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Frothy eye can be an eye cold as well, though usually if it's with any signs at all of respiratory infection, then it's a bacterial thing and needs to be treated.
All the feeders/waterers need to be picked up, scrubbed, and disinfected. HOt water and soap, rinse, soak in bleach treated warm (not hot) water, rinse rinse rinse, and letting dry in the sun is brilliant. You're Not Supposed To use bleach with metal feeders, but in these circumstances I sure do. (There are lots of nice products, particularly Tektrol, Oxine, or even Nolvasan - my fave - for disinfecting feeders online if you want to stock up.)
Bedding should be changed, the bird isolated and treated. Don't treat the whole flock unless you have multiple birds.
Then ANY time you use an antibiotic you want to make good and sure that you're using the right one. Don't trust the Feedstore Guy for this. He'll send you home with terramycin for everything under the sun, including viruses. Use the best choice.
In this case, without a culture/sensitivity test (which would tell us exactly which bacteria is to blame and exactly which antibiotic would fix it), I'd recommend something like LS50 (lincomycin/spectinomycin) if you can get it. Tylan will also work. Tylan injectable is more effective than water-based. Also less expensive. Let us know if you need injection information.
If worse comes to worse, you can try Aureomycin. I wouldn't recommend usual Terramyin nor the sulfa drugs like Sulmet.
Also - ANY time you use an antibiotic, you absolutely should use a PRObiotic in conjunction with the antibiotic and for a couple of weeks afterwards.
Antibiotics will kill the essential bacteria of a bird's gut which is already compromised by any sinus/eye infection as the eye drains into the mouth and into the gut. Even if you didn't give antibiotics, the infection alone is enough reason to give the non-medicinal probiotics.
Probiotics are just a form of living bacteria in some media in which they can live and eat. They should be kept cool (or refrigerated). They must contain live bacteria, not just "by products" or "fermentation products". If you're using any -mycin or -cycline drug (which include all of the above except Tylan which is tylosin) you cannot use a dairy based product.
If you DON'T replace the good bacteria, the bad, opportunistic bacteria and fungi/yeasts take over - then you end up with diarrhea, sour crop, weight loss, possibly death if the infection goes too far. It's so easy to prevent.
Some choices are:
*yogurt (except with mycins and cyclines) at a rate of 1 teaspoon per day per bird. Plain, unflavored. The label will say "contains live cultures"
*A prepared livestock probiotic such as Probios (around $8 for the small container, or tube - which lasts forever and ever in the fridge, only abotu 1/4th teaspoon per bird - very very economical, even more so than yogurt in the long run!), fastrack, or another "live culture" probiotic. It'll say something about CFU's on the label - with a number. 15,000 CFU for example.
*Acidophilis capsules or tablets from the grocery/pharmacy vitamin section. One capsule per five chicks, one capsule per adult bird.
All probiotics should be eaten, not given in the water. You can mix the amount you need in a little crumbles or applesauce and offer to the bird.
It is also helpful - and necessary - to flush that eye out. You can use Sterile Eye Wash from a pharmacy (as their pharmacist if you don't find it in the first aid section - it's sterile water and boric acid). You can use plain warm water, but with less effect. You can treat with VetRx in a non-medicinal but very helpful healing way in conjunction with antibiotics if you choose to go that route. I always keep some around and it's only $5 a bottle, lasts for ages! You dilute it, use on a q-tip, swab the nostrils and eyes (different q-tip each time please) and the cleft at the roof of the mouth where the eye drains.
Oh let's see what else can you do on a budget...
Well it's good to make sure the opening between the eye and the cleft of the mouth stays open and that you flush it. In poultry texts they show pictures of how you can clear the opening using a device like a dentist's tool, and in one picture they used a feather which they inserted in the tear duct and pulled out the roof of the mouth.
You probably won't want to do that.
I don't want to but it shows clearly how the duct opens into the roof of the mouth. The importance of keeping that open is that any little infection that gets stuck in a congestion pocket in there will thrive. Antibiotics won't get to it because there's not a blood supply in the middle of a clog. So keep things cleaned and flowing (another reason I adore VetRx is because of its sinus opening herbal properties - great stuff, so cheap, lasts ages - you can even use the Rabbit product if your store doesn't have it for chickens.
Those are my random thoughts and a few Must-Do's for you so that you don't end up with a secondary bacterial infection of the gut in your flock.
