Pompom Duck has her eyes infected

[Canadian Wind]

Geez, it's just one thing after another! And no, don't buy from yourself anymore. I've heard that we're our own worse customer.

I hope your little runner gets better. I hear your neighbour just replaced the windows after a freak sonic boom took them out.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

I am just not sure if it really is the hay or just a freak virus/bacteria. Three out of 47 ducks have issues with their eyes…

And yeah, the neighbor! New ones, again. They let their dog roam free and i have seen it on my property multiple times. I have to admit i was watching the prices for rifles and pistols at Cabelas yesterday. - But decided to (r)amp up the electric fence instead. A roll of 100 meters of polywire costs me $20, the cheapest rifle i saw yesterday was $499. Dumb doggy comes over early in the morning before i let the ducks out, so i could put that neon-transformer on a timer…

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

You can buy Terramycin eye ointment without a prescription. And you can make a saline rinse recipe online. Both may help.

You are correct! - Antibiotic-ointment is available everywhere without prescription.

But i was looking for eye-drops to apply the antibiotic directly into the eye and for those a prescription from a vet is necessary.

When it comes to the kind of antibiotic, terramycin is as good as almost any other broad-band antibiotic available as an OTC ointment. High dose of a »kill'em all« in vaseline, cheap and easy to manufacture, sold between snickers and mars at the register.
The stuff from $ has three different antibiotics, all from the "kill'em all" type, it helped Bazilla Duck very fast in 2020 when she had bumble foot.

I am thinking about brewing some concentrated camomile-tea to rinse the eyes tomorrow. What do you think about that?

And why the duck is the auto-correction asking me to replace terramycin with "interracial"?

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

[...]
And why the duck is the auto-correction asking me to replace terramycin with "interracial"?

Maybe she is indeed a "PornPorn Duck"?

 

[Miss Lydia]

You are correct! - Antibiotic-ointment is available everywhere without prescription.

But i was looking for eye-drops to apply the antibiotic directly into the eye and for those a prescription from a vet is necessary.

When it comes to the kind of antibiotic, terramycin is as good as almost any other broad-band antibiotic available as an OTC ointment. High dose of a »kill'em all« in vaseline, cheap and easy to manufacture, sold between snickers and mars at the register.
The stuff from $ has three different antibiotics, all from the "kill'em all" type, it helped Bazilla Duck very fast in 2020 when she had bumble foot.

I am thinking about brewing some concentrated camomile-tea to rinse the eyes tomorrow. What do you think about that?

And why the duck is the auto-correction asking me to replace terramycin with "interracial"?

I'd sure keep trying, something is def going on with them. Poor babies. Saline will help heal and camomile with soothe.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Update! - I was too busy with my job to write something yesterday (see in the Quack-Shack: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/the-quack-shack.1312910/post-26531649)

Pompom duck is almost back to normal, her vision still seems to be impaired, she is walking instead of running, sometimes she looks a bit lost and then squeeks for help - but not for my help! She is healed up enough to avoid me, so i cannot grab her and look at her eyes or apply any medication. But she digs into the supper bowl like an excavator!

Naughtius Maximus is back to drakehole mode, he spends most of his time on the pond, ducking around and sinking mallard drakes. No clue what's up with his eye.

The little runner. - She is better and worse. I am afraid she will loose vision on her left eye, i applied lentil sized blobs of triple antibiotic ointment to the left eye twice yesterday and a little less to her right eye. She is scared to death when i pick her up…
But she managed to walk out of the house into the run yesterday to drink some water and ate some cat-food.
Today she walked out of the door with the other ducks but quickly got lost and started to bump into things. I tried to intervene, but she got scared again and "pinballed" back into the safety of the duck-house.
I'm preparing another treatment session right now, chamomille-tea, ointment, catfood and water. Will send an update later…

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Update on the Indian Runner Hen:

Note to self: Don't wear a t-shirt with short arms when treating a sick duck! (Ouch!)

First treatment with triple antibiotics around noon, she was scared to death, i thought she would suffer a heart attack when i picked her up. She pends most of the day here, dozing:

That nest is normally fully covered by a pieces of fiber-board, i moved that to pick her up. So she is relatively safe from the drakes - and the other ducks.

She didn't eat or drink while i was holding her, but i managed to make some pictures, here is her right eye, i believe there's hope as you can see the pupil again:

The right eye however… - Don't click on the blurry blow if you're eating or can't see injuries,…

​

I know blurry picture, but try to hold a struggling duck who wants to get away from you as quickly as possible with one hand and a phone with the other, then use your third hand to click on the button… - Wait what third hand?! Urrgh!

Update from right now (5pm): She was outside in the run, trying to drink but was a bit disoriented again. I picked her up and she wasn't as scared as before - maybe she begins to understand that i don't eat my ducks.
Anyways i sat down with her and dunked her bill into a container with cat-food and she ate! That's a good sign! She ate about one cup of cat-food and then drank plenty of water.
Then we had another fight because i insisted to put some more ointment into and around her eyes, an because i don't read my own notes (see above) i need some ointment too, that girl has loooong toenails…

Finally i put her back into her favorite spot and that's it for now.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Hopefully, she'll get over this just keep on with what you are doing. Could she have poked her eye on something?

 

[Canadian Wind]

Update on the Indian Runner Hen:

Note to self: Don't wear a t-shirt with short arms when treating a sick duck! (Ouch!)

First treatment with triple antibiotics around noon, she was scared to death, i thought she would suffer a heart attack when i picked her up. She pends most of the day here, dozing:

That nest is normally fully covered by a pieces of fiber-board, i moved that to pick her up. So she is relatively safe from the drakes - and the other ducks.

She didn't eat or drink while i was holding her, but i managed to make some pictures, here is her right eye, i believe there's hope as you can see the pupil again:

The right eye however… - Don't click on the blurry blow if you're eating or can't see injuries,…

​

I know blurry picture, but try to hold a struggling duck who wants to get away from you as quickly as possible with one hand and a phone with the other, then use your third hand to click on the button… - Wait what third hand?! Urrgh!

Update from right now (5pm): She was outside in the run, trying to drink but was a bit disoriented again. I picked her up and she wasn't as scared as before - maybe she begins to understand that i don't eat my ducks.
Anyways i sat down with her and dunked her bill into a container with cat-food and she ate! That's a good sign! She ate about one cup of cat-food and then drank plenty of water.
Then we had another fight because i insisted to put some more ointment into and around her eyes, an because i don't read my own notes (see above) i need some ointment too, that girl has loooong toenails…

Finally i put her back into her favorite spot and that's it for now.

The poor dear. At least she has the best care possible. I hope she recovers, and that you remember to put your armour on next time!

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Hopefully, she'll get over this just keep on with what you are doing. Could she have poked her eye on something?

Definitely a no on that. I have not seen any injury in or around her eye. She has scratches on top of her head, so i assume she bumped her head into some obstacles, but nothing looks suspicious at her eyes. I was thinking about drake-injury, but can give absolution to the drakes in this case.