Swelling Around Eye - Neighbor's Chicken

[buffy-the-eggpile-layer]

One of my neighbor's chickens recently came to me with a bad limp. I took her in to rest in a big dog crate for a few days and she healed beautifully, so I had released her back to her flock. Since then she's been attached to my hip. Sadly, a few days later, I noticed one of her eyes is swollen. Is there anything I can do in lieu of the vet, since it's not my chicken? The neighbors do not care for their flock and are moving soon (backstory here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/neighbors-chickens-trying-to-join-my-flock.1451896/) so it's admittedly a weird situation. But I am bonded to her and want to help however I can.

A few more things:
- She does not appear to have other symptoms at this time. No respiratory discharge or issues and her comb is bright red. Her energy and appetite seems normal as she's begging for treats and attention at her usual rate, though her eye is causing visible discomfort.
- A few days before this I noticed one of her sisters had a similarly swollen eye without other symptoms. I treated her with colloidal silver eye drops and terramycin and it resolved within a few days. I've started doing the same with the current chicken.
- I realize they could be contagious and I'm doing my best to keep my flock contained, but they've intermingled so much over the last year (neighbor's chickens roam our property) it's been near impossible. Also possible is that my flock started it, though no one has visible issues at this time.

Please let me know if you have tips. I want to help this poor girl the best I can.

Here she is waiting for me on my porch:

 

[Wyorp Rock]

A few days before this I noticed one of her sisters had a similarly swollen eye without other symptoms. I treated her with colloidal silver eye drops and terramycin and it resolved within a few days. I've started doing the same with the current chicken.

See if the treatment works for her as well.

Could be something respiratory going around or possibly debris getting in the eye, a scratch to the face, lice/mites(???) A number of causes it could be.
If she's eating/drinking/active that's a pretty good thing.

 

[buffy-the-eggpile-layer]

See if the treatment works for her as well.

Could be something respiratory going around or possibly debris getting in the eye, a scratch to the face, lice/mites(???) A number of causes it could be.
If she's eating/drinking/active that's a pretty good thing.

I'm hoping it's a minor injury or debris, but the fact that her flockmate had the same thing a week ago worries me (though thankfully that flockmate's issue resolved). But yeah, no other symptoms. They do live in a poor environment so I was also wondering about infection from that.

I'll keep up the treatment with fingers crossed. Thank you for your help!

 

[buffy-the-eggpile-layer]

@Wyorp Rock sadly she's much worse today. More swollen.. Eye mostly closed though she can open it but doing so is clearly uncomfortable. Still no discharge or respiratory symptoms, though now she seems quieter and less herself, wanting to nap. She still eats and drinks. Anything I can do in addition to the eye treatment?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

@Wyorp Rock sadly she's much worse today. More swollen.. Eye mostly closed though she can open it but doing so is clearly uncomfortable. Still no discharge or respiratory symptoms, though now she seems quieter and less herself, wanting to nap. She still eats and drinks. Anything I can do in addition to the eye treatment?

You've checked her really well for lice/mites, inside her beak for any lesions/canker, crop is emptying overnight, etc. as well correct?

When you treat the eye, have you looked to see if she's got anything stuck in there? A piece of food, dirt, etc. (it happens!).

Is she laying eggs? Any bloat/fluid in the abdomen? Poop? What's that like?

You want to rule out that there's not something else going on and the eye is just coincidental or just one symptom - that's what I'm getting at if you follow me.

If you are not finding another cause of her being uncomfortable, then you may want to consider administering an antibiotic to see if that helps. Not sure if your neighbor agrees/cares? That would be up to you. The biggest problem would be which antibiotic.
Tylan/Tylosin will treat symptoms of respiratory illness like MG, it may also treat other infections too.
Amoxicillin is broader spectrum, but will not treat symptoms of MG. But it is a pretty good antibiotic to use for reproductive and some intestinal infections.
Baytril is going to cover most things, but do keep in mind it's banned for use in poultry. A lot of folks do use it and some vets will prescribe it off label under certain circumstances. You may want to read up on it a bit and determine a withdrawal period you are comfortable with.

 

[buffy-the-eggpile-layer]

You've checked her really well for lice/mites, inside her beak for any lesions/canker, crop is emptying overnight, etc. as well correct?

When you treat the eye, have you looked to see if she's got anything stuck in there? A piece of food, dirt, etc. (it happens!).

Is she laying eggs? Any bloat/fluid in the abdomen? Poop? What's that like?

You want to rule out that there's not something else going on and the eye is just coincidental or just one symptom - that's what I'm getting at if you follow me.

If you are not finding another cause of her being uncomfortable, then you may want to consider administering an antibiotic to see if that helps. Not sure if your neighbor agrees/cares? That would be up to you. The biggest problem would be which antibiotic.
Tylan/Tylosin will treat symptoms of respiratory illness like MG, it may also treat other infections too.
Amoxicillin is broader spectrum, but will not treat symptoms of MG. But it is a pretty good antibiotic to use for reproductive and some intestinal infections.
Baytril is going to cover most things, but do keep in mind it's banned for use in poultry. A lot of folks do use it and some vets will prescribe it off label under certain circumstances. You may want to read up on it a bit and determine a withdrawal period you are comfortable with.

I've checked her crop, but did not do a thorough check for lice/mites nor in her beak. Her crop was semi-full, as she'd recently snacked. And it went down after she rested and pooped. Unfortunately she's back up on the neighbors property so it's temporarily out of my hands.

On that note, some hopeful news: I had her in a crate when I found her sleepy and her eye swollen up (when I wrote my last post). I did the usual colloidal drops and terramycin and gave her some colloidal orally. Then I left her to nap--she wasn't fussing like she usually would when locked up.

A few hours later, she's fussing up a storm and it's echoing through our house. I figure she's perked up. She seemed much brighter, pacing the cage, and her eye was open. She pooped a bunch of healthy looking poops, too. I let her out because I didn't want to further stress her since she perked up. I tried to give her one last colloidal dose in her eye but she got away and ran back up to her property. Hopefully the little bit of tlc she got today did her good, and she'll have the sense to stop back here tomorrow so I can dose her again (I hope I didn't traumatize her too much to come back...).

Thanks for the tips. I'll do a more thorough check next I see her, and will keep the potential abx in mind. Things are weird with the neighbors so it's a tricky situation, and I'm not sure if I will say anything to them or not. Not sure what good it does, as I've gotten pretty jaded about them.