Unknown eye infection

[Lillypads]

Hello everyone,
I could really use some help. I've been trying to find out what is wrong with one of my hens. I took her to the vet but sadly my vet doesn't really care or know much about birds so I've been on my own on this.
I thought she had an eye infection and that what was in her eye could have been puss but it's not. It seems to be a hard white cluster in both her eyes that has made her eyes very swollen. I have carefully removed some of it but by morning it just comes back. I've tried to clean her eye and give his antibiotics but this stuff just won't go away.
Here is a picture of her but be warned.

 

[Newmamabear]

Can y

Hello everyone, I could really use some help. I've been trying to find out what is wrong with one of my hens. I took her to the vet but sadly my vet doesn't really care or know much about birds so I've been on my own on this. I thought she had an eye infection and that what was in her eye could have been puss but it's not. It seems to be a hard white cluster in both her eyes that has made her eyes very swollen. I have carefully removed some of it but by morning it just comes back. I've tried to clean her eye and give his antibiotics but this stuff just won't go away. Here is a picture of her but be warned.

can you post a pic of the white clusters? Can you flush the eyes with a buffered saline solution and a syringe without the needle? Infection might be in her tear ducts and the antibiotic will probably clear it up if you're able to keep removing the excess granules and flushing. Good luck to you and your little bird!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Hello everyone,
I could really use some help. I've been trying to find out what is wrong with one of my hens. I took her to the vet but sadly my vet doesn't really care or know much about birds so I've been on my own on this.
I thought she had an eye infection and that what was in her eye could have been puss but it's not. It seems to be a hard white cluster in both her eyes that has made her eyes very swollen. I have carefully removed some of it but by morning it just comes back. I've tried to clean her eye and give his antibiotics but this stuff just won't go away.
Here is a picture of her but be warned.

Welcome to BYC.

Does she have any other symptoms - coughing, sneezing, discharge from nostrils?
Does she smell?
What antibiotic did your vet give you?

Since it is in both eyes she most likely has a respiratory illness.

The white you are seeing is most likely pus. You will need to try to clean all that gunk out of her eyes. You will most likely need a helper. Flush the eyes with saline and start working the white gunk out of her eye - you may need to use a qtip, tweezers, etc. Without getting the pus out she will not start getting better and could possibly become blind if the infection goes too far.

Once you get all the pus out apply Vetericyn eye gel or terramycin eye ointment in the eyes. You may need to clean the eyes out a couple of times a day and re-apply the ointment.

Let us know how she is doing.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...matter-disturbing-image-warning#post_16429142
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1071718/nasty-eye-infection-pics

 

[Newmamabear]

The swelling matchs a tear duct infection as its below and to the rear of the eyeball, the other post is really good though, very similar presentation but towards the front near the beak. I believe it will be very important to keep the eyes flushed while your antibiotic is getting a chance to work on the infection

 

[Lillypads]

Welcome to BYC.

Does she have any other symptoms - coughing, sneezing, discharge from nostrils?
Does she smell?
What antibiotic did your vet give you?

Since it is in both eyes she most likely has a respiratory illness.

The white you are seeing is most likely pus. You will need to try to clean all that gunk out of her eyes. You will most likely need a helper. Flush the eyes with saline and start working the white gunk out of her eye - you may need to use a qtip, tweezers, etc. Without getting the pus out she will not start getting better and could possibly become blind if the infection goes too far.

Once you get all the pus out apply Vetericyn eye gel or terramycin eye ointment in the eyes. You may need to clean the eyes out a couple of times a day and re-apply the ointment.

Let us know how she is doing.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...matter-disturbing-image-warning#post_16429142
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1071718/nasty-eye-infection-pics

She has not other symptoms, that I have seen so far. The vet wouldn't give me anything for her because he doesn't think chickens are important enough for him to work on.
I've been trying to clean it out with tweezers but it keeps coming back and I've also been cleaning her eyes out with saline. The puss is very solid, is that normal?
I will try what you suggested with the eye gel and will start cleaning her eyes out more.
Thank you for your help so far and I will keep everyone updated.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

She has not other symptoms, that I have seen so far. The vet wouldn't give me anything for her because he doesn't think chickens are important enough for him to work on.
I've been trying to clean it out with tweezers but it keeps coming back and I've also been cleaning her eyes out with saline. The puss is very solid, is that normal?
I will try what you suggested with the eye gel and will start cleaning her eyes out more.
Thank you for your help so far and I will keep everyone updated.

It's a pity your vet doesn't deem chickens worth helping.
Yes, chicken pus is solid.
Try to get as much of it out as you can. You may need to apply a warm compress to one eye. Work on one at a time - gently apply some pressure - hopefully the pus with pop out.


If you get them both cleaned out well and don't see any improvement then you may need to administer oral antibiotics in addition to cleaning the eyes and applying ointment. You can try
Tylan 50 injectable, given orally. Tylan 50 dosage is 1 cc or ml per 5 pounds of weight, or 1/2 cc for bantams. Give it orally or as an injection into the breast muscle 1/4 inch deep.

Let us know how she is doing.

 

[Lillypads]

Up dating everyone as to how the hen is doing. Since her eye infection one of my roosters also caught the strange illness. I worked on them both with everything everyone suggested. The rooster lost one eye but his remaining eye cleared up. The hen still has puss in one of her eyes but the other eye is clear now. I actually tried to get the puss out more from the rooster's eyes and the one eye that I worked on the most is the one he lost. So I suggest not trying to get the puss out too much, it seems that the eyes for both chickens cleared up mainly on their own.
Thanks again for all the help!