Chicken blind in one eye

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irsmun

irsmun

In the Brooder
Mar 23, 2022
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Out of the blue about a week ago one of my chickens was closing her eye. I opened her eyelid to see her iris red and a small white dot near the middle. It looked like an injury though I didn't know what. I flushed her eyes out with contact solution and applied triple antibiotic ointment a few times. There were no changes. I never saw drainage and I think it may be mildly swollen though I am new to chickens. She used to be feisty and near the top of the order but now she keeps to herself and is not very active. She seems to be drinking but eating less. I am not sure if its because she is not hungry or that she is avoiding the other birds.

Checking today I saw that her eye is completely white. I don't know what this means. Is it just blind or is there something I need to do for her? My best guess it that she got pecked by one of the other birds.

20220701_181413.jpg


20220701_181457.jpg
 
Aunt Angus

Aunt Angus

Crossing the Road
Jul 16, 2018
8,767
22,091
942
Nevada County, CA
I'm thinking that's pus and that her eye is infected. It looks quite swollen, too. I had a chick with an infected eye. I took her to a vet who cleaned out all the white stuff and put her on antibiotics both orally and via eye ointment. Is a vet an option? If not, you can try cleaning out all the white and treating with antibiotic ointment. Oh - I believe Vetericyn comes in an eye ointment, too. You can also use fish mox or get antibiotics without a prescription. I just google "baytril no prescription."
 
irsmun

irsmun

In the Brooder
Mar 23, 2022
38
45
37
I don't think we have chicken vets around. I have no problems trying it myself. I just need some instruction. When you say, "clean it out", how do you mean? With a q-tip or something? I don't want to injure her more. I can probably get the eye ointment from TS over the weekend.
 
Aunt Angus

Aunt Angus

Crossing the Road
Jul 16, 2018
8,767
22,091
942
Nevada County, CA
irsmun said:
I don't think we have chicken vets around. I have no problems trying it myself. I just need some instruction. When you say, "clean it out", how do you mean? With a q-tip or something? I don't want to injure her more. I can probably get the eye ointment from TS over the weekend.
Click to expand...
A q tip would work. That's what I used after the vet sent us home to prevent pus from building up again. The vet had some fancy shmancy tool.
 
irsmun

irsmun

In the Brooder
Mar 23, 2022
38
45
37
So here is what I don't get. I tried using a qtip but it just rubs on the eye. I'm not sure how to remove it. My experience with pus on a sore is that you have to have an exit point and you apply pressure. How would I do that with an eye?
 
Aunt Angus

Aunt Angus

Crossing the Road
Jul 16, 2018
8,767
22,091
942
Nevada County, CA
irsmun said:
So here is what I don't get. I tried using a qtip but it just rubs on the eye. I'm not sure how to remove it. My experience with pus on a sore is that you have to have an exit point and you apply pressure. How would I do that with an eye?
Click to expand...
Chicken pus is hard. Some folks describe it as having a cheesy consistency. Think of scraping it off the surface of the eye.

The vet actually used what looked like a tiny wire loop with a handle to scrape off the pus.
 
irsmun

irsmun

In the Brooder
Mar 23, 2022
38
45
37
So...I tried removing the mass. Now that I understand it functions more like a cyst than a pus pocket. I was able to grab some but much of it seemed too attached. I didn't want to use too much force or poke around too much. I do not have enough knowledge about chicken eye anatomy to feel comfortable guessing. I was hurting her and after a while let her loose. I applied some antibiotic ointment first. Reading some of the post that you referenced I noticed that they had let theirs run around a few days and it loosened up. I am going to do that as well. She is weak and I'm not sure she is not eating much. I want to get her well asap.
 
irsmun

irsmun

In the Brooder
Mar 23, 2022
38
45
37
Also mine doesn't look anything like the ones I see on video. Her eye is not near that swollen and my is more like a cover than a large mass that you can pull out. I don't know how far under there her eye is.
 
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