Yikes! Swollen eye, but no discharge, eyes bright, behavior normal...What is it?!

constance

Songster
10 Years
Oct 10, 2009
384
0
132
Tucson
Help please, IS THIS EARLY MG?????

My 1 year old hen has one swollen eye (see pics). It happened sometime yesterday. I noticed it in the afternoon and immediately isolated her from the flock. It looks like the tissue that is near/above/part of her nictitating membrane is swollen. White, glossy, not yellow or pus-like. There is also a swollen, clear, bump where a human tear duct would be (see pic 1). Nothing else. The swelling seems to be only around the eye, and does not look like it is in the sinuses. The eye is not really bubbly (pic2) except when she blinks, I think because the the lid is so distended that there is a large gap in the inner corner. There has been no discharge from her eyes or nares/nostrils. There is no bad smell, and her breath does not smell sweet. No sneezing, coughing, panting, burbling, odd breath sounds, etc. The spots on her comb and wattle are scars and scabs from pecks, and did not look like pox. She is not scratching or rubbing the eye. Her appetite, behavior, and stools are all normal. She is preening, scratching in the cage litter, and acting like a normal chicken. Both eyes are bright. I let her out to stretch her legs and wings and she just hopped up over the big dog and onto the desk (stinker!!).

The only treatments I have given have been to flush the eye with sterile saline every few hours, and used warm compresses twice.

28 hours later, no real change. I may be misreading symptoms, but I am stumped.



What is it!? If it is Mycoplasma, when would other symptoms be expected? What can I do (besides the vet, which may very reluctantly happen tomorrow)?

THANKS!




 
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The bubbles in the tears, combined with the swelling around the eye make me think it's mycoplasma. Is she shaking her head at all? They do that sometimes instead of sneezing. Also the sinuses in chickens extend into the area around the eye, so it is probably sinus drainage, even though it's around the eye. I would do injectable tylan. I think it's 1ml for a full size fowl, but not 100% sure. It's been a long time since I researched it.
 
I have also heard Denagard is a miracle drug. There is no withdrawl. You can order from QC, it is expensive, but worth its weight in gold. Its a massive bottle that last a long time
 
Thanks, Nurseshelly!

Well, I guess better safe than sorry. She is not shaking her head at all. The bubbles in the eyes are not always there, but I agree they are disturbing. She is absolutely normal otherwise, and the swelling did go down a bit after the compressing. Bummer, I really don't want to see this in my flock
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Thanks, Memphis! I'll research that, too. How frustrating. Now I am very worried about my flock...this is my first real disease issue in 5 years.

BTW - I have enjoyed your posts on the AZ thread! Made me really want to go to the show in Phoenix!
 

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