Very sick hen.

[sierradasilva]

I do have an old heating pad. That's a good idea! Thank you for all the advice and kind words. I took some pics that show her general posture (she is resting near some jar lids of sugar water and plain yogurt) and her eye (full of pus with a tiny slit of eyeball showing through now. The other eye is completely shut/covered in pus and I couldn't get a good angle on it with the camera.)

 

[sierradasilva]

Oh, and I don't have any antibiotics on hand that are meant for birds.

Or do you mean that certain people antibiotics could be useful? I do have a bit of a leftover cefdinir oral suspension leftover from my son, so formulated for a very small person (a 1yr old) . It is several months old.

 

[Eggcessive]

It looks like MG with the bubbles and swollen eye. Clean the eye twice a day, and apply some Terramycin eye ointment. Many antibiotics are not useful against mycoplasma gallisepticum (MG) because it lacks a cell wall. Tylan (tylosin,) oxytetracycline, doxycycline, Denagard, or Baytril (enrofloxacin) would be good to use. Tylan (tylosin) soluble powder to use in the water would be good, and it is available here without a prescription:
https://www.jedds.com/shop/tylan-soluble-100-g/It is best mixed by adding the water to the powder in an empty waterer. Dosage is 1 tsp (5grams) per gallon of water for 5 days. Change solution every 3 days.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I agree, I would get some Tylosin to treat her. Those bubbles are commonly associated with MG.
Hopefully you will have a helper later today? I would press on the eyes to see if any pus can be removed. Flush well and apply a little ointment in the eye.

Is she drinking? If she is that's good.

There's quite a few videos on youtube.

 

[sierradasilva]

Will Tylosin also help if it is choryza? Not sure how to tell the difference between the two. Thank you all for the advice, very helpful.

 

[Eggcessive]

Coryza is said to smell very rotten, and symptoms may be more severe, affecting both eyes with thick yellow nasal secretions. But testing is required to know for sure. If Tylosin helps, it is probably the more common MG. Sulfadimethoxine or SMZ-TMP is more for coryza, but not MG. Here is a link where you may get tested for about $90:
http://www.zoologix.com/avian/Datasheets/PoultryRespiratoryPanel.htm

 

[Eggcessive]

Infectious coryza and mycoplasma gallisepticum (MG) are listed here in this link with symptoms and treatments:
https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ps044

 

[featherhead007]

Infectious coryza and mycoplasma gallisepticum (MG) are listed here in this link with symptoms and treatments:
https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ps044

Great info, thanks! Sadly I believe my pullet may have one of these horrible diseases.

 

[sierradasilva]

Thanks again for the advice, everyone. This evening my husband and I were able to clean her eyes a bit; we wiped out the pus, flushed with saline, and applied polysporin. Checked on her a minute ago and each eye is about half open and half filled with pus, so definitely an improvement from this morning. Then I fed her many droppers of water, dripped onto her beak, and she drank pretty well that way. I don't think she is eating or drinking on her own at all today, but I could be wrong. Couldn't get her to eat any wet food and scrambled egg earlier today but will try again tomorrow. I will also try to get some Tylan tomorrow. Thanks!!

 

[sierradasilva]

One more topic: there are six others in the flock. Aside from replacing the bedding in the coop and cleaning the waterer/refilling with fresh water, and of course keeping an eye out for symptoms in the other birds, is there anything else I can do for the flock? Also, if my sick hen makes it, when is it safe to re-introduce her? I read that if it's MG, you can treat the flare up with antibiotics but the bird will always be a carrier; did I understand that correctly?
Thanks for any additional info on this.