Swollen Eyes- Both

[black_spider86]

We took in a sweet bantam about 2.5 weeks ago from a family that got chickens for the first time. They didn't realize the size difference in chickens, and only got one bantam. Today her eyes are both very swollen. besides that, she seems fine. She's eating and drinking, and not noticible odor from her eyes. We've separated her from the rest of the flock. I now know she shouldn't have been integrated already. What else, if anything, can/should I do for her? I have some Tylan 50 on hand, but no other medications. How long does she need to be separated? We have a day old chick and are waiting on a few more to hatch. What do I need to do to keep the rest of our birds safe? Thanks for any advice you can give me.

 

[Isaac 0]

Hello, and welcome to BYC. Sorry, you're having problems with your hen. Could you provide us with a little more information?

Do you know how old she is? To clarify, there is no foul stench coming from her eye, or mouth? Besides the swelling, there are no other symptoms such as sneezing, rattled breathing, eye or nasal discharge, lethargy? How do her poops look, could you post a picture?

Swollen eyes in chickens is sometimes respiratory-related, to be more specific, Mycoplasma Gallispectum, and Coryza are often major contributors to swollen eyes. A bacterial infection such as E-coli can cause similar problems as well. This often stems from getting pecked on the eye multiple times, and the bacteria eventually transfers off the chickens to beak, into her eye. Environmental factors such as dusty feed, bedding, or high ammonia can cause facial edema as well.

If you have Tylan 50 on hand, and it's not way past its expiration date, and want to see if that (helps) you can dose at 0.25ml per pound orally, three/four times a day, for five days. If it helps her symptoms but doesn't totally alleviate them you may need to switch to a Sulfa antibiotic which would be more effective if it is Coryza by chance.

It would be a good idea to start flushing both eyes with saline, wiping off any gunk, and applying an ophthalmic ointment or antibiotic eye drops to the eye per the directions on the bottle.

 

[black_spider86]

Hello, and welcome to BYC. Sorry, you're having problems with your hen. Could you provide us with a little more information?

Do you know how old she is? To clarify, there is no foul stench coming from her eye, or mouth? Besides the swelling, there are no other symptoms such as sneezing, rattled breathing, eye or nasal discharge, lethargy? How do her poops look, could you post a picture?

Swollen eyes in chickens is sometimes respiratory-related, to be more specific, Mycoplasma Gallispectum, and Coryza are often major contributors to swollen eyes. A bacterial infection such as E-coli can cause similar problems as well. This often stems from getting pecked on the eye multiple times, and the bacteria eventually transfers off the chickens to beak, into her eye. Environmental factors such as dusty feed, bedding, or high ammonia can cause facial edema as well.

If you have Tylan 50 on hand, and it's not way past its expiration date, and want to see if that (helps) you can dose at 0.25ml per pound orally, three/four times a day, for five days. If it helps her symptoms but doesn't totally alleviate them you may need to switch to a Sulfa antibiotic which would be more effective if it is Coryza by chance.

It would be a good idea to start flushing both eyes with saline, wiping off any gunk, and applying an ophthalmic ointment or antibiotic eye drops to the eye per the directions on the bottle.

Thanks so much for your reply. I do not know how old she is, but she is young and not quite laying yet. There doesn't seem to be any drainage from her eyes at all, nor any odor from her eyes or mouth either. No other symptoms we've noticed. Eating, drinking, active. Poop is normal too. She seems much better today, but we were panicking a bit yesterday. I'm hoping maybe it was just allergies of some sort, and since she's improving will hold off on any further interventions unless something changes.

In checking all the other birds this morning, one has a bit of nasal drainage, and nothing else to note. Our bantam roo and girls free range and roost in a tree, despite our best efforts to convince them that any of the three coops we provide are acceptable. As it starts to get colder, we plan to try harder. But since they are roaming inside fencing, that is also inside an electric fence with plenty of tree cover, we prioritized flock integration for the time being. It's still a step up from my back deck, which is where the rooster preferred until we got him his own ladies. With all I learned about appropriate quarantine periods yesterday, I was a little thankful for the separation from our other girls too.

Thanks for taking the time to reply, I really appreciate the advice from someone more experienced than myself.