Porcelain D'uccle Eye Issue

[gabigabgab]

My Porcelian D'uccle Pullet just started developing these eye issues!? what could be wrong? She's with a Polish Pullet and Buff Brahama Bantam Pullet. She tends to hide under them. Their Run has coarse sand/rock coop aspen bedding. I feel so bad for her! what could I do for her. She's acting normal eating etc. But her eyes look awful!

 

[Kiki]

Are you sure the other two aren't pecking her in the eyes?

 

[gabigabgab]

Are you sure the other two aren't pecking her in the eyes?

She is the smallest, of the three but I've never seen bullying. They've been raised together. she's super shy and hides under the other two. They've only been in the outdoor coop now for a week.

 

[coach723]

They do look like pecking injuries. Are all of them the same age? It could have been a minor injury that attracted pecking and it got worse, or it could be because she's lowest in the pecking order. This may be happening on the roosts. The hiding under them may be her trying to protect herself from it. How big is your coop and what is the roost layout like? You have just the 3 birds? You can apply some plain neosporin to the injured spots with a q tip (if some gets in the eye it won't hurt anything), or you can get some terramycin eye ointment over the counter at some feed stores and many tractor supply stores, and apply the same way. If it continues you may have to separate her (you can crate her in the run so they can still all see each other) until it's healed and not so red, and then try them back together and see if it happens again or not. I would worry that if it continues she may end up with an actual eye injury, or infection.

 

[gabigabgab]

She's been with them from the beginning all hatched the same day. Yes just those three live together. I'm keeping them separated from my sultan rooster who's 3 months older who lives on the other side of the run with a small coop and additional run space. (we split the original prefabed awful small coop run and attached to the big structure which is 6x8

 

[gabigabgab]

She's been with them from the beginning all hatched the same day. Yes just those three live together. I'm keeping them separated from my sultan rooster who's 3 months older who lives on the other side of the run with a small coop and additional run space. (we split the original prefabed awful small coop run and attached to the big structure which is 6x8

They do look like pecking injuries. Are all of them the same age? It could have been a minor injury that attracted pecking and it got worse, or it could be because she's lowest in the pecking order. This may be happening on the roosts. The hiding under them may be her trying to protect herself from it. How big is your coop and what is the roost layout like? You have just the 3 birds? You can apply some plain neosporin to the injured spots with a q tip (if some gets in the eye it won't hurt anything), or you can get some terramycin eye ointment over the counter at some feed stores and many tractor supply stores, and apply the same way. If it continues you may have to separate her (you can crate her in the run so they can still all see each other) until it's healed and not so red, and then try them back together and see if it happens again or not. I would worry that if it continues she may end up with an actual eye injury, or infection.

she's currently back inside, I'll treat her with the neo tonight and get to tractor supply tomorrow if it's better option. THANK YOU!

 

[coach723]

Space may be contributing. What works for some birds may not work for others. One dominant bird, either hen or roo, can make a space too small. Having room enough for places they can get away, and hide behind (without being cornered) can help a lot in keeping the peace. Likewise roost space. Some birds like to snuggle, other birds demand space. Prefab coops and runs often way over estimate their capacity. It's always better to have more space than less, it prevents a lot of problems. The math on paper is one thing, but the behavior of the birds will really tell you what is adequate or not. And any change in the flock can change things.