***This article is undergoing review. The chicken in the article is alive and well, and infection free. However some of the treatments used in the article are currently being reviewed for safety and wether they are recommended. ***
This article is about treating eye problems in chickens. It is not intended specifically towards the causes, although it will discuss the relationship of eye problems to nasal and respiratory issues that may be the cause. Most people may think of the beak of a chicken to be only a mouth, however the chicken has in the roof of its mouth something similar to that of a nasal cavity of humans called the choana, where many infections and issues can develop that can cause the common eye problems.
My volunteer chicken for this article is a sweet 3 month old of unknown sex. He has a very complicated infection, but hopefully the reader of this article will take away sufficient technique to treat their own hens eye problems and the treatment will be sufficient for their hen to recover.
The right side of his face is a bubbly and mucous filled eye. The left side of his face is a swollen and shut eye.
The chicken in the photos has been recovering for over a month and daily eye treatments are necessary. The only reason to force a treatment on the chicken is to maintain the ability to eat. This chicken wakes up every morning unable to see and eyes are sealed shut with the nasal discharge fluid. So the chicken sleeps in isolation and requires morning treatments in order to drink and eat the first meal of the day.
The reader may be wondering why is it nasal discharge fluid is in the eye? The fluid does have a name, but what is important to know is that it is coming out the eye due to the swollen nasal cavity and internal nature of the infection. The fluid would normally go out the beak or into the mouth, but internal swelling and built up pressure causes it to exit through the eye. Even after cleaning the eye, the fluid and bubbling may reappear within the first couple minutes. So it is important to clean the eye and get the chicken in front of his food. I may sit by with a damp towel and repeatedly wipe his eye during eating just to let him get a full crop. They do a pretty good job of keeping their own eyes clean throughout the day by shaking their heads and freeing the liquid that way, but it is critical to give them a full cleaning to allow the liquid to drain away.
Basic eye treatment 1
A list of items necessary is as follows. It helps to have a clean organized area with lots of space, a place to potentially sit down near a clean water source, and a clean towel. It also would help to be wearing clothes that you can get dirty.
Syringe for water
A wooden stick or toothpick
Tweezers
A small cup for clean water or medicine
At least one clean cotton towel
Clean water source
As you see here, the chicken is not afraid or hesitant to get his morning eye treatment. He stands patiently waiting knowing that he can eat afterwards and go on with his day like normal.
Just before the procedure, lets take a look inside the mouth to see the extent of the infection in the nasal cavity. Notice the tongue has a build up, the lower beak has some built up discharge, and the choanal cavity is filled with a loose discharge. All that makes it more difficult to eat and I will be removing it as part of this procedure. Removing it will help ease swelling and by night time he should be able to eat more easily with only a eye cleaning. I tend to do this procedure in the morning and see him eating much better with the discharges removed.
The solid white discharge coming out of the choana is the result of an infection. Never forcefully squeeze the chickens eye trying to squeeze out a discharge. If the discharge in the eye is solid, you will be able to tell without using force. None of the techniques for cleaning the eye should cause pain to the chicken, but the swollen eye is very painful to the touch, so be very gentle with these techniques. Unfortunately many chickens have been blinded and even died from misinformation about squeezing the eye like a pimple. I have performed several post mortems on chickens that had eye problems such as this one, and the puffyness is actually most often the chickens flesh, not a fluid cyst that can be squeezed. Also people have reported bleeding and blindness after squeezing, and unfortunately that is from misinformation, never squeeze the swollen eye. Instead follow this cleaning procedure, and you will know if the discharge is removable or not.
Again the purpose of this article and outline of the procedure is to allow the reader to clean the eyes in order to let the chicken be able to see to eat. That is the only reason to attempt these treatments. The chicken in this article underwent a week of antibiotic treatment, but unfortunately developed an antibiotic resistant disease that has been ongoing a month. But he still has use of both eyes and eats two very full meals every day and can spend time outside all day bathing and resting.
Note in this procedure I will also be cleaning the lower beak, tongue, and upper beak to relieve pressure and allow him to eat more easily, but the reader can just do the portions of the procedure that will allow their hen to see and hopefully recover in a day.
Step 1 cleaning the eyes
First thing I do is wet the chickens eyes, and head. This is optional, because the towel will also be wet when cleaning him, and it is just a minor annoyance to the chicken, as you can see in the picture. Do not drown the chicken with forceful water in the nasal pasages of the beak, the water is at a slow trickle over the eye and head. This step also serves to give a partial bath to his head as I am also keeping his feathers and back clean over the course of treatment. There can be a foul odor from the discharge if the bird ia not kept clean. Only let the bird get wet if you have sufficient climate, the temperature of the air here is over 70 degrees and the sun is risen. I do not recommend wetting the bird at night when the temperature drops, or in climates where he will become more sick from the cold. So plan eye washing technique according to the time, or else use less water and keep him dry.
He is a little annoyed, but he quickly gets used to it. Again, this is optional as you will see, but do not be afraid to do it.
