Please help... Cockeral with eye problem :(

[theuglychick]

So, we survived the flood and everything is going to hades in a handbasket

It's been raining non-stop for days where I am, and although the flood waters have receded, the weather is still taking its toll on my birds. Im fighting what appears to be coccidia (darkly colored diarrhea) for the third time in some birds, one of my older pullets (approx 13 weeks old) (only one of 3 of my chickens that is unvaccinated) is exhibiting symptoms of Mareks (not eating much, can't open one eye and foot is curling under her) (she's still moving around but is obviously in a bad way), and now my favorite cockeral, Stew, has something weird going on with one eye but doesn't look like whatever the pullet has. His is more red and swollen with what appears to be dirt or dried blood around it. Is it mites? It didn't look like anything alive, just like little bits of dried blood on feather shafts. Could it be his feathers coming in? I know that's just wishful thinking. Or is it something far more sinister? I washed the eye with warm salty water, gently sprayed it out with saline solution eye drops, and put a little triple antibiotic ointment around it which just made him scratch it to try to get it off. What do y'all think?? I'm just... Overwhelmed. It seems like everyone around me can just throw chickens out in the yard and never worry about them and they thrive. I can't keep mine healthy despite trying my best to take care of them.

It's actually not hazy like it looks. It's clear, just red and irritated looking.

This is his good eye

 

[theuglychick]

The more I'm reading, the more I'm thinking its a respiratory infection which makes sense with the rain. I didn't suspect that because I didn't notice any sneezing or runny nares. I'm going to switch from Corid to Sulfadimethoxine and see if that starts to clear it up. That might also explain my pullets symptoms. Any other advice is welcomed!

 

[theuglychick]

So I THINK I'm dealing with Mycoplasma Gallisepticum Bacteria. The skin around the eye is still red and irritated. Looks slightly worse than yesterday. The eye is very watery/leaky. Looks like some gunk in the corner. Also looks like bubbles in the inner corner of the eye. I started the Sulfadimethoxine this morning. To be safe, I flushed the eye with saline and dropped a drop of saline and Valbazen solution (mixed 2:1) to treat for eye worm for ***** and giggles. I also put a small amount of human grade eye prescription antibiotics because that was all that I had on hand. I'm thinking all of this will either cure him or make his eye fall out so I don't have to worry with it ever again.

 

[bluemaranfan]

So sorry you and your birds are going thru all this on top of crazy weather. From my experience, and of course I'm no vet, the swollen foamy eye is typical of mycoplasma gallisepticum. Fortunately that responds well - and really fast - to an antibiotic called Tylosin or Tylan. I have turkeys and they are quite susceptible, and all recovered their charming good looks once their sinuses went back to normal and their eyes quit foaming ;-)