See how this eye bulges at the bottom? This is the first eye she went blind in, when she opens it all the way it just looks grouse and bulgy. Do you think she has an infection in it and what can we put on it?
I'll also post more pictures.
Okay, pictures of the blind chicken, tell me what you think
Okay, she wouldn't open the otehr eye so I pulled down the lid to get a picture.
This is the view from the top of her head, you can see hoe the one eye bulges.
We have been getting her to eat and drink some and this evening we put another hen with her, a hen that has a hurt leg so she limps. When we put her in with her and she started eating then the blind hen (who by the way is named Ginger) started eating with her. I think we will try to put the two together and maybe the limping one will help the blind one to learn to eat and get around.
Oops, forgot to attach the picture in the last post.
I think it looks like she might have mycoplasma or some other infection. And, yes, I do think she needs an antibiotic, probably a broad spectrum one since you don't really know what the pathogen is. It would be best to have the eye stuff cultured to make sure you are using the right medicine.
Here is a site that briefly discusses mycoplasm and some treatments. I am sure others have more experience and can give you better advice. Kenboy?
http://poultrykeeper.com/chickens/health/mycoplasma-gallisepticum.html
I really don't think she has that. It says ....
The most common indicators are the gooey stuck together eyes or runny eyes. Runny nasal pasages. Sneezing, coughing, wheezing and rattley breathing that can be described as “Darth Vader” breathing.
Her eyes simply started out turning red, no gooey, no nasal anything, just red. The one that is poofy has been blind for a while. I'm thinking now she may have injured it because she would get so scared that she would crawl herself into some tight spots. I'm thinking maybe she scraped it not being able to see anything on that side and it has become infected.
I have seen pictures of chickens with mycoplasma whose only symptoms were puffy eyes and sinuses...but even if it isn't that, I would still want to rule out an infection. Birds don's usually damage their eyes that easily....and even if it were a scraped cornea and secondary infection, antibiotics might really help.
Oh that poor dear
I'm sorry I have no advice to give, but I wish both you and your girl the best.
I was wondering how this cute feathered gal is doing. Did the antibiotics help her?
She seems to be doing okay. She eats and drinks well with the hurt leg chicken. I watched her drinking yesterday, she got some water lifted her head to dink, went down to get more and missed the bowl, moved her head a little and found it back, she did this over and over. She always seemed to know which direction to move her head to find the bowl back. She always overshot it to the left and moved her head to the right a little, she never moved her head farther left so it was like she could sense the bowl was to the right, or maybe she can see just a little out of that one eye.
Poor little gal, I was hoping to hear the antibiotics were more helpful to her. Glad to hear she she is eating and drinking though.
Catscan, thanks for the great link! I use the Bragg's ACV in the Girl's waterer once a week - I thought the correct dosage was 1 tablespoon per 2 gallons of water - does that sound about right?
Haven't tried the garlic in the waterer yet but think I'll do that one day a week as well. Can fresh garlic also be minced and fed to them? A couple times a week they get oatmeal w/yogurt, maybe I could add it to that mixture? They got bananas this morning LOL they do the most amazing jumps to be the first to get a bite.
edited because I really do know how to spell YOGURT, typing fingers dont' always coopertate!
This message was edited Sep 7, 2010 10:41 AM
I use 1 Tbl. in a gallon of water