Help, What to do with this hens eye

This little Birchen Cochin hen has a sore in front of her eye that is affecting her eye. It has been there for quite some time and is getting worse. We keep putting collodial silver on it but it continues to look and smell bad. She rubs her eye on her feathers and she smells like a wet dog.
It almost looks like a puss filled sac. Should we try to prick it and drain it? What would you do? At first it was just in front of the eye and now it is more into the corner of her eye.
Poor little thing is already named Defect because she has toes that are fused together and curled. Doesn't affect her walking at all and she was like that as a chick so my husband called her defect.

If you know how to drain it--I would and keep her separate from the other chickens so the drainage doesn't spread the bacteria. Poor baby. Maybe some else has a clearer idea of how to treat it? Systemic antibiotics?

put preasure in front of it and gradually work it out with light preasure. it will be a cheesy hard puss. yucky i know. u don't want it to cover the eye. keep it clean. yep, don't spread the bacteria. try erithromyicin(sp) ointment for her eye.

today at the feed store i saw some antibiotic cream alled oxytetracycline, and i was gonna ask silkie chick if it, or the same as injection, would help my chicks? it said not for use on aniamls intended for food, which woudln't apply for mine of yours... hope she gets better...

SC, what do you think of the oxy?

We will try the pressure SC. I feel so bad for the poor thing. She used to be up on top in the pecking order and now she is getting pecked. She also seems to be thin. I don't think she eats much because they peck her so she hides or stays on the roost. When we seperate her and feed her she eats well. We haven't kept her seperated because she wants to be with the others yet doesn't (if that makes sense).

What causes something like this?

i think it is bacterial, i am looking into it. but for one hen to succumb to it means something else caused her to become weak. so another thing to consider is to boost her immune system. minced garlic, dandelions, & ACV...

SC, still waiting to hear from you. the feed store owner says she got that eye cream for a laady whose cat had PINK EYE.... so i am passing on that but waiting to hear what she CAN get that is on my list of sensitive for the pseudomonas as well...

my chicks are better as far as their lungs now, but the eye infection, while on the tetra cycline, has gone from 20% to over 40% in 7 days... gotta call TAHC again....

Here's cheering those little chickie-doodles, TF. Surely if they've come this far they'll keep pluggin'

If you prick it, I'd prick it in FRONT of the eye. It looks like it's bulged out there. I don't like the looks of the yellow IN the corner of the eye, either, but I'd be afraid it would blind her if you prick there. However, it may blind her anyway. Hope not! Poor baby!

i agree doe and it needs out fast.

i have had it cause blindness in a roo. never went away, and later he died from either an infection that spread through his body or the loss of weight, tylan 50 didn't kick it. don't know what causes it but i think it is a bacteria. i had a hen have it. we removed it like i said above, we did not prick it so as not to puncture it, but i don't think that matters it is not a sac it is more of a mass. after several times of removeing completely it stopped forming and hasn't come back. she is just fine and plump as can be.

tf, it is the same thing as erithromyicin(sp), it should work for the eye but not the lungs.

oh gosh that is just bad, hope it works out for you baby.

Wish us luck, we will try this. Hope to save the eye.

O.k. my husband tried to push it out but it wouldn't come out. So he tried to prick it. It bleeds a little but the puss stuff won't come out. Any suggestions?

ok, it sounds like a sty infection get the antibiotic cream then and see if it will work.

Thanks SC you have been a big help.
Do they generally have the ointment at a feed store or where do you get it?

my tractor suppy and feedstore both carry it.

let us know how it works, smedge...

SC, looks like i will pick a chick to take into the lab tomorrow. will talk to the bacteriologist at 8 am and find out if he can just do a swab or if the chick gets it... there are 19 with it, i don't know who will be the one... but a week ago there were only 12. so the tetra got the lung bacteria but isn't touching the eyes. so once i get the culture results, hopefully there will be one that is on both lists, and somehting i can get locally. will let you know.

grownut you would htink so... but the ones that survived aren't all thriving... i am really saddened. don't have much time left to spend here nowadays...

