Possible eye injury/infection

[FridayGirl72]

Please see picture. Background: About a month ago I noticed some wetness in my EE's beard and one of her eyes was bubbly and her nose seemed runny. I researched, thought it might be Mycoplasma, then the symptoms were gone wuthin an hour. No one else in the flock had this problem. A couple weeks later I noticed it again. It was gone a few minutes later. Today I noticed that she was intermittently closing one of her eyes was closed. I waited until she was roosting and got her down and took this picture. Should have taken a picture of her good eye for comparison in hindsight, but you can see that her eyelid is a bit swollen here and maybe she has been scratching at the eye? She seems to be keeping it closed now. I put neosporin in the corner of her eye with a qtip. Again, no other member of the flock has anything going on. Any advice??

 

[LhickenChicken]

Please see picture. Background: About a month ago I noticed some wetness in my EE's beard and one of her eyes was bubbly and her nose seemed runny. I researched, thought it might be Mycoplasma, then the symptoms were gone wuthin an hour. No one else in the flock had this problem. A couple weeks later I noticed it again. It was gone a few minutes later. Today I noticed that she was intermittently closing one of her eyes was closed. I waited until she was roosting and got her down and took this picture. Should have taken a picture of her good eye for comparison in hindsight, but you can see that her eyelid is a bit swollen here and maybe she has been scratching at the eye? She seems to be keeping it closed now. I put neosporin in the corner of her eye with a qtip. Again, no other member of the flock has anything going on. Any advice??
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Oh, man that looks pretty darn bad! Do you have polysporin/neosporin eye drops available? I used that on Mabel and some of my rabbits (Mabel is one of my chickens).
If you can maybe put a bit of hydrogen peroxide on the eye, that might help infection. I am really not an expert, I just happened to be passing this by and thought I'd try to help

 

[Wyorp Rock]

General care would be to flush the eye with saline, remove or press out any pus, then apply your ointment in the eye. Original Neosporin can be used or you can find Terramycin eye ointment in stores like TSC or online.

It's hard to tell what's going on, the photo is not quite clear. Watch to see that she's getting to food/water o.k. and take note of any other symptoms like coughing, sneezing, mucous from the nostrils or lesions inside the beak.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

If you can maybe put a bit of hydrogen peroxide on the eye, that might help infection.

Do not use Hydrogen Peroxide in the eye!

 

[FridayGirl72]

General care would be to flush the eye with saline, remove or press out any pus, then apply your ointment in the eye. Original Neosporin can be used or you can find Terramycin eye ointment in stores like TSC or online.

It's hard to tell what's going on, the photo is not quite clear. Watch to see that she's getting to food/water o.k. and take note of any other symptoms like coughing, sneezing, mucous from the nostrils or lesions inside the beak.

Thank you! I bought nasal saline but ultimately decided not to use it because it is not pure and has chemical preservatives in it. So I just used neosporin. I'll make my own saline tomorrow. Yes, the photo wasn't very good. Should have brought her inside to take it.

 

[FridayGirl72]

Good idea. Making your own is fairly easy and a lot cheaper.
When you get a chance, clearer photos may help. You'll want to try to get the eye open so you can see if there's pus that needs to be pressed out.

Thank you! We have started our treatment plan. I did actually make my own - I covered and boiled water for 15 minutes and ended up with a half a cup - put a half teaspoon of salt in that once it cooled. I irrigated the eye with that using a needleless syringe. Then I applied Terramycin in and around the eye using a qtip and took care to make sure I got some under the top lid on both eyes - will be doing that nightly. I like the idea of that being able to soak in throughout the night without activity/dirt, etc. Haven't seen evidence of pus but this is my first time super up close to chicken eyes so I'm not positive what I'm looking at. Looks very red, irritated and raw. I imagine the saline didn't feel very good! I'll be taking pictures starting tomorrow. She's also getting Tylan 50 (injectable) orally twice a day, before and after work. Any feedback is welcomed and appreciated!

 

[FridayGirl72]

Sounds like you're on the right track.
Keep my posted on how she's doing.

Will do! Thank you!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Tylan50 dose is 0.25ml per pound of weight given orally 3 times a day for 5 days in a row.
IF you can only do twice a day then I would give it at 0.30ml per pound of weight for 5 days in a row.

Below are photos, description and video of how to give oral meds. I like to place the hen on a table so she can stand (easier on my back too!), I drape my left arm over her and pull her to my body and lock her in with my elbow, this allows me to have my left hand free to help control the head and pull down on wattles to open the beak. Right hand gives meds and also helps to control bird and open beak. Takes practice.
Some find that swaddling the hen in a thin piece of cloth or towel helps a lot, if you have the wings captured, then you have a lot more control.

It's possible that she doesn't have respiratory illness and just has eye infection - could be from getting something in the eye, injury (poke/peck/scratch) to the eye, etc.
Keep working on the eye, if you can get photos of what it looks like open that may help. Swelling like that usually always has some pus, so work on flushing, give the tissue some good pressing to see if any pus will arise too.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...dications-to-all-poultry-and-waterfowl.73335/

 

[FridayGirl72]

If both eyes are bubbly, then there's a good chance you are dealing with Mycoplasma.
Tylan50 is a very good antibiotic and will treat symptoms of Mycoplasma, but the eye must be cleaned out and any pus removed. An antibiotic will not dry up pus.

Thank you! Both eyes have been bubbly but 90% of the time it is just the one and that comes and goes. I got some pictures. I did press around the bad eye and I believe pus came out. I wiped it and applied Terramycin. Gave the correct dose today of Tylan. 1.4 cc 2x a day. Pulled gently on the wattles. So much easier!

 

[FridayGirl72]

If both eyes are bubbly, then there's a good chance you are dealing with Mycoplasma.
Tylan50 is a very good antibiotic and will treat symptoms of Mycoplasma, but the eye must be cleaned out and any pus removed. An antibiotic will not dry up pus.

Finished her last dose (correct amount) this morning and sent her outside! She was scheduled to be done last night but we did one more this morning for good measure. We had been keeping her inside mostly and just putting her out with the flock from 4 or 5 pmish until bed and then bringing her in the house. Yesterday she went outside midday and did great. I bought these syringes with a very thin, curved plastic tip and they worked great. We all took turns with standard syringes and it was hit or miss but these seemed to be better. Got us closer to the target and was a narrow stream - less splashing! She handled the Terramycin ointment pretty well every time. Fingers crossed for our sweet Bunny. Thank you so much!