The reason I am starting this thread is that I have a chicken with an eye problem. Just noticed it this afternoon. Her eye is swollen and looks like it the filled with pus. Only thing i can see in the slit of her eye is yellow. what do i do??? Where do I start?
Thought if we had all of our chicken injury/sickness answers in one place that would be handy.
Sheila
Be Right Back am going outside to try and catch her.
This message was edited Aug 11, 2008 3:03 PM
Chicken Doctor 101 Q & A
i am thinking goldenseal, let me check...
Just got back in and got her caught and separated. She is holding her beak open like she is hot and all of my other chickens have their beaks closed. Temp is very comfortable today. Then i noticed some dried drops of blood on her breast area. Looked in her mouth and she has dried blood on the roof of her mouth, but I can't see any injury anywhere. Not a single scratch that I see.
I am trying to let her settle down a bit after catching her and will look at the eye more and see if I can get it open.
Sheila
oops sounds liek she fought with something. it is goldenseal, i am waiting to get insturctions for you on how to use it, but i am thinking you will need a little cap or something like a human eyewash cup would be... and 2-3 times a day.
hope her other wounds aren't serious...
i am copying this from an herbal forum, where most folks have guineas, peafowl, llamas, chickens, etc... i was wiating fo rpermission,,, but...
"Posted by S**** on 7/28/2008, 7:28 pm, in reply to "infected eye?"
Hi J*****,
I have used a goldenseal eyewash and it works really well. I just put a few drops of tincture in a small bottle of water. Or you can feed him some raw garlic if he will eat it, or try to see if he will drink some water with crushed garlic in it. Try to boost his immune system with some good food. HTH "
this was for a chick with a "gunky" eye... but considering the herbs properties, should work for external or internal infections, or prevent an infection if it is an injury.
sterile water would work too, or colloidal silver. careful with topical applications, many aren't suitable for eyes...
tf
apparently it works well:
"Hey S****!
I am sooooo excited as to how the Goldenseal eyewash worked for my keet with the eye infection. I applied twice a day as you had recommended for about a week. He can now close his eye (which he couldn't before), the redness is gone, and he is feisy as ever! LOL... "
how is she?
eating and drinking a little. just happened to notice her as I was colleting eggs and she was just acting tired and lazy not like the others who "fly the coop" when I go in.
Where would you get goldenseal and is it an herb? Sorry for my stupidity!
Sheila
you need it in a ticture form for eye application. less than 10 bucks at a health food store. many pharmacies now carry herbal tincutres as well. sometimes you have to get it mixed with echinacea. actually that is a good immune booster, so go with either one...
UUUGGGHHH the nearest health food store is an hour away. Any home remedies??? I had DH hold her and I got the scab, dried pus off the outside of her eye. I can see her eye under the swelling and a lot of white/clear liquid over her eye. Do I need to try and reduce the swelling??? Would neosporin help???
Sheila
neopsporin NOT for eyes.
home remdy, ummmm.... do you have a pharmacy nearby? they have strerile eye washes.
it really may dpend on what caused the eye problem... how are her other injuries?
yes, at least wash it, clean witha soft lcoth...
tf
got the recipe:
"The eyewash fomula is two drops goldenseal tincture per tablespoon of water. Apply twice a day until healed. I mix up in an old eye dropper bottle which makes it easy for application. HTH. "
TF you are the queen!!!! For tonight I used saline solution to clean it out properly and put a guaze bandage over it to keep it clean. Will check with the pharmacy tommorrow.
Thank you again
Sheila
i have somthing wrong with my chickens feet
all the scales on there feet have started to fall out at some partsofthere legs and look lik there are lumplik things growing under there scales
the chickensn came from a shady guy selling them so i got themcause god knows wat he was gonna do to them if he didnt sell them they all ready had them when i got them and it dosent affect them i was just wondering if it is normal i will try and get a pic i am not doing a good job at explaining it sounds like there legs are mutilated from my explination
I have a bantam that her beak is broken. Her lower beak is gone, she has a white almost see thru something there. the top beak is not pointed, almost looks like a split toe nail.
I am such a terrible chick mom I have to confess I have just found that my 2 week old silkie has a toe that is curled under her foot. When she was born I noticed that she was missing a toe but never did a thorough inspection if I had I would have seen that her toe was actually there just turned under and maybe I could have splinted it and made her better. I feel so guilty for not paying more attention. She walks just fine no problems but don't know what this will do long term.
Tia how on earth did your chickens beak break that sounds horrible.
There is a neosporin "otic" -- it's for the eyes. Don't know whether you have to get it from a vet or OTC.
Fields, i have no clue, I was looking at her the other day and noticed her beak not pointy and was trying to catch her, finally did yesterday and I was like ewwwwwwww gross.
thats terrible I am so sorry hopefully things turn out to be okay for her
she seems to be eating real good. She runs around chasing bugs and get them. When I can catch her again and have someone hold her while I take a pic I will.