The benefit of this is I will try not to touch his eyes again, the water can wash away and loosten the fluids and solids. It looks forceful, but his head is only under water a second or two, and then he is released and will shake his head to discharge all the extra water.
As this drenching step was optional, move on to the necessary step of using a damp towel to remove the built up discharge. I am able to clean his face and eye with only a towel and a single swipe. But most people will find it more difficult the first time. It may help to use the toothpick or tweezer to remove any solid build up, but do so very gently because most chickens will be aggressive and make sudden movements. A toothbrush can also be a valuable tool for cleaning the feathers of built up gunk around the eyes. But any tools need to be used very gently and carefully, as no pain should be experienced by these procedures. My chicken is accustomed to it and does not try to escape because we have been doing this daily for a month. But unaccustomed chickens will be hard to handle at first. Always handle the chicken with enough force to not escape until you feel his body relax, and then you can hold her more gently and they should get the hint that there is no pain.
Rub the eye with a wet or damp towel to remove all built up discharge. This eye may look clean, but there are still a couple bits to clean.
Step 2 Drying the eyes
The last swipe should be with a damp to moderately dry towel. You are trying to remove any excess moisture in the eye and so a dryer towel helps pressing on the eye and drying around his face.
Similar with the swollen eye, you want to clean around and on top of the eye opening. But the swelling is painful, so it may not be possible to open the eye without causing pain, but applying pressure in areas will allow you to discharge any fluid and the final damp dry will leave the inside of the eye as clean and dry as possible.
For the swollen eye, he is really only able to open it after the procedure is done. Although it is clean in this photo taken after the prodedure, he wasnt really trying to open it for the photo. You will see later that he gets it open a little more during eating.
Step 3 Cleaning the choana and beak
This step is optional, as most readers will only want to allow their hen to be able to see and eat, and perhaps administer medicines that will fight the infections or swelling. However because the infection is inside my chickens head, I have to relieve the pressure and remove the discharge through the choana, instead of normally the discharge may be removed from the eye or go away on its own.
In this step I will be doing a hydrogen peroxide cleaning of the top of the mouth, tongue, and beak to remove the discharge built up on those areas. The result is a clearer choana and clean mouth and tongue, and leaves the chicken very eager to eat and happy. If this step is skipped, excessive build up makes the chicken unable to eat. He may find it difficult to maneuver food inside his mouth, or even close his mouth enough to swallow food. I find it well worth the minor discomfort of this procedure to how more readily the chicken is able to eat when his tongue and mouth are not caked in built up discharge. It also relieves the pressure and may keep the eyes from seeping, depending on if the swelling is the cause.
Start with a hydrogen peroxide in the syringe. I am using full strength, but for first time or chickens that will fight, better try with a dilute mixture.
Sitting down for this procedure is necessary. It requires a steady hand because it will cause a minor discomfort to the chicken, and he has to be held in a steady position to prevent him swallowing the hydrogen peroxide. The steady hand is also necessary to remove the built up discharge from inside of the chaoana.
With the chickens head tilted forward so fluid drains out, the hydrogen peroxide is sprayed directly on the roof of the mouth at the choana. It is important to tilt the head forward so that he will not swallow the hydrogen peroxide. If he does swallow some, you will want to finish the prodedure soon so that you can flush his mouth and give water. Hydrogen peroxide is not dangerous to swallow but overall is not comfortable.
After spraying the hydrogen peroxide and with his head still tilted forward, using a wooden skewer or tweezers scrape away the discharge out of the choana area. It is possible to do this step without hydrogen peroxide, and doing so only with tweezers and water. Whatever is most comfortable and easiest, it can be tried multiple ways after the chicken is accustomed to the procedure, he will probably stay still while you scrape away the discharge, as long as you are steady and careful not to cause pain.
After there is no more discharge to scrape off the choana, tongue, and bottom edges of the beak, flush with clean water in the syringe. Spray the choana and beak, and after a flush, allow your hen to swallow some water to flush any hydrogen peroxode she may have swallowed.
As a result of this procedure, the tongue and beak no longer have a built up discharge, and the choana is clearer and swelling should go down throughout the day. It may be necessary to wipe the eyes again with the clean damp towel one more time, as this procedure does cause fluid to enter the eyes again.
That concludes the procedure for cleaning the eyes and hopefully relieving pressure in advanced infections.
At the end of the procedure, he patiently waits to be given his food. After eating, he can be isolated or let free depending. Note you will probably have to make sure his fluid intake is adequate after eating. I flush him again with some vitamin and water, and wipe his beak down after eating. He is happy to go to isolation for a long nap with a full crop. In the afternoon he will get water again, have his eyes wiped with a damp towel again, and be fed again before being put to bed for the night. In the morning he may or may not require the full treatment or just a towel to wipe his eyes.
All done, ready to eat.
Fish and rice to eat. Monitoring his droppings will help know if the diet is working. He needs a probiotic but I dont have anything right now, so I try to give a very high nutrition food such as fish and supplements.
Back to isolation so the other chickens wont bother him.
