# Sores/swollen eye



## Ashley Tozar (Mar 23, 2020)

Hi,
My 1.5 yo hen has an acutely swollen eye. On the 1st day there was one of these lesions, by the following day she looked like this. I have been treating it with antibiotic ointment on the outside and using teramycin/ irrigation when able in the eye. I have not been able to visualize the eye. She has not developed any other signs that would make me think it's a respiratory disease, and aside from being uncomfortable, she is eating,drinking, pooping, and moving around well. Could this just be a bad sting, or irritant, or do you think something infectious? Again she doesn't have symptoms of more common disorders that I have found in my research. Thanks for any help!!


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

That might be pox. I'll give a holler to someone who's dealt with it. He might have ideas on what to do with it that close to the eye.


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## dawg53 (Aug 25, 2015)

It might be fowl pox, you should see lesions on her comb and wattles as well. If it's not fowl pox; have you seen flock mates pecking at her eye or have you seen her scratching her eye? Either of these could be a cause.
For now, I'd continue with a saline flush, pat dry, and continue with the terramycin eye ointment for twice a day for 5 days.
If there are no other lesions (comb and wattles) and the terramycin hasnt cleared up the eye in 5 days, you might need to get her started on an antibiotic.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I'm not sure this would do anything or not but try some liquid children's Benadryl to see if that lessons the swelling any.


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## dawg53 (Aug 25, 2015)

robin416 said:


> I'm not sure this would do anything or not but try some liquid children's Benadryl to see if that lessons the swelling any.


They DO kind look like stings of some sort. Children's Benadryl dosage is 1/2ml orally. Wait 24 hours before redosing and only if necessary. Do not overdose with benadryl.
If anything, it'll ensure the trachea stays open if there's venom from stings.


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## Ashley Tozar (Mar 23, 2020)

Thank you all for your input! I did start benadryl and rimadyl (had some from a previous chicken injury), so here's hoping it starts to resolve! Its definitely bothering her, so I'm hoping if we can get the itching/swelling down she wont create more self-inflicting trauma


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

That doesn't look self inflicted at all.


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## Sylie (May 4, 2018)

you know...it kind of reminds me of red ant bites. Do you have red ants in your area? Have you looked at all of your other chickens for even a single sore like this?


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## dawg53 (Aug 25, 2015)

I thought about fire ants. However there would ALOT more stings, and not only around the eye.
It might help if you go out to the coop at night with a flashlight and see if you can observe anything going on with your hen. Take a look at the roost(s) and see if there's anything crawling on roosts and look for spiders/spider webs as well.


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## Sylie (May 4, 2018)

Good thinking dawg. Spiders could do this too.


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