Silkie chick suddenly goes half blind???

[silkiechick1994]

Hi everyone I'm hoping someone will know what is going on. I have a white Silkie chick (about 2 months old now) that seems to have gone half blind. One eye she keeps closed and rarely opens it and the other she opens but only when eating and has to close it after a minute. Both eyes seem very wet and she doesn't like when i get close to them. She seems to scratch her facial area a lot too. I thought maybe she had something stuck in her eyes so I did manage to put a few drops of water in to rinse them but that didn't seem to help and now she won't let me near them again. Does anyone know what has happened? It doesn't look like her eyes have been pecked out or anything so I'm just at a loss as to what happened...

I have no qualms about taking care of her and was planning to keep her inside the house to make it easier to take care of her. I would just like to know how and why this happened. If anyone has had a similar problem or knows what might have happened please let me know what I can do to help, if there is anything I can do. I appreciate it!

 

[Eggcessive]

What are you using for her litter? Some can be irritating. Can you get some assistance and open her eyes good and look iside them well, maybe snap a couple of pictures to post. There is a worm that can infect the eye causing itching, and sometimes the chicken will scratch so much that they scratch their eyes out. This is a rare thing, so chances are it is something else. The worm causes a white gunky build up, and sometimes you can see the tiny worm. Here is a link to a picture of eyeworm--note post # 8: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/759869/dehydrated

 

[Xmlgeek]

I have a barred rock hen that has a similar problem, eye is very wet and she keeps it closed most of the time. I have been dealing with a respiratory issue and I am thinking she might have it. She also has a bump near her eye that feels hot to the touch, I am assuming they are related. Anybody have any ideas? I will see if I can get some pics.

 

[silkiechick1994]

I use fine pine chips for bedding and have never had an issue with it before. Her eyes look nothing like the pictures though they do have a cloudy sheen over them kinda. I'm not sure if it's the start of the eye worm thing or maybe she has some other kind of infection? I'm planning to take her to the vet soon but for the time being is there anything I can give her that may help her?