3.6m Omlet Chicken Run for sale, Brand New in Boxes, Milton Keynes (MK19)

[spoonranger]

Hi everyone, one of my two hens has a white swelling in the inside corner of one of her eyes. the swelling doesn't have any discharge itself but the rest of the eye is bubbling clear liquid a little. The other eye is unaffected. She's not sneezing or wheezing and the other hen appears totally healthy. I expect the white lump is a swelling of her normal eye tissue (like when cats' third eyelid comes over when they're sick) but I don't know anything about chicken eyes!

 

I noticed it a few days ago and it hasn't gone away yet.

 

Any ideas?

 

Thanks

 

Juliet

[spoonranger]

Actually, looking again, the whole side of her head is swollen, not just the little bit around the eye....

[Sue]

I think you would need to post a photo before anyone could make an informed comment

[Tweety]

And it sounds like something that a vet should be looking at really.

[spoonranger]

Thanks. Sorry, I didn't realise you could post photos when I posted originally.

 

We took her to the vet and she's on a course of liquid Baytril after an initial injection but after three days there's been no improvement. Hoping it'll kick in soon or I'm not sure what else we can do

[Tweety]

What did the vet say was the problem? I hope she starts to show some signs of improvement soon.

[spoonranger]

I wasn't in the consultation but I gather he assumed it was an abcess of some kind but was reluctant to lance it as he wasn't familiar enough with chicken anatomy so he wanted to try the antibiotics first. It's been getting worse rather than better though and now her entire eye is covered, or pushed to one side, with a white lump and her head is still swollen. She's happy in herself - pecking, eating, behaving normally except for holding her head at an odd angle so she can see things through her good eye. If she looked more miserable it might be easier to put her to sleep.

 

I'm feeling very torn about spending lots of money on her at the vet. She's a lovely chicken but she's still a chicken!

[spoonranger]

That's not to say that I would just leave her to suffer, of course!

[Tweety]

There is a list of recommended poultry vets on the forum, and it may be worth taking her to see one if there is one near you and she doesn't improve soon

Unless you can cull her yourself or know someone who can do it for you, you will have to take her back to a vet to have her PTS if it comes to that, so you may as well take her to one that knows his/her poultry.

Good luck - I hope the antibiotics start to work soon.

[gongladosh]

you may need two courses of baytril - I've had similar before where the first course has made slight inroads but nothing more, and only the second full course has polished the illness off.

[spoonranger]

Quick update. Took her to the vet again today - saw a different vet. He's pretty convinced it's an abcess caused by an initial infection in the tear duct, which makes sense. He's optimistic that an epsom salts poultice for a few days will cause it to burst. The only other option (apart from putting her to sleep) is surgery, which I'm not keen on.

 

Do you know how hard it is to poultice a chicken's eye?!

[good_egg]

Rather you than me! Haha. Good luck.