I've got a paralyzed rooster. About one month ago he and his mate both got real sick. They broke through the barrier I had put up to stop the chickens from eating the insulation and pigged out on it. She died almost immediately. He has recovered except he can not stand up. He's bright and alert. Eats like crazy. He enjoys outings to sit in the shade while I work in the garden. He now has another sick hen (another Buff Orpington) keeping him company. He can move his feet sort of randomly but isn't able to put any weight on his legs or walk in any way. He isn't even able to sit up. He lies on his side all the time.
We've been talking about whether it's time to put him down since he's had a full month to get better. At first he didn't seem to have pain but this past week I've noticed he spasms when I move him as though it hurts.
I've been taking care of all his needs including washing his butt and legs since he isn't able to take care of himself.
MollyD
Okay so I am a horrible chicken mama and soooo mad at myself. I caught the bad eye chicken and put her in a cage so the other chickens would not bother her. Treated her with everything I had here yesterday.
Went to chcek on her this morning and the eye problem is now cured because her head is missing. She was in a huge cage so that nothing could get to her, but I guess that she must have been close enough to the side and on her bad eye side and never saw it coming.
I am sooo mad at myself. Some days it just seems like the sky in falling in.
Well enough of my whining, sorry. I just had to vent.
Hubby is setting up the live trap now and hoping to catch what injured her and then returned to kill her.
Sheila
Eeewww. Bet it was a raccoon. Hope you catch it before it does further harm.
MollyD
Molly-
I am pretty sure it was a coon. They are getting really thick around here. We coon hunt in the winter and usually get our limit each night we go.
Have been told that they can't resist marshmallows. Maybe I will leave them a graham cracker and piece of chocolate also. Also been told that chickens and cats won't bother a marshmallow. I don't know if I believe that but will try it.
Sheila
Sheila if that doesn't work try fish. Coons love fish.
MollyD
so sorry sheila!
We have a capture! and yes it was a coon. I will be setting the trap for several nights as I am sure it was more than one.
By the way they love marshmallows and honey.
Sheila
josh, your chicken has scaley foot and will spread threw the whole flock, if the chickens don't peck his feet off first. my wally has it nd i'm treating him for it.
How to bait a coon trap! So glad you got that 'ornery 'cuss!!
Yippee! Glad you caught that bugger Sheila! Hope if there are more you get them too.
MollyD
sheila, so sorry about your chicken. That's great you got the troublemaker. Thanks for the tip on honey and marshmallows. We've used tuna in the past. And in case anyone's interested: dry cat food for catching skunks!
Sue☺
We use dry cat food to catch chickens, dogs, and just about everything except cats: ) The skunks wouldn't have a chance!!
Tonight I fed my new rescue (Red Rosie, see other thread for details) a mixture of the following for her evening treat:
rolled oats
cottage cheese
a little swirl of olive oil
cut up grapes
fresh grated garlic
a little chick crumbles mixed in
She devoured a bunch of it. Then she drank some water. She then threw up the water (not the food). Should I be worried? What is up with that?
Claire
not sure. Bumping this up.
Today she seems fine. Normal stools this morning. Good appetite. I'm hoping she just ate too much and her crop was full and the water just had nowhere to go...
mmm, yes, esp consdiering that the olive oil and cottage cheese are liquids... how is she now?
I'm a little worried about one of my girls. I was spending some quality time this morning with them and noticed one of the girls does this thing that sounds like sneezing or coughing??? Could she have a cold or something worse?:-/ One of them has also been having diarrea but I'm not sure which one. Since these are my first I'm not sure if this is normal and if not what I should do. Have y'all ever experienced this behavior?
it could be the sign of many things, coudl also be nothing.
for starters you could boost their immune system and see if the signs go away. get some minced garlic to put in their water, and dried thyme or chamomile flowers in their feed.
if you have access to Apple cider vinegar with the "mother", like Bragg brand, try one TBSP per gallon of water along with the garlic [as much as they want]
also, crushed red peppers in their feed can help ward off a cold. they could be affected by the temps, or something in their enviorment.
do you have waterfowl to keep flying insects down? that may help reduce the incidence of parasites. put down some dry bedding over the wet to discourage laying of parastic eggs...
always make note of WHO is sneezing, and try to trace the runny poo. if it is the same one, look for further symptoms, esp anything around the eyes...
Tamara, her eyes look fine and no I don't have any waterfowl. I did change their bedding yesterday and there were alot of ants (looks like black) underneath. I use wood shavings in the coop. I bought a different kind of bedding yesterday to see if this stops the ants. It is some sort of pellets.
I'm not even sure it is sneezing. I'll keep watching. I sat with them a while late yesterday to try to see who had the runny poo but no luck.
what do you mean "mother"? "Apple cider vinegar with the "mother", like Bragg brand"
and crushed red peppers like they use on pizza??
the mother, means it is unfiltered, or un pastuerized, or undistilled, LOL i can't recall what it is they do to ACV to make it more shelf stable, but just ask for the Bragg brand by name... sure, any crushed red peppers would do.
hopefully they were just a little enviromentally stressed. intersting, a pelleteed bedding, what is it made of?
make sure there is plenty of ventilation in there, and that the bedding stays DRY...
tf
I thought this might be a useful link for the chicken doctor thread. It's plants that are toxic to chickens.
http://www.poultryhelp.com/toxicplants.html