does ur lab only test for what u tell them too and nothing else? what type of tests r they doing? have u recieved any calls or lab papers in the mail? i'm confused at what all they r testing for tf. how long have they been testing for and what are the preliminary results? i'm really conserned, u have lost so many, they r getting worse and u don't have a final report yet as to what is going on. are they even still doing any testing or have they completed it? that long on that antibiotic there should have been a significant improovement on most of the flock within the first 4 days at least enough to be very noticeable. pm me any and all info u can so i can try to help u get to the bottom of this because something surely is not right or they would be better by this time.
i'm so very sorry u r going through this tf and i'll do what i can to help u.
mar

if it is a sty infection rub it with gold it always works

Do you have an avian veterinarian in the area that you could take her to? The pus will be hard and cheesy and this difficult to remove. Chickens have a sinus cavity under the eye, I believe, and this may need to be washed out, but only an expert should attempt it. Good luck - she's beautiful.

I went to out local feed store and told them what she had. They said Terramycin ointment should do the trick. It is in a small tube. He said just to rub it on real good.
Do you think this will take care of it?

I'm NO expert, this is JUST what I might try.

Have you tried to use a warm compress near the area? Sometimes this helps to open pores etc. Like I said, I"M NO expert. I do have a few chickens, but have never had this problem, just do not make it hot, just warm. I'm sure she is getting tired of being messed with, but hey, she's so cute and hate to see it stay there. I would try to get it out again, just try not to make it so sore.

yep that ointment should work. compress duh, never thought of should help also. may help get the swelling down some so that pus can come out. worst thing that can happen with that is she won't hold still for it or it won't show a difference either way.

I agree, I think trying to get her to hold still for it would be the hardest part. This may be a really stupid question, but do they have pores? That is really what I was thinking about. We had a kitten come up once with a swollen side of its head, I held a warm compress on it for a bit to help open the pores up so the infection could come out. It did the job, then I cleaned it out with peroxide and antibiotic ointment. I know birds are different, but wasn't sure about the pore thing, never thought about it until I read this. Please let us know how your hens does!!!

Okay--they do have pores that fat globules comes through (a pore being a small opening) to lubricate the skin. They don't have sweat glands! And the "pores" that you see in Ostrich leather is actually the feather follicles.

How do I know? Voila!

http://pcwww.liv.ac.uk/~timn/THE%20STRUCTURE%20OF%20AVIAN%20SKIN%20AND%20FEATHERS.doc

She is such a sweet little thing she may hold still for a compress. When my husband was trying to push it out and then prick it she was holding pretty still.
We put some of the ointment on her eye last evening. How often do we put this stuff on her?

She sounds like such a nice bird! I hope that she gets well very soon. Please keep us posted.

No better yet. How soon should we see results with this Terramycin ointment and how often should we be putting it on her?

should be use for 3-5 days and 3 times a day if i remember right, don't it have it listed on the box directions?

Do you think systemic antibiotics might be necessary? When I had a sinus infection they cleared it up.

I hope you named that hen. She sounds like a trooper.

I didn't see anything in the directions which I thought was strange, but I may have missed it. They are printed so small.

Cyberageous, her name is Defect because she has fused and curled toes on her little feathered feet. My husband called her Defect when she was a little chick and it stuck. We have 2 more Birchen hens, one is Buddie, the other is Sandals, the roos are Commander Bob and Red. So they all have funny names.

yes that wouldn't hurt to try also. it will either work or not work and may keep it from a secondary infection developeing.

I'm sorry, you did say the hen's name--my mistake.
I haven't had your problem but if it can happen, it will out here so I will watch your ordeal. Give that hen a hug from me.

Well here is the bandaged picture of our little hen. My husband did a surgery on her and removed the hard knot that was still getting bigger. She took it like a trooper. We then put some honey on the wound (speeds healing) and bandaged her. She didn't care for the bandage or for being confined away from her chicken family but hopefully it will heal up quickly.

OOPS forgot the picture.

hoping for the best outcome...

tf

Pooor Baby! I do hope she recovers quickly!

hoping for a speedy recovery

We took the bandage off this morning too see what her eye looked like. It was also slipping and getting more in the way of her other eye so we figured it needed to be redone. We are leaving it off a while. She was happy to get it off, she cleaned and preened her neck and shoulder feathers for quite some time. I guess with the bandage she couldn't turn her head enough to do that. She is happily eating.
She has been such a little trooper.

Wow, looks really clean - no infection or anything. Great job! What a sweet little hen.