Severe eye injury please help!!!

[Hensofthehill]

Hello friends!

I have an australorp mix hen that had its eye injured.

This is the third hand in the last month that this happened to I had to put two other hens down because it was so severe.

This is severe too, she is one of my favorite hens and I am at a loss what to do to help her and how to find who is doing that?

I have 4 roosters and a flock of about 40 hens. It is winter here in Minnesota so roosters are not as active but I do see whole bunch of feathers looking like rooster was trying to mount on her on the backside of her head.

Please help I don’t know how to proceed and if she will recover or if I need to put her down so she doesn’t struggle.

Any ideas hot to catch who in the flock is doing that?

Thank you all in advance…

 

[Allyyyyyyyy]

@Eggcessive

 

[Eggcessive]

Have you had any fowl pox earlier in the fall this year? This is probably pecking, but some of the bumps look a bit like fowl pox. I would clean the eye with saline or Bausch and Lomb or similar eye wash. Vetericyn also works. Apply plain Neosporin triple antibiotic ointment into the eye twice a day. Use a warm wet wash cloth to soften any crust on the eye, so that you can get it open. Help her get enough food and water to eat, since she cannot see well.

How much room do you have in your coop and run? Are they getting outside to roam now, or they locked in for winter? I would separate the roosters, and use a game camera in the coop to see who is causing the bullying. Spend some time with them every day to look for any aggressors. If they are being injured to the point of putting them down, something is not right. Too much light inside the laying area, or keeping light on for too long of the day, boredom from not getting outside, too much heat, and aggressive breeds might be the problem causing the pecking. I hope that you can find out who is doing the bullying. Make sure there are multiple feed and water stations.

 

[Hensofthehill]

Have you had any fowl pox earlier in the fall this year? This is probably pecking, but some of the bumps look a bit like fowl pox. I would clean the eye with saline or Bausch and Lomb or similar eye wash. Vetericyn also works. Apply plain Neosporin triple antibiotic ointment into the eye twice a day. Use a warm wet wash cloth to soften any crust on the eye, so that you can get it open. Help her get enough food and water to eat, since she cannot see well.

How much room do you have in your coop and run? Are they getting outside to roam now, or they locked in for winter? I would separate the roosters, and use a game camera in the coop to see who is causing the bullying. Spend some time with them every day to look for any aggressors. If they are being injured to the point of putting them down, something is not right. Too much light inside the laying area, or keeping light on for too long of the day, boredom from not getting outside, too much heat, and aggressive breeds might be the problem causing the pecking. I hope that you can find out who is doing the bullying. Make sure there are multiple feed and water stations.

Thank you so much for your prompt response. You and all members of this forum have been wonderful.

I do not believe that I had a full box earlier in the year. How can I tell now?

My coop is 10x16 and run is 8x16, i normally keep my run locked till about noon. So they have access from coop to run, but not the outside of run. should I just let them free all the time?

I do not have light or heat insode of the coop. I have 1 waterer with multiple nipples and one feeder. Is that too little for my flock?

I will be following all instructions that were shared here and update as it progresses.

How do I prevent my sick hen from rubbing her eye against her wing? She seems to want to rub off neosporin and i am afraid causing more damage. Any ideas are really appreciated.

 

[coach723]

The space in your run may be a contributing issue, that isn't a lot of room for that many birds. Particularly if you have any aggressive or dominant ones. Over crowding is often the biggest problem. How much time outside depends on your environment and predator load, but you may need to consider letting them out for more of the day, or enlarging the run. Mine are out, in a fenced area from about an hour and a half after sunrise to sunset, I have about 50 birds. With that many, and multiple roosters, having a totally enclosed run for 24 hours a day that is large enough, would be fairly expensive. Mine are only locked up at night or when weather(hurricanes) or circumstances (predators) make it necessary, my coop is about the size of yours, but my enclosed run is much larger at 16' x 24', , and my 7' high fenced area outside is about 100' x 150'. And I have Egyptian Fayoumi's who do not like to be confined, I have 1/2 a dozen of them that fly over the fence and roam in my cow pasture on a regular basis . They are going to get their wings clipped. The risk that comes with free ranging, is one that I have to accept in order to keep this many birds.

 

[Eggcessive]

It does sound like they may not have enough room. I have always let my chickens out of their coop when it was daylight. This time of year it might be 8:30 when it is bright enough. They are usually ready by then. They have always gone in on their own, and this time of year that may be 4-4:30 with the short days. Chickens can fight over food and water. I keep 2 stations of those inside the coop, another in the run, and more out in the yard. I would doctor the eye, and perhaps keep the hurt hen in a dog crate with her own food and water during the day.

