Red bulging chicken eye. Please help.

[MycoKat]

Hello everybody,

I have a 3 week old white silkie bantam with a bulging/swollen eyeball. We noticed this 2 days ago and it hasn't changed since then. I don't believe she can see out of it, and though it looks painful she doesn't seem to be in pain. She is eating/drinking, walking, running, and generally peppy. No fluid or discharge is coming out of the eye. Does anyone have any idea what this could be or what we should do? I'm debating about putting her down, but would like to avoid it, if possible. Thanks for any input!

 

[nurse_turtle]

Poor lamb. Looks like she's been pecked and now has a hematoma. It should resolve itself but it will take a while. Will she be able to see from that eye after it heals? Maybe, maybe not. I do not think she should be culled. Even if she becomes blind in that eye, she should do well. I also don't think there is anything you can do to treat it unless she is unable to blink to properly lubricate the eye, in which case you may need to apply an ointment to keep her eye moist.

 

[tornado8070]

Never seeen that before. Appears to be some sort of bleeding into or behind the eye. Has it got progressively larger?

 

[MycoKat]

Oh this is great news! Thank you. I will look up hematoma to find out more about it. Do you think she is in pain? She is blinking just fine, I was watching her closely today and was quite amazed at how well she was doing and that her eyelid is still actually able to blink over her eyeball even though it's about 3 times the size it should be. Animals are amazing creatures. I'll keep an eye on her and if she isn't able to blink anymore I'll put some ointment on it. Thanks so much!

 

[Higins00]

When ever any of my chickens get any kind of eye thing I use boric eye wash. You get it in cvs, it is a weak antibiotic eye wash. It comes in powder form, you boil water and mix it and just take a cotton ball and squeeze it over the eye. It works great. I think it's called boric acid wash.

 

[nurse_turtle]

Never heard of boric acid wash but the thought of putting it in anyone's eye sounds awful. Is she in pain? Maybe. More likely, it's a pressure sensation that may get on her nerves. You may see her shaking her head more or trying to scratch at it. If she does start scratching at it, we may have to come up with a tiny little lamp shade thing like doggies get....

 

[CapricornFarm]

I would try terramycin eye ointment, you get it at feed stores.

 

[MycoKat]

I went out early this morning to feed the chicks and sadly the chick with the bulging eye was dead. Really sad. It looked as though the eyeball had ruptured (sometime last night I believe), as she had blood stained feathers around her face and wing. I wonder if it had been pushing on her brain or something...she seemed totally fine except for the huge bulging eye. Fortunately these slikies (50 of them) are being raised for meat, so I haven't gotten too attached, but still very sad. This is my first time raising silkies...and I know, you're probably saying "silkies...for meat?!". Right?! We have a strong demand from gourmet restaurants in our area who are interested in the black meat birds with black bones. A delicacy and medicinal food in parts of Asia. So, we thought we would give it a go and add an addition to our newly established pastured poultry operation. I just hate the part of losing chicks, or birds in general, it's always hard.

Does anyone have any other insights as to what this could have been or why it would have caused her die so quickly (4 days from the onset).

Thanks all for your input!