# Eye Issue?



## Lillith (10 mo ago)

I have a Cuckoo Marans, a little over a year old, named Little Bit who seems to be having an issue with her eye. It is just one eye (her right) where the bottom lid appears to be droopy or loose. She is not sneezing, coughing, or producing any sort of discharge. No watery eyes. No bubbles in the eyes. Healthy looking comb. Eating and drinking normally, normal droppings, normal activity, and laying eggs like clockwork.

This issue has been going on for at least two weeks. I thought at first it was an injury. She spends lots of time foraging in trees, so I thought perhaps she poked herself in the eye or got pecked, but the issue does not seem to be getting better nor worse. She did have a bit of a messy bum so I gave her a bath (no diarrhea or anything, she's just one of those chickens that I have to trim up her bum and give her a bath every now and then), and I found cockleburs in her feathers. I'm wondering if one of those darn things poked her in the eye? I found no other injuries on her upon inspection, though I think she's starting to molt (no mites, no irritated skin, etc.)

I hope perhaps you guys could give me some ideas!

Here are some pictures I managed to snap of her. I left them huge so you can see. She's a bit wary, so I did my best:

In the below photo, you can see the bottom lid drooping down. The eye does not seem irritated. She is not scratching at it. It almost looks like some sort of injury, but I'm just not sure.










Here is her normal eye. She's hissing at me.










Here is a closeup. She closed her eye when I brought the camera close, but I think it appears a tad swollen. She does not usually close the eye and appears to see fine from it, she only seems bothered when I try to take a close look! You can see her wattles and comb appear normal sized, just the area around the eye is swollen.










Here is a different angle. Sorry, not a great picture.










Other stressors I can think of are the integration of the new chicks, but that's been going on for quite some time and she seems non-plussed with the whole thing. She's at the bottom of the pecking order, but not bullied. The black specks on her comb in some of the pictures are dirt, one is a little scab, and the pale tips are from a bit of frostbite.

Any help appreciated!


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## dawg53 (Aug 25, 2015)

It's possible she somehow got debris in her eye, possibly from dust bathing or maybe pecked in or around the eye. Not seeing bubbles in her eye is a good thing.
I recommend liberally flushing her eye with saline solution, gently pat dry, and apply a tiny bit of Terramycin eye ointment or Neosporin in her eye for a few days and see if that helps. No need to flush her eye daily, once is fine.
You can snuggly wrap her in a towel and tie her legs together to keep her from kicking to do this procedure.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I'm with dawg, leaning more towards injury. And would do the same things he recommended. 

I can't tell you how much time I scrolled back in forth between the two pics. (good that, it gave some comparison material.)


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## Lillith (10 mo ago)

Alright, I'll give the flushing a try and see if that improves it. She's not going to be happy with me for a while, haha!



robin416 said:


> I'm with dawg, leaning more towards injury. And would do the same things he recommended.
> 
> I can't tell you how much time I scrolled back in forth between the two pics. (good that, it gave some comparison material.)


When I first noticed it I squatted near her and just stared at her trying to figure out what was different, too! Neither she nor the rooster was impressed with my attentions. It probably took me a day to finally figure out "Oh, there's something wrong with her eye!". It's not very noticeable from a few feet away or in the shadows where she likes to lurk. Then of course I shuffled around trying to see if the other chickens had similar symptoms, but they're all good!


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

It is weird looking. Usually you see some associated swelling somewhere near but I don't see a thing.


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## Lillith (10 mo ago)

Yeah, I don't know. I thought it was maybe a congenital issue or something, too, when it wasn't resolving itself but she wasn't displaying any other symptoms of illness, but you think I would have seen that from the get go? Hopefully the flushing helps, but I guess the important thing is it doesn't seem to bother her any!


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

And that makes it more of a mystery, she's not bothered by it. And the eye closes normally. You might be on to it being something she's always had but like you, I'd think I'd notice before now.


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## Lillith (10 mo ago)

Just an update on this, her eye does appear to be slowly improving. Still a bit different than the other, but much less noticeable. I'm not sure if the flush helped or it just needed time. I really don't think I flushed it well, she was an angry chicken and kept shaking her head. The swelling has gone down mostly, and the drooping has lessened. She has continued to live the ultimate chicken life of foraging, laying eggs, and digging up my flowers.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I guess we'll never know what the cause was. At least it's resolving. And more importantly never seemed to bother her.


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