Kayliee Posted January 12, 2011 Share Posted January 12, 2011 (edited) I have four one week old chicks and one (a rhode island red) constantly closes its right eye. She will open it without any hassle but seems to prefer with it closed. (they are eleven days old and are roughly 50grams each.) They are in a brooder box with plenty of food, water, space, a bedding of shavings and heat. She is probably one of the more quieter ones, not the leader. Her eye isn't weeping, inflamed or obviously red. She has a pretty full crop at all times which is going up and down as she eats/digests (not more or less then the others at least) and they are fed on a good baby mix recommended by the breeder. The leader chick does like to peck the others to teach them that she is the boss (They are still figuring out their order as they are only a week old) so I am thinking she has been pecked in the eye and it is sore. When we first got her she wasn't closing one eye and she is growing at the same rate as the others, she just isn't as fluffy as the others which makes me think she is putting on weight. Is there anything that I can do or is this just nothing to worry about? ~I asked this on yahoo answers but I wanted to look on a chicken-based website. A lot of people recommended warm/salty water on her eye or trying to get antibiotics. (also my parents said we can't take her to the vet.) Oh and she doesn't seem to be in any physical pain or distress- just that she likes to close one eye. EDIT: This has been resolved, with good news. See 3rd post Edited January 12, 2011 by Guest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egluntyne Posted January 12, 2011 Share Posted January 12, 2011 She might have a foreign body in it or perhaps she has been pecked in the eye by one of the others. I'd bathe it and see how it goes. Cold tea is soothing and antiseptic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kayliee Posted January 12, 2011 Author Share Posted January 12, 2011 Thanks for the advice but I have good news. I woke up an hour ago (Australia) and for some reason it has magically cleared up. Last night I did a complete change of bedding (rather then just taking the top dirty bits off), emptied their food container- mixed it up in a bag and re-poured it into the container as it was getting powdery at the bottom, and even though they are still only young it is hitting temperatures of over 30 degrees here so we changed the heat lamp bulb to a lower "temperature". Now either it was something in the brooder that was hurting her eye and was removed when I did the big cleanup last night or it just needed a little bit more time, regardless I'm happy it's cleared up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
