I bought a very young showgirl pullet at a chicken swap last weekend. She was (still is) very healthy, eats and drinks right, has good body weight, is feathering properly, etc. Shes the tiniest one in the flock right now but her roo takes good care of her. She was being picked on really bad when I got her and had quite a sore spot on the back of her head where her old flock mates were picking out her crest. The sore is healed up nicely and like I said her feathers are growing out well and all my birds get along (I watch them often) so I know she isn't being picked on.
However, today I noticed her left eye was crusted shut. I took her inside and gently ran it under warm water and cleaned it with a wet q-tip until it opened. It's very swollen and even with the crustys gone she doesn't open it much. I cleaned it gain a little while later with some saline solution and warm water. Its still very swollen and has some crustys. The eye underneath looks just fine so I don't know if its a problem with her eye or the eyelid or something else.
Should I just keep cleaning it until it gets better? What else should I do? Is this an early sign of a bigger problem? Am I just being a paranoid mommy?
However, today I noticed her left eye was crusted shut. I took her inside and gently ran it under warm water and cleaned it with a wet q-tip until it opened. It's very swollen and even with the crustys gone she doesn't open it much. I cleaned it gain a little while later with some saline solution and warm water. Its still very swollen and has some crustys. The eye underneath looks just fine so I don't know if its a problem with her eye or the eyelid or something else.
Should I just keep cleaning it until it gets better? What else should I do? Is this an early sign of a bigger problem? Am I just being a paranoid mommy?
