Chick with Swollen Eye

The "white" might just be the nictitating membrane....they do cover the eye when it is irritated.

http://lacasaurbana.wordpress.com/2009/03/17/chicken-anatomy-the-nictitating-membrane/

Catscan, let's hope so. He's perfectly normal in every other way - he eats, drinks and sleeps and walks around like there's nothing wrong in the world. He is particularly easy to catch though, since he can't see my hand coming! Either way, I just pray he makes it and is healthy, and if possible, that he regain his sight. If not, then oh well - I've done everything I could, and he'll just have to manage!

We had one with a funky eye like that. Someone somewhere on here suggested some reading/cause/possibility and I went and read it. I ended up using the ointment and massaging the outside of her eye with a Qtip and eventually there was a white thing like a curd of cottage cheese that came out. It was nasty and I felt like I was torturing the bird but she went on to be fine and kept the eye! I'll have to see if I can find it.

Ah ha! I found the eye thread! I don't know if it will help with your bird but here it is: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/896769/

Ugh. What a picture! I'm glad she's doing better though. Now I'm thinking maybe I should put a warm compress with a little pressure on it. S/he's just so small! I'll put her in a towel so she doesn't get cold and hold her against me. Hopefully SHE doesn't hold it against ME! More to come...

i used warm tea bags with blindee... he's still blind in one eye but he at least didn't lose it. I think he can see shadows with the eye still bc it is open & he will kinda jump if you wave ur fingers in front of it...

All this talk about putting something over the eye and washing it out with this or that want do diddly. The bird will get over it 99% of the time but the eye seems to be lost because it was not treated. The bird has Mycoplasmosis and you are not treating for it. The bird in the thread that Catscan posted has Mycoplasmosis. Peafowl have more problem with this than chickens. I have seen adult peafowl get so bad in two days that both eyes are closed shut. I have also seen them cleared up in two days of treatment. I posted a link to our web-site that tells how to treat the bird on the same day as you first post.

Wow... I am guilty of not reading that till now.. and I'm sure glad I did. I've seen this about a total of 3 times and luckily, my birds survived with no lasting problems.
I will get some Tylan 50 and have it on hand from now on.
Thank you Kenboy for such valuable information!

Mine didn't have that. I was just saying that's what I did to get its eye to ease back open.

Kenboy and Badseed -I have added that thread to the reference thread, first posting. If you have anything further to add please use this link below to add it? I don't want to add too much chatter, though there's good info here as well...

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/896769/

greykyttyn`, did you run a culture, so that you know for sure what the bird had? I am just saying that a teabag will not cure a bacterial infection, it sometimes takes antibiotics. It's just strange to me that so many people are posting day after day about this poor little chick, like it really matters. If it does, then do something besides treating the symptoms. I understand that most people can not afford to take a $.50 chicken to the vet but help was here if anyone chose to stop and read. I have had many a culture run on birds in my day, even drove to Texas A&M to deliver birds to be tested. I ran a peafowl farm with 1,200 peafowl and 2,000 game chickens to set the peafowl eggs. Some of these peafowl ran $1,000 a bird, so we did not try and guess. I have instructions on how to inject Tylan 50 strait into the sinus cavity, shown to me by Dr. Wigle from A&M. If you want this bird to get better, do something.

Kenboy, I often lose time by simply not knowing where to start. Don't have a vet that does birds, don't know how to con him, not sure enough to get meds, don't know where to go to get a culture. Most of us aren't around anyone who has a clue where to go looking. And it takes a while to process the information -as it is foreign to me.

Once I know well enough what I am doing to act on it I can move and move quickly. But being unsure where to go on ANY of those things...or whether I can afford what I may find I have to do at the end...that loses precious time. Now I haven't had sick birds yet. But unless I know exactly what to get at TSC, what I'm looking at, and how to administer it I WILL have trouble getting anything done.

Wow..

I mean.. dude! Lighten up! We got it okay?

edited to add

.50 cent bird was a bit extreme, don't you think? Really?

This message was edited Mar 4, 2010 4:20 AM

Kenboy, the diseases that effect commercial poultry rarely effect backyard poultry. Don't make that assumption that because this is a problem with your 1000 plus peafowls that is the same problem with this person's chick. I have 3 chickens in my backyard that have never had any of the common poultry diseases. There vet - that is top in his field in the area and only sees non-commercial poultry - has rarely if ever seen any of these diseases in his practice. Why? Because backyard flocks live in very different conditions than commercial fowl. Also, most people recommended that she take the chick to the vet.

Mr Kenboy I do very well know what my little chicken had. A coyote big its head halfway thru the eye area & i busted my butt to save his life, which i did thank you to most telling me to let him die because infection was going to go to his brain. SO YES i do know what was wrong with it. The second chick i used that on had frost bite. The tea bag was to keep the eye area moist so that it would open which was what was being discussed just above my comment. I DO NOT have a vet here or that i can find within 100 miles that will treat a chicken. therefore I learn from things off here where i joined to learn from others & how they treat their birds. Most people here just wring the birds neck & bury them if they appear sick or injured. Thus moving on & replacing the bird.

The information you gave about the eye was something i very much appreciated learning & will make a note in my little book to keep an eye out for it. All information & advice is greatly appreciated on this forum as far as I've witness in the last year but it up to the person who owns it to make the final decision as to how they wish to proceed & not to be bullied, guilt tripped or made to feel stupid about whether they've not done enough or not if they did not have the knowledge they needed to treat the animal properly.

I have read every post to this thread (links included) and have very much appreciated all of the info. I have said before that I'm brand new to this, and so I'm not going to necessarily handle things right every time, especially early on. I read the CRD article, and all of the symptoms listed (aside from the swollen eye) do not apply to this chick. Also, since the chick is a bantam, he is VERY small, and I am certainly not qualified to figure out how much medication to give him. Also, we just moved here and as of yet do not have a vet. So I wasn't sure where to start. One of our good friends is a veteran poultry raiser (backyard style, not commercial) and I followed her instructions (and those on this forum, most of which agreed with her) and it appears that Popeye is doing okay. Sightless in one eye, but okay. He eats and drinks and runs around just like all of the other chickens. The swelling has completely subsided, and aside from his eye being closed, it doesn't appear he's got anything wrong with him.

If there was something else I could have/should have done, then I'm afraid I didn't do it, and Popeye and I will just have to live with the consequences. As far as him being a $.50 chick (I think he was actually $2 and change), because all of my bantams are pets - not show birds, and certainly not layers - I do care quite a bit about this little bird. All of the birds in my flock are important to me. Maybe that's silly. Maybe it's a foreign idea if you do things on a larger scale. But anyway, that's my deal.

So, thank you very much everyone for your advice and concern. I am confident that Popeye will do well, even without that eye, and I'll keep you all posted as my flock grows up!

I'm sure he'll do fine. He will never know that he was supposed to have two eyes.

Mine does great! He's a wonderful little roo. He doesn't seem to know he is suppose to have 2 eyes. You also wouldn't know he didn't unless you look really close at him. He sees & warns the girls of hawks faster than the other roos. Yours should be fine once you get it past everything mevenmart. All of mine are pets, very much loved & spoiled. NO matter the cost. I've $2 ones & $5 ones.. they are loved equally