Swollen above / in front of eye not responding to RX or antibiotics

[Bootsintheboot]

I noticed 5 days ago my hen had a swollen eye, red without any other symptoms that I’ve noticed other than she seemed a little lethargic sometimes and shakes her head here and there there.

I’ve treated her with RX and terramyacin for 5 days but there was no change until last night when her swelling increased a little bit. Any advice/help? I don’t see any worms, mites or otherwise but could they still be there? Or what else could it be and what can be done (no avian vet available)

 

[nuthatched]

If it's an infection, it will have be expressed manually. Chickens have hard pus.

 

[alinas2010]

Sorry to hear about your chicken. I would keep at it with the terramycin twice a day, but I think nuthatched is correct and there may be pus that needs to be released. Check her eye really well for any debris and rinse with saline solution twice a day, also. You might try a warm compress to help expel the pus material. Is her other eye okay?

 

[alinas2010]

Here is a video of expressing pus, post number 5 by @Eggcessive

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/missing-eye.1623473/#post-27733110

 

[Bootsintheboot]

If it's an infection, it will have be expressed manually. Chickens have hard pus.

Is there any guidance for expressing an infection?

 

[Bootsintheboot]

Sorry to hear about your chicken. I would keep at it with the terramycin twice a day, but I think nuthatched is correct and there may be pus that needs to be released. Check her eye really well for any debris and rinse with saline solution twice a day, also. You might try a warm compress to help expel the pus material. Is her other eye okay?

Her other eye is ok, yeah

 

[alinas2010]

Is there any guidance for expressing an infection?

Sorry, I posted a link a bit late, but there is a video in post number 5 on the link I posted showing it done. I tagged the educator who posted it, she may have more advice on expressing pus from the eye.

 

[Bootsintheboot]

Her other eye is ok, yeah

And I’ll try a warm compress and read up on expressing it, I just haven’t seen any pus or anything but I guess it could be up in the swollen area?

It feels hard to the touch- should I massage it to get it out or cut into the swollen part? Probably a very silly question

 

[alinas2010]

And I’ll try a warm compress and read up on expressing it, I just haven’t seen any pus or anything but I guess it could be up in the swollen area?

It feels hard to the touch- should I massage it to get it out or cut into the swollen part? Probably a very silly question

No, not silly. Don’t do any cutting, there is a lining that pus will get under, and you should be able to work it out from under that, especially if a warm compress is done first, it should make the pus more mailable. I’m sorry I’ve never had to do this before myself, I imagine it will be a bit shocking to do at first. I would say if it doesn’t want to come out too easily at first, it won’t hurt to use a warm compress longer or give her a break and come back to it a bit later.

I’ll tag some more educators to see if they have advice on expressing pus or otherwise what might be wrong.

@Wyorp Rock @azygous what do you advise on the eye?

 

[Bootsintheboot]

Following up- I tried to express pus but it’s very hard and even after a warm compress nothing happened :/
I never saw any pus at all. I’m wondering if the infection might be deeper inside a cavity? We pushed and squeezed until we couldn’t bear putting her through so much :/