# Help! Swollen eye and black spots



## moley829 (Feb 24, 2015)

My husband noticed yesterday one of our chickens just laying down in our yard. He checked on her and he said she got up and moved once he got close. Today when I got home this is what she looks like. I have no idea what to do. Please help me! How do I get her eye to go down? What would cause these black spots?


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## Nm156 (May 16, 2015)

I believe it is fowl pox.


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## dawg53 (Aug 25, 2015)

Yes, it's fowl pox. It's a virus mainly caused by mosquitos. There is no cure and will take about a month more or less to go away on its own. It can and most likely will pass slowly through your flock. You can put iodine on the wart like nodules or black shoe polish to help dry them up quicker, avoid the eyes and nostrils.
As far as the swollen eye goes, I suspect your hen scratched a nodule close to her eye and the eye became infected with debris or possibly feces from the hens claws causing possibly a staph infection. I highly recommend that you liberally flush her eye with saline solution and apply Terramycin eye ointment in the eye, only a quarter inch strip is needed and it will melt when applied. Do the saline flush once and apply the Terramycin twice a day until swelling goes down. If the swelling hasnt gone down in 5 days, apply Tylan 50 injectable directly into the eye. You'll need a syringe with needle to draw the liquid from the vial. You wont be injecting it into the eye, just putting a few drops into the eye. If the swelling hasnt gone down after the fifth day, give her one 250mg amoxicillin tablet once a day for 5 days.
Birds with fowl pox; their eggs are safe to eat.


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## moley829 (Feb 24, 2015)

Thank you! I did do some fowl pox research. I'm concerned about her eye though. One forum I read said to squeeze on her eye after I flush it out. Not sure if that is something I should do. I have penicillin that I use for my goats. Would I be able to use that instead? I will have to go buy the other stuff tomorrow, I only ask because I have it on hand and hate to see her suffering. I also read that I can rub antibacterial cream on her eye to help fight off the infection as well. Thoughts?
I did isolate her since she isn't feeling well as the other girls seemed to pick on her if they got too close.


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## seminole wind (Aug 22, 2015)

Yup, looks like fowl pox. Been through that this year, some just get black spots, mine were worse. Dawg, I am glad you mentioned infection. Since shooting tylan in her eye would make me personally feel squeamish , I would just do tylan in the breast for 3 days.


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## dawg53 (Aug 25, 2015)

seminolewind said:


> Yup, looks like fowl pox. Been through that this year, some just get black spots, mine were worse. Dawg, I am glad you mentioned infection. Since shooting tylan in her eye would make me personally feel squeamish , I would just do tylan in the breast for 3 days.


No need to inject it into the breast, there isnt a respiratory infection involved in this instance. Only a couple of drops in the eye for a few days should clear it up.


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## dawg53 (Aug 25, 2015)

moley829 said:


> Thank you! I did do some fowl pox research. I'm concerned about her eye though. One forum I read said to squeeze on her eye after I flush it out. Not sure if that is something I should do. I have penicillin that I use for my goats. Would I be able to use that instead? I will have to go buy the other stuff tomorrow, I only ask because I have it on hand and hate to see her suffering. I also read that I can rub antibacterial cream on her eye to help fight off the infection as well. Thoughts?
> I did isolate her since she isn't feeling well as the other girls seemed to pick on her if they got too close.


 You really need to flush the eye with saline solution, then apply Terramycin eye ointment. I highly suspect a bacterial infection which could be caused by dirt/debris or from feces when the scratch occured. Squeezing the eye could cause debris to go deeper into the eye socket and/or damage the eyeball which may cause blindness. It's also possible the pox can enter through the sinus cavity and cause wet pox, then you're really going to have problems. 
I dont know what type of penicillin you have. If it's penicillin G procaine, dosage is 1/4cc in the breast muscle (IM) once a day for 4 days instead of using amoxicillin. (This is only if the Terramycin eye ointment and tylan doesnt clear up the eye.) Good luck.


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## moley829 (Feb 24, 2015)

I wasn't able to find the terramycin. I did find the tylan 50 and the lady at my feed store recommend vetericyn eye wash. Her eye looked crusty so I used a warm rag to try to get it off and ended up getting a ton of clearish puss out of her eye and was able to flush it out on Friday. Yesterday I repeated the process and she got the tylan 50 as well. Repeated today and added some antibiotic cream to the outside of her eye. Her eye isn't filling up as fast and today she got to spend the warm part of the day outside which I'm sure she enjoyed. I'll take some new pictures tomorrow. Thank you guys for all your help!


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## casportpony (Aug 22, 2015)

Is there any hard pus in her eye?


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## moley829 (Feb 24, 2015)

Not hard but soft gooey chunks.


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## casportpony (Aug 22, 2015)

moley829 said:


> Not hard but soft gooey chunks.


It's been my experience that it needs to be removed. I have some pictures of one of mine that I'll try to find.


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## moley829 (Feb 24, 2015)

Today is a great day! She is opening it all by herself. Once I got the crusty stuff soaked off anyway. Not sure why it loaded my picture sideways but this is her today. Tons better!


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## moley829 (Feb 24, 2015)

Huh. It spun my picture back correct. Rock on!


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## casportpony (Aug 22, 2015)

She looks much better!


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