Swollen head / Eyes (pics included)

[chickenflock01]

I've been going home during lunch to check on them and feed them lettuce. Today I found her at the water bowl drinking, so that made me happy. She still seems a bit sick and is keeping her good eye closed. I cleaned out the water and replaced with new water with higher Duramycin content. I am hoping she begins to show some signs of improvement but I suppose the fact she is drinking and eating on her own, is a good sign.

 

[chickenflock01]

Today i found her eating in the morning with the others, but her head and face looked more red than yesterday, with the same amount of swelling. I am taking her to the vet right now, cannot stand the thought that she may be in pain. Luckily I found a vet that will see her.

 

[CuckooOrpington]

I've been going home during lunch to check on them and feed them lettuce. Today I found her at the water bowl drinking, so that made me happy. She still seems a bit sick and is keeping her good eye closed. I cleaned out the water and replaced with new water with higher Duramycin content. I am hoping she begins to show some signs of improvement but I suppose the fact she is drinking and eating on her own, is a good sign.

Hi, good to hear your girl is drinking and eating fine. If you are concerned about her not getting enough water you can give her water through a dropper a few times a day or install a bubbler in her water (bubbles and movement in the water enourage them to drink). I think she is fine drinking be herself though, I haven't seen many birds with a respiratory disease that don't eat/drink (unless the case is severe).

Today i found her eating in the morning with the others, but her head and face looked more red than yesterday, with the same amount of swelling. I am taking her to the vet right now, cannot stand the thought that she may be in pain. Luckily I found a vet that will see her.

If her head was the normal 'chicken red' colour then I don't think you should be too alarmed... Glad you got her to a vet though. Note that avian vets are the best vets to choose to treat chickens as the usual 'cat and dog' sort of vets can have very litle experience with birds. Fingers crossed for your hen .

 

[chickenflock01]

Hi, good to hear your girl is drinking and eating fine. If you are concerned about her not getting enough water you can give her water through a dropper a few times a day or install a bubbler in her water (bubbles and movement in the water enourage them to drink). I think she is fine drinking be herself though, I haven't seen many birds with a respiratory disease that don't eat/drink (unless the case is severe).
If her head was the normal 'chicken red' colour then I don't think you should be too alarmed... Glad you got her to a vet though. Note that avian vets are the best vets to choose to treat chickens as the usual 'cat and dog' sort of vets can have very litle experience with birds. Fingers crossed for your hen .

Hey Cuckoo, good morning. Yes we took her to an avian vet and here is what they provided her:

1. 1 injection of anti-inflammatory
1a. They tried to squeeze the inflammation to hopefully remove pus, but they said not much came out
-They sent me home with these items to treat her around the clock.
2. baytril
3. metacam
4. omi-something (powder food mix w/ water and force feed)
5. eye ointment applied every 8 hours

We have also dusted her with Permethrin (not sure on spelling). I believe we have gotten rid of all her mites/lice. As we didn't see any on the second dusting (once saturday and once sunday)

Since she has been sleeping on the ground of coop we did put a box with Diatomaceous Earth Nesting shavings so she wouldn't be directly on the ground. I do notice she seems to have more energy and be more alert than before we started her on the medication from the vet. However, the eye swelling does not seem to be receding which is a bummer. Perhaps we need more time? Does the fact that she seems to be feeling better help at all?

The vet was really unsure of what caused the swelling as a number of things could have happened. They are also not sure if the eye is still there anymore at all. Do you have any experience with the medications they provided her? I was kind of hoping they would prescribe Pednisone (not sure of spelling), but I've read a few things here about it and it seemed good.

 

[CuckooOrpington]

Hey Cuckoo, good morning. Yes we took her to an avian vet and here is what they provided her:

1. 1 injection of anti-inflammatory
1a. They tried to squeeze the inflammation to hopefully remove pus, but they said not much came out
-They sent me home with these items to treat her around the clock.
2. baytril
3. metacam
4. omi-something (powder food mix w/ water and force feed)
5. eye ointment applied every 8 hours

We have also dusted her with Permethrin (not sure on spelling). I believe we have gotten rid of all her mites/lice. As we didn't see any on the second dusting (once saturday and once sunday)

Since she has been sleeping on the ground of coop we did put a box with Diatomaceous Earth Nesting shavings so she wouldn't be directly on the ground. I do notice she seems to have more energy and be more alert than before we started her on the medication from the vet. However, the eye swelling does not seem to be receding which is a bummer. Perhaps we need more time? Does the fact that she seems to be feeling better help at all?

