# Swollen eye with mucus



## kjwg2009 (Jan 4, 2015)

Will try to make a long story short. Im apparently not able to open any of the files under the disease section in this forum on my phone.. my wonderful husband decided to get some chickens to use in live traps for coyotes.. the chickens don't get hurt.. they're in a separate cage as the coyote. I still don't agree with it but whatever. I told him NOT to put the new chickens in with my chickens for one month so we could see if they were sick first.. but he did anyway. I went out to water them this morning and noticed one of the new hens has a swollen eye with mucus in it. they were only in the run about 20 minutes but I immediately took all the new chickens out of the run. My husband put down the sick chicken but I'm afraid its too late! What can I do to prevent my healthy chickens from getting what the sick chicken had? Some sort of antibiotic I can put in their water or something? Needless to say I'm so mad at my husband I could cuss! I'm worried and don't know what to do.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Give him a swift kick for me too, for putting in the chickens without quarantine first and for his cruel idea about using them for bait. The terror these birds will experience at being bait is enough to kill them from fear, to cause health issues due to the stress. Tell him to use dog food or some other non living bait. I'm getting madder by the word, I'd like to kick him. Or worse.

I think about my nine year old birds and how they all know their names and respond when I call. Ugh!

Chickens can get sinus infections without it being transmittable. Let's hope that's what this was with the one. If you had not put it down you could have sent it off for necropsy, most states will do that without cost. 

Right now its a waiting game to see if it was something more serious. Treating without a good diagnosis is usually not the best idea.


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## kjwg2009 (Jan 4, 2015)

robin416 said:


> Give him a swift kick for me too, for putting in the chickens without quarantine first and for his cruel idea about using them for bait. The terror these birds will experience at being bait is enough to kill them from fear, to cause health issues due to the stress. Tell him to use dog food or some other non living bait. I'm getting madder by the word, I'd like to kick him. Or worse.
> 
> I think about my nine year old birds and how they all know their names and respond when I call. Ugh!
> 
> ...


I know! I'd like to shoot him for buying them for the reason that he did.. we have fought and fought over it. There's nothing I can do to stop it. It is very cruel.. I completely agree. He realizes now that he shouldn't have put them straight in the cage... and he apologized and I thanked him for at the very least realizing it was a dumb move but I completely lost my temper and screamed at him.. I freaking told you so!! I'm so ticked at him. I'm really hoping my chickens don't get sick. So just keep a close eye on them without treatment unless I notice something wrong?


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Good thing he's not married to me. If he was, those birds would end up being part of the flock.

Yes, keep watch. If he follows through on this less than bright idea the birds being used will either drop dead or start exhibiting signs of disease. If/when they do then get one necropsied so you can know exactly what you're dealing with. If you can start with the right drugs from the get go they have a better chance. If they diagnose CRD or similar get Denagard and make sure hubs knows he's paying for it. From everything I've read its the only thing that can totally clear CRD.


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## kjwg2009 (Jan 4, 2015)

robin416 said:


> Good thing he's not married to me. If he was, those birds would end up being part of the flock.
> 
> Yes, keep watch. If he follows through on this less than bright idea the birds being used will either drop dead or start exhibiting signs of disease. If/when they do then get one necropsied so you can know exactly what you're dealing with. If you can start with the right drugs from the get go they have a better chance. If they diagnose CRD or similar get Denagard and make sure hubs knows he's paying for it. From everything I've read its the only thing that can totally clear CRD.


OK. I was really thinking that I would tell him hands off the new birds and let them join my flock once I confirm they aren't sick birds. I also sent a nasty text message to his best friend who was involved with this less than bright idea. I might not be able to change this situation but they sure will know how I feel about it. I'm praying that no other birds are sick. In the new flock or my flock.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Have you ever noticed for smart people how dumb they can be sometimes? This is that thinking of: its just a chicken on their part. Chickens know fear, they know pain, they can learn their names without benefit of treats. 

I am fiercely protective of animals and small children since many of the decisions we make can affect them so negatively. Or in the case of many on this board positively since many have birds that are multiple years old. We even have one that has a hen that is 11 or 12 years old. All of my birds are over five years with two at almost nine and one that is nine and half. 

Check out what it takes to necropsy in your state. They don't want disease spreading so they very often charge nothing for the testing. You'll know right away if Denagard is the way to go. If no one else gets sick then it was a sinus infection on the one, just don't tell hubs. Let him stew. 

I hoping for the best for your flock.


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## kjwg2009 (Jan 4, 2015)

robin416 said:


> Have you ever noticed for smart people how dumb they can be sometimes? This is that thinking of: its just a chicken on their part. Chickens know fear, they know pain, they can learn their names without benefit of treats.
> 
> I am fiercely protective of animals and small children since many of the decisions we make can affect them so negatively. Or in the case of many on this board positively since many have birds that are multiple years old. We even have one that has a hen that is 11 or 12 years old. All of my birds are over five years with two at almost nine and one that is nine and half.
> 
> ...


I know! My husband is a very smart man... it just floors me that he did that. I sure hope you are right and it was just a sinus infection. But I did effectively chew his friend out BC now he feels so bad he's not going to use chickens and he's gonna buy the medicine if my chickens get sick.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Sinus infections happen pretty frequently. Years ago there was a long discussion concerning one swollen sinus and whether or not it was a respiratory disease or a simple infection. One of mine even had one. Once treated she was fine and it never showed up any where else in the flock and I sold and bought birds on a fairly regular basis. 

The thinking is that they get a foreign object, like food, caught in the sinus and it infects.

If none of the other new birds show any signs of illness during the quarantine period then you can consider them safe.

Glad you were able to make him see that his idea was cruel. Bait the trap with dog food or fresh eggs. BTW, trapping one coyote will probably not end the problem because the packs are generally quite large. You can hear them behind my place every night, sounds like there's got to be 20 of them back in the woods.

If you're looking to protect the chickens or livestock hot wire is probably the best way to go. I've got two lines running close to the ground on my chicken pen. I've seen where something tried to dig in and when it hit the hot wire decided it wasn't such a good idea. I heard something hit it recently, when I went to look whatever it was was long gone.


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