 

[Hensofthehill]

Thank you so much everyone for your replies.

I just came home and she’s not eating and whole bunch of feathers of hers fell out. The bottom of the crate is just filled with them from her. They are just falling out when I grabbed her, ive never seen this before due to stress? She and her flock just got done or finishing molt… its not molt… how can I stop that? Any ideas anyone how to make her eat? She needs food to heal and keep warm.

When do you all know when its time to cull a sick bird? It breaks my heart do you think about putting her down but at the same time I do not want her to struggle if she is not able to recover

 

[coach723]

Illness can trigger molt.
If she won't eat or drink you can tube feed her to try to get her strength up. I do see bubbles in her eye as well, have you ever had any respiratory disease in your flock? Some of those can cause eye swelling, bubbles in the eye, pus, discharge.
How much to do for her is up to you, only you can make that decision. If you want to keep trying, then I would continue with treating the eye, you might want to get some terramycin eye ointment and use that, many feed stores carry it, no prescription required, you can also get it online. If you think it might be respiratory, then tylan or tylosin is usually the treatment. It will help with symptoms, but for many of the respiratory issues there isn't a cure, and symptoms can recur periodically during times of stress. MG (mycoplasma gallisepticum) is fairly common.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/go-team-tube-feeding-updated-12-29-2019.805728/
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...res-under-construction.1064392/#post-16201671
https://www.merckvetmanual.com/poultry/mycoplasmosis/mycoplasma-gallisepticum-infection-in-poultry

 

[Hensofthehill]

Illness can trigger molt.
If she won't eat or drink you can tube feed her to try to get her strength up. I do see bubbles in her eye as well, have you ever had any respiratory disease in your flock? Some of those can cause eye swelling, bubbles in the eye, pus, discharge.
How much to do for her is up to you, only you can make that decision. If you want to keep trying, then I would continue with treating the eye, you might want to get some terramycin eye ointment and use that, many feed stores carry it, no prescription required, you can also get it online. If you think it might be respiratory, then tylan or tylosin is usually the treatment. It will help with symptoms, but for many of the respiratory issues there isn't a cure, and symptoms can recur periodically during times of stress. MG (mycoplasma gallisepticum) is fairly common.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/go-team-tube-feeding-updated-12-29-2019.805728/
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...res-under-construction.1064392/#post-16201671
https://www.merckvetmanual.com/poultry/mycoplasmosis/mycoplasma-gallisepticum-infection-in-poultry

Illness can trigger molt.
If she won't eat or drink you can tube feed her to try to get her strength up. I do see bubbles in her eye as well, have you ever had any respiratory disease in your flock? Some of those can cause eye swelling, bubbles in the eye, pus, discharge.
How much to do for her is up to you, only you can make that decision. If you want to keep trying, then I would continue with treating the eye, you might want to get some terramycin eye ointment and use that, many feed stores carry it, no prescription required, you can also get it online. If you think it might be respiratory, then tylan or tylosin is usually the treatment. It will help with symptoms, but for many of the respiratory issues there isn't a cure, and symptoms can recur periodically during times of stress. MG (mycoplasma gallisepticum) is fairly common.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/go-team-tube-feeding-updated-12-29-2019.805728/
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...res-under-construction.1064392/#post-16201671
https://www.merckvetmanual.com/poultry/mycoplasmosis/mycoplasma-gallisepticum-infection-in-poultry

thank you so much for providing me with resources so I can try help her heal. Her eye looks worse today, I think, she keeps scratching it. Do any of you know what can be done about that? Bandage of some sort? I feel so bad for her…

 

[Hensofthehill]

Illness can trigger molt.
If she won't eat or drink you can tube feed her to try to get her strength up. I do see bubbles in her eye as well, have you ever had any respiratory disease in your flock? Some of those can cause eye swelling, bubbles in the eye, pus, discharge.
How much to do for her is up to you, only you can make that decision. If you want to keep trying, then I would continue with treating the eye, you might want to get some terramycin eye ointment and use that, many feed stores carry it, no prescription required, you can also get it online. If you think it might be respiratory, then tylan or tylosin is usually the treatment. It will help with symptoms, but for many of the respiratory issues there isn't a cure, and symptoms can recur periodically during times of stress. MG (mycoplasma gallisepticum) is fairly common.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/go-team-tube-feeding-updated-12-29-2019.805728/
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...res-under-construction.1064392/#post-16201671
https://www.merckvetmanual.com/poultry/mycoplasmosis/mycoplasma-gallisepticum-infection-in-poultry

How would I know if I ever had fowl pox or respiratory infection? They all seem so be so happy all the time.