The vet was really unsure of what caused the swelling as a number of things could have happened. They are also not sure if the eye is still there anymore at all. Do you have any experience with the medications they provided her? I was kind of hoping they would prescribe Pednisone (not sure of spelling), but I've read a few things here about it and it seemed good.

Hi Chickenflock,

Sounds good to me... Baytril is one of the most effective medications I know of (besides Tylan). The fact that she is feeling better is great, when is comes to bacterial diseases there is four phases; the lag, logarithmic, stationary and decline. The phase of the bacteria can be determined by the symptoms, she would have been around the logarithmic or stationary phase. Her improved behavior means the number of pathogens is reducing, and more cells being produced successfully.

If the medications continue to work, the symptoms will decline as well. If you ask me, I don't think she will still have her eye. I think the vets couldn't get much puss out of her eye because it could be the actual tissue that is swollen. She just needs more time to recover, in my opinion.

Back when I just kept chooks as pets/layers I had a White Wyandotte rooster that got a respiratory disease, his eye was not as bad as this but it was the actual third eyelid/tissue that was swollen. I decided to give him Baytril twice a week and Tylan injectable 5 times a week plus garlic and synbiotic in his water to keep up natural probiotics. He got better in about 10 days, his recovery process sounds sort of similar to your hen so she sounds like she is going fine.

My rooster ended up keeping his eye, but in his case. the swelling was not this bad at all.

 

[chickenflock01]

Hi Chickenflock,

Sounds good to me... Baytril is one of the most effective medications I know of (besides Tylan). The fact that she is feeling better is great, when is comes to bacterial diseases there is four phases; the lag, logarithmic, stationary and decline. The phase of the bacteria can be determined by the symptoms, she would have been around the logarithmic or stationary phase. Her improved behavior means the number of pathogens is reducing, and more cells being produced successfully.

If the medications continue to work, the symptoms will decline as well. If you ask me, I don't think she will still have her eye. I think the vets couldn't get much puss out of her eye because it could be the actual tissue that is swollen. She just needs more time to recover, in my opinion.

Back when I just kept chooks as pets/layers I had a White Wyandotte rooster that got a respiratory disease, his eye was not as bad as this but it was the actual third eyelid/tissue that was swollen. I decided to give him Baytril twice a week and Tylan injectable 5 times a week plus garlic and synbiotic in his water to keep up natural probiotics. He got better in about 10 days, his recovery process sounds sort of similar to your hen so she sounds like she is going fine.

My rooster ended up keeping his eye, but in his case. the swelling was not this bad at all.

Hey Cuckoo - That makes me feel a whole lot better that it may take some more time to see any reduction in the swelling. She definitely seems like she has increased energy, strength and overall wellness. She is still not doing perfect by any means, but I can tell she feels a bit better. I will continue with her prescriptions, although I wish I had an injectable medication to give her. I feel like I am missing out on not being able to give her that, as the injectables seem to be more quickly effective.

She is taking her .75cc Metacam once a day and 1cc of Baytril twice a day. I give it to her after I feed her. As of today still no signs of the swelling decreasing, but I am still holding out hope. She does seem to have more physical strength and "drive" to stand up and move around a bit.

 

[casportpony]

Quote: She is taking her .75cc Metacam once a day and 1cc of Baytril twice a day. I give it to her after I feed her. As of today still no signs of the swelling decreasing, but I am still holding out hope. She does seem to have more physical strength and "drive" to stand up and move around a bit.
Thanks for the update!

For my records, would you mind telling us which Baytril and Metacam you're giving her? And how much does she weigh? Baytril might be 100 mg/ml, 22.7 mg/ml, or something else, and the Metacam should be 0.5 mg/ml or 1.5 mg/ml.

-Kathy

 

[casportpony]

@chickenflock01 ,
for my records, would you mind telling us which Baytril and Metacam you're giving her? And how much does she weigh? Baytril might be 100 mg/ml, 22.7 mg/ml, or something else, and the Metacam should be 0.5 mg/ml or 1.5 mg/ml.

-Kathy