# Eye injury



## onehen (Aug 21, 2016)

I think my rooster just injured my hens eye. One of her eyes is normal and the other one is closed and looks swollen she won't open it. I don't know if the eye has been packed out or it's just injured and she's keeping it closed because of that. What to do? Very concerned!! My son says she had sticky stuff near her mouth yesterday and there does look like something sticky near her eye today?? Related?


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I would clean her up first. See if getting all that stuff off her doesn't have her opening her eye a bit. 

The fact she's got swelling in the area of the sinus says something else is going on.


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## onehen (Aug 21, 2016)

I had a new rooster come to the coop last week. He was from a flea market. He is very quiet doesn't say much and hasn't been a problem with this hen. Should I suspect that this I thing is stemmed from him? What should I clean the eye with? Do I need to quarantine her? Very frustrated because she is my only hen and I have these roosters that I did not want. She was making strange noises too. She laid an egg yesterday but not today... Would her eggs be affected?


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Rinse with saline for contacts. I keep the stuff for sensitive eyes saline around here for them and anyone else that might need it.

Did you quarantine that rooster? It's possible he brought something in with him that has infected the hen.


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## onehen (Aug 21, 2016)

No the rooster wasn't quarantined. inexperience. What to do at this point the rooster was supposed to be a hen and I'm trying to get rid of him as we speak. Is my hen going to be ok?


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Not being there there is no way to know. What bothers me is how quickly it happened.

Look up respiratory diseases in poultry. Compare what you're seeing/smelling with your girl. You might come up with a good idea what is going on with her.

They can also get sinus infections that don't involve a disease process. She's probably going to need a course of antibiotics to try and get a handle on what is going on. A sinus infection can be cleared if caught soon enough. Most others can't be cleared for good.


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## dawg53 (Aug 25, 2015)

There are two ways to go here; either it's an eye injury or respiratory disease. First of all, you didnt actually observe the rooster scratch the hens eye, but it's possible. Maybe the hen scratched her own eye somehow. 
Secondly it could be a respiratory disease as Robin mentioned. However the other eye should be swollen and discharging mucus as well as nostrils. The sticky mucus at the mouth either came from the eye or nostril. Strange noises could be wheezing, gurgling, rales which would indicate to me a respiratory disease if that's what you're observing. 
Three diseases come to mind:
Infectious Bronchitis (IB) has quick incubation period, less than 24 hours. It is a virus and runs quickly through a flock. It is not treatable with antibiotics. Telltail signs would be wrinkly eggs and watery whites in eggs.
Infectious Coryza has a 1-3 day incubation period and easily spreads through a flock. Mucus discharge, facial swelling are common. Telltail sign is a foul odor around the head area. It can be treated with sulmet in combination with tylan 50.
Mycoplasma Gallisepticum (MG) has a 6 to 10 day incubation period and symptoms are similar to coryza without the foul odor. Treatments varies; I recommend tylan 50 injectable or denagard.
Not knowing what disease it is, I'd recommend a necropsy and practice biosecurity. Disinfect coops, waterers and feeders with activated oxine and repopulate in 10-12 months. Some diseases have longer course times than others which can contaminate environment as well. It's also possible to have birds sick with two diseases at once, particularly coryza and MG.
Here's a link for reference:
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ps044
Personally I recommend that you cull sick birds. Survivors are carriers and will spread disease to other birds.

If in fact it's an eye injury; flush with saline solution as mentioned by Robin. Then apply Terramycin eye ointment into the eye as needed. The ointment will melt into the eye.


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## onehen (Aug 21, 2016)

I am pretty sure it's a respiratory disease because she's coughing and there is mucus on her eye. Once I wiped it off she tried to open it up again she's having watery green looking poop. She just started laying eggs last week. I have six I believe. Should I discard all of those? She's my only hen... I guess everyone is saying there is no hope for her? Is she a danger to my kids?


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## casportpony (Aug 22, 2015)

onehen said:


> I am pretty sure it's a respiratory disease because she's coughing and there is mucus on her eye. Once I wiped it off she tried to open it up again she's having watery green looking poop. She just started laying eggs last week. I have six I believe. Should I discard all of those? She's my only hen... I guess everyone is saying there is no hope for her?


If she were mine I would try Baytril (enrofloxacin) or Cipro.
http://gamebirdsupplies.com/eng/item/5/enroxil-10-25ml
http://gamebirdsupplies.com/eng/item/12/1/enfloxil-10-50ml
http://www.allbirdproducts.com/newproductpages/baytril.html
http://www.ladygouldianfinch.com/product_baytril.php

Note that Baytril is banned for use in poultry, so look into that before buying it.

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## casportpony (Aug 22, 2015)

Have my first URI in a peachick. Here it is at 9 am:








28 hours later - still some swelling that is hard to see in pictures and some clear drainage from nostril. Up five grams, which is not enough, but it's better than a loss.









Treated with Baytril for 4 days.


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## seminole wind (Aug 22, 2015)

I had a hen with a closed swollen eye. I used eye ointment for a week. The swelling went away but the eye was damaged. 
If your hen is showing symptoms of being sick, I would do antibiotics, like Baytril like Casportpony said or Tylan which might be easier to get. Also make sure she eats and drinks. 

I think her now being a carrier of some illness is a possibility. Also you may want to learn how to tell the difference between a rooster or hen (not chicks, too hard) so that you don't get fooled by some fools.


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## onehen (Aug 21, 2016)

She's on Cipro and eye is looking better but she still sounds like she's wheezing. Other roosters have been removed. The chicken that gave her this was brought to me by a friend as a nice gesture..she was told it was a hen, I knew it wasn't but now I'm stuck with it and it's made my hen sick...I know the man who sold her the sick rooster knew what he was doing.. my friend did not.


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