Pullet Help! One eye closed, Constant Preening, sleepy

[chickmamat]

i have a 11wk pullet who is notrmally very calm but I noticed today she won’t even run around with the others, she just want to sleep. And she will not stop preening. And I noticed she’s keeping one eye closed. She’ll open it if I try to pick her up or she gets nervous, but as soon as she relaxes it’s closed again.

 

[azygous]

Have you inspected the closed eye for swelling, redness or foreign body?

Even if you can't see anything abnormal about the eye, it would be wise to flush it well with saline and treat it with an ophthalmic ointment.

Keep an eye on this hen's behavior. If she loses her appetite or doesn't snap out of the lethargy by tomorrow, I would recommend starting her on an oral antibiotic.

 

[chickmamat]

Have you inspected the closed eye for swelling, redness or foreign body?

Even if you can't see anything abnormal about the eye, it would be wise to flush it well with saline and treat it with an ophthalmic ointment.

Keep an eye on this hen's behavior. If she loses her appetite or doesn't snap out of the lethargy by tomorrow, I would recommend starting her on an oral antibiotic.

I checked it and all seems normal, didn’t see anything foreign or scratches. Can I use any saline? Or is there a specific animal one?

Her poop seems normal as well. Here’s some pics of her. She doesnt typically sleep this much when I let them free range in the morning.

I checked under her feathers for bugs because she’s been non stop preening but I didn’t see anything

 

[azygous]

I recently had a hen with an eye issue. I later found she had a growth at the periphery of the eye hidden under the upper fold of skin. Pull back the skin around the eye and have a look. Compare to the other eye and see if you see any difference in the eye she's closing. A closed eye while the other remains open signifies pain in the closed eye.

Any saline will do as long as it's sterile. Saline is preferable to plain water due to the salty make-up of the eye which plain water can upset the chemical balance.

The fact that she appears lethargic points to a systemic bacterial infection. I would start her on an antibiotic immediately.