Swollen eye, could it be an abscess?

[hophead1967]

Hi everyone, I've been a frequent visitor to BYC, but just became a member today as I'm having an issue with one of my new pullets. She's a 14 week old barred rock and I've had her almost a week. She is the sweetest girl ever, constantly wants to be held and climbs up onto my shoulder when I sit on the bench in the chicken yard. A bit of an underdog, I've seen a few of my established hens picking at her. Today one of her eyes is swollen. Still open, but noticeably irritated. No drainage or pus at this point. The other eye is fine. I don't hear any respiratory issues. My first thought is that another bird pecked her in the affected eye, but I'm not sure. Could an abscess appear virtually overnight? I've read several posts on other sites that recommend washing the eye and applying neosporin ointment. What do y'all think? Thank you so much for your advice.

 

[CMV]

Please tell me she has been quarantined from the rest of your flock. That does not look like an injury to me. It looks like an illness.

 

[klmclain1]

Yup.. looks like a respiratory (sinus) infection to me. Sounds like you didn't quarantine her when you got her either. Not good...all your others have probably been exposed. Separate her now and hope for the best. The neosporin is probably not doing much good. Do a search here for "sinus infection" and "treatment", or "respiratory infection" and "treatment" to assess your options.

 

[hophead1967]

I noticed the injury/illness just as I was putting them all up for the night, so no, I didn't remove her right away. Unfortunately, I don't have the facilities to keep new birds quarantined, so after a few hours of getting to know each other thru fencing they all end up all together by nightfall. I only have one coop and as there is a never-ending raccoon population in my area, I have to lock them all up together at dusk or risk losing them to the masked bandits. I never buy chicks, only older pullets, in an attempt to avoid the problems of integrating differing ages. So far this system has worked fine and everyone finds their place within a few days.

Anyway, back to my problem. Today she is separate from the rest of the flock. Upon further inspection, the skin on the inner corner of the eye (where a human tearduct would be) is red like a bruise. That was not the case yesterday (as you can see in the picture). I flushed the eye with sterile water and did apply neosporin, but I appreciate your suggestions on following up with treatment for a sinus infection. The only health issues I've ever experienced with my hens are predator (raccoon and dog) related, so infection is a new one for me. I may have only had her a week, but my hens are like pets and I adore each and every one of them.

Thanks for your advice, this website is a god send!

 

[kreagerm]

Could be an abcess, but I'm guessing an sinus/respiratory infection. Being that it's early you may have seperated her early enough, just watch the other.

I recently just gave a 6 week old Tylan 50 injectable for an eye/sinus infection and it worked on her. My pullets symptoms were a little differnt: first swollen, then runny, then bubbly eye (next would be a sinus infection smell, but I treated her before this phase) after 4 injections she looks great. You might want to keep some on stand by just incase. You can get it on line or at places like tractor supply company.


I hope that helps.

 

[hophead1967]

Thanks everyone. I purchased some Tylan 50 today at the feed store and will start her on it asap. How long should I keep her apart from her coop-mates? I was thinking of adding soluble Vi-Tal to the water supply to give the other birds a boost...do you think it might help? Should I treat the entire flock with duramyacin as a preventative measure or wait to see if they develop symptoms?

 

[hophead1967]

UPDATE - When I went out the next morning to administer the first Tylan injection, the swelling in her eye was down by at least 50%. Decided to wait on the antibiotic and see what happened. Continued applying Neosporin. By yesterday the swelling was almost completely gone. In fact, if I hadn't known there was a problem, I probably wouldn't have noticed it at all. No other symptoms from her or the rest of the hens. Keeping her separate until the weekend just to be safe, but it looks like I dodged a bullet on this one. Still not clear what the original problem was, but it doesn't appear to be serious at this point. Thanks again for the advice.

 

[TNBEARCHICK]

UPDATE - When I went out the next morning to administer the first Tylan injection, the swelling in her eye was down by at least 50%. Decided to wait on the antibiotic and see what happened. Continued applying Neosporin. By yesterday the swelling was almost completely gone. In fact, if I hadn't known there was a problem, I probably wouldn't have noticed it at all. No other symptoms from her or the rest of the hens. Keeping her separate until the weekend just to be safe, but it looks like I dodged a bullet on this one. Still not clear what the original problem was, but it doesn't appear to be serious at this point. Thanks again for the advice.

My chickens did the same thing. I had one die and I sent it of for a necroscropy and found that e-coli was the concern that caused the abscess in the eye and the eventual death. It can be controlled by antibiotics if you want to go that route but, can also be controlled naturally by using 1 tbsp of apple cider vinegar in 1 gal of water (or more if you want) and giving them probiotics (yogurt) to regulate the good bacteria so it can control the bad bacteria.

 

[Jarrahtree]

Hi, I believe my chicken has the same problem. My chickens problem is more advanced, she has an upper and lower swelling in her eye which seems the same with your chook. She has no other symptoms, she's pretty happy. There's a bit of grass in her eye but I washed it out with saline. Was wondering about the natural remedie? How is this administered? Cheers. I'll post a link to the pic in next post.

 

[Jarrahtree]