See that she is eating/drinking well. Give her a boost of protein like egg or tuna daily and some vitamins a couple of times a week.

fwiw- eye worm - there would most likely be heavy/thick looking pus in the eye along with wiggling worms. If you google eye worm in chickens and look up some youtube videos you can see what I'm talking about.

 

[Karennjeff300]

Hi, welcome to BYC!

Sorry your girl is having trouble.

I have been wondering about an ear infection in one of my birds, though I think it's wishful thinking and actually a genetic tick. But do you mind sharing how you diagnosed yours please?

Here is a symptom checker tool. It list ALL the possibilities of illness that can correlate to the symptoms you put in, and then you work to rule things out...
http://www.poultrydvm.com/symptoms

Could be infectious Coryza, Mycoplasma, sinus infection, swollen head syndrome, New Castle's, conjunctivitis, and a few more.. even B6 deficit. Not eye worm as far as I can tell, but also here to learn.

Hope she feels better!

Thank you so much! When we got this hen we noticed her ear swollen, red with a yellow looking plug. So I tried Tylan for 5 days and it cleared up! But now, we have a new eye problem....Hope your girl gets better soon! I am a new chicken owner. Learning a lot!

 

[Karennjeff300]

Hi @Karennjeff300 Welcome To BYC

It looks like her ear may still be swollen - is all the pus gone?
Is the other side swollen too?

As for the eye - is that a discharge or bubbles (red arrow) it's hard to tell, could just be a reflection of flash.

She has scabbing around the eyelid (which can cause swelling) - that could be from pecking /scratching or other injury - I'm thinking that it's most likely that, since it looks like she has some other small scratches/scabbing on the face. General eye care is to flush/rinse the eye with saline and apply an ophthalmic eye ointment like Terramycin or if you can get some Ciprofloxcin drops that would be good.

The swelling could also be an indication that her ear infection has not cleared up or she may have something else going on like a respiratory illness like Mycoplasma that causes facial swelling - but usually you will also see symptoms of mucous, coughing and sneezing.

If you have vet care that is always best. See that she is eating/drinking well. Give her a boost of protein like egg or tuna daily and some vitamins a couple of times a week.

fwiw- eye worm - there would most likely be heavy/thick looking pus in the eye along with wiggling worms. If you google eye worm in chickens and look up some youtube videos you can see what I'm talking about.

View attachment 1215383

GREAT INFO! Thank you! She is eating and drinking well. Not able to get her to a vet...Would it be ok to start the Tylan again? Last time I gave her 5 days of it (about 10 days ago)....Should I start her again for maybe 7 days? Will try to get eye ointment today and vitimins. Thanks again!

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Thank you so much! When we got this hen we noticed her ear swollen, red with a yellow looking plug. So I tried Tylan for 5 days and it cleared up! But now, we have a new eye problem....Hope your girl gets better soon! I am a new chicken owner. Learning a lot!

Thank you, he is a cockerel and was a very nice looking boy that I kept for breeding. But recently noticed a twitch kinda like how black girls get their head going sometimes (not stereotyping, just a description that might make sense, sorry no offense meant).

I hope you haven't yet added her to your flock if it was already existing and didn't come with her. Quarantine is always recommended in case an illness hasn't shown symptoms yet at the previous home. Sounds like she's at least with someone who cares now!

After almost 9 years of keeping chickens, I am still learning stuff all the time. I didn't find BYC until the last two though. Having BYC at your disposal puts you much farther ahead of the game than I was!

Have you any idea of this gals age?

 

[Karennjeff300]

Thank you, he is a cockerel and was a very nice looking boy that I kept for breeding. But recently noticed a twitch kinda like how black girls get their head going sometimes (not stereotyping, just a description that might make sense, sorry no offense meant).

I hope you haven't yet added her to your flock if it was already existing and didn't come with her. Quarantine is always recommended in case an illness hasn't shown symptoms yet at the previous home. Sounds like she's at least with someone who cares now!

After almost 9 years of keeping chickens, I am still learning stuff all the time. I didn't find BYC until the last two though. Having BYC at your disposal puts you much farther ahead of the game than I was!

Have you any idea of this gals age?

Hello there! My gal never had a head twitch. She shakes it a lot and scratches her ear/eye area. She was like this when we picked up all four. We have had them for about 3 weeks now. They were born in the spring 2017. Hope to get her in good health soon!

 

[Karennjeff300]

Would It be ok to give her Tylan injections again? Last time was about 10 days ago. We gave her injections for 5 days.....Wondering if it wasn't long enough.....Thanks for all the replies!!!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

When we got this hen we noticed her ear swollen, red with a yellow looking plug.

Did you remove the plug? What does the ear look like now - any more gunk in there?

My gal never had a head twitch. She shakes it a lot and scratches her ear/eye area. She was like this when we picked up all four. We have had them for about 3 weeks

Have you check her over for any external parasites (lice/mites)? With an ear infection, ear mites can also be cause, as well as respiratory illness or getting something in the ear. Since your girl has been scratching her ear/eye - that is most likely the cause of the eye swelling - she may have introduced bacteria into the eye or scratch it. It still could be related to respiratory illness, but usually treatment to the eye would be the same (flushing/then ointment).

Would It be ok to give her Tylan injections again? Last time was about 10 days ago. We gave her injections for 5 days

Tylan50 can be given orally or by injection. Antibiotics will help with infections - especially those cause by respiratory illness like MG. If she does not improve after you re-inspect the ear for any more infection (get it cleaned out), after you have flushed and applied ointment to the eye for a couple of days and then checked for parasites and treated those if necessary then re-administering the antibiotics may be in order.

I'm not sure what dosage you administered, Tylan has a fairly tolerable range in dosing - Plumb's Vet Drug manual shows the Tylan dosage for birds as 10-40mg/kg given 2-3times per day. I usually go with a "happy medium" dosage of 20mg/kg given 2 times a day for 5days (.10ml per 1lb of weight, 2X day for 5days).

Essentially, it's up to you - if you feel that she will benefit/improve from the antibiotics, then re-treat her.