Appendix
Diet considerations
Medicine considerations
This article is about treating eye problems in chickens. It is not intended specifically towards the causes, although it will discuss the relationship of eye problems to nasal and respiratory issues that may be the cause. Most people may think of the beak of a chicken to be only a mouth, however the chicken has in the roof of its mouth something similar to that of a nasal cavity of humans called the choana, where many infections and issues can develop that can cause the common eye problems.
My volunteer chicken for this article is a sweet 3 month old of unknown sex. He has a very complicated infection, but hopefully the reader of this article will take away sufficient technique to treat their own hens eye problems and the treatment will be sufficient for their hen to recover.
The right side of his face is a bubbly and mucous filled eye. The left side of his face is a swollen and shut eye.
The chicken in the photos has been recovering for over a month and daily eye treatments are necessary. The only reason to force a treatment on the chicken is to maintain the ability to eat. This chicken wakes up every morning unable to see and eyes are sealed shut with the nasal discharge fluid. So the chicken sleeps in isolation and requires morning treatments in order to drink and eat the first meal of the day.
The reader may be wondering why is it nasal discharge fluid is in the eye? The fluid does have a name, but what is important to know is that it is coming out the eye due to the swollen nasal cavity and internal nature of the infection. The fluid would normally go out the beak or into the mouth, but internal swelling and built up pressure causes it to exit through the eye. Even after cleaning the eye, the fluid and bubbling may reappear within the first couple minutes. So it is important to clean the eye and get the chicken in front of his food. I may sit by with a damp towel and repeatedly wipe his eye during eating just to let him get a full crop. They do a pretty good job of keeping their own eyes clean throughout the day by shaking their heads and freeing the liquid that way, but it is critical to give them a full cleaning to allow the liquid to drain away.
Basic eye treatment 1
A list of items necessary is as follows. It helps to have a clean organized area with lots of space, a place to potentially sit down near a clean water source, and a clean towel. It also would help to be wearing clothes that you can get dirty.
Syringe for water
A wooden stick or toothpick
Tweezers
A small cup for clean water or medicine
At least one clean cotton towel
Clean water source
As you see here, the chicken is not afraid or hesitant to get his morning eye treatment. He stands patiently waiting knowing that he can eat afterwards and go on with his day like normal.
Just before the procedure, lets take a look inside the mouth to see the extent of the infection in the nasal cavity. Notice the tongue has a build up, the lower beak has some built up discharge, and the choanal cavity is filled with a loose discharge. All that makes it more difficult to eat and I will be removing it as part of this procedure. Removing it will help ease swelling and by night time he should be able to eat more easily with only a eye cleaning. I tend to do this procedure in the morning and see him eating much better with the discharges removed.
The solid white discharge coming out of the choana is the result of an infection. Never forcefully squeeze the chickens eye trying to squeeze out a discharge. If the discharge in the eye is solid, you will be able to tell without using force. None of the techniques for cleaning the eye should cause pain to the chicken, but the swollen eye is very painful to the touch, so be very gentle with these techniques. Unfortunately many chickens have been blinded and even died from misinformation about squeezing the eye like a pimple. I have performed several post mortems on chickens that had eye problems such as this one, and the puffyness is actually most often the chickens flesh, not a fluid cyst that can be squeezed. Also people have reported bleeding and blindness after squeezing, and unfortunately that is from misinformation, never squeeze the swollen eye. Instead follow this cleaning procedure, and you will know if the discharge is removable or not.
Again the purpose of this article and outline of the procedure is to allow the reader to clean the eyes in order to let the chicken be able to see to eat. That is the only reason to attempt these treatments. The chicken in this article underwent a week of antibiotic treatment, but unfortunately developed an antibiotic resistant disease that has been ongoing a month. But he still has use of both eyes and eats two very full meals every day and can spend time outside all day bathing and resting.
Note in this procedure I will also be cleaning the lower beak, tongue, and upper beak to relieve pressure and allow him to eat more easily, but the reader can just do the portions of the procedure that will allow their hen to see and hopefully recover in a day.
Step 1 cleaning the eyes
First thing I do is wet the chickens eyes, and head. This is optional, because the towel will also be wet when cleaning him, and it is just a minor annoyance to the chicken, as you can see in the picture. Do not drown the chicken with forceful water in the nasal pasages of the beak, the water is at a slow trickle over the eye and head. This step also serves to give a partial bath to his head as I am also keeping his feathers and back clean over the course of treatment. There can be a foul odor from the discharge if the bird ia not kept clean. Only let the bird get wet if you have sufficient climate, the temperature of the air here is over 70 degrees and the sun is risen. I do not recommend wetting the bird at night when the temperature drops, or in climates where he will become more sick from the cold. So plan eye washing technique according to the time, or else use less water and keep him dry.
He is a little annoyed, but he quickly gets used to it. Again, this is optional as you will see, but do not be afraid to do it.
The benefit of this is I will try not to touch his eyes again, the water can wash away and loosten the fluids and solids. It looks forceful, but his head is only under water a second or two, and then he is released and will shake his head to discharge all the extra water.
As this drenching step was optional, move on to the necessary step of using a damp towel to remove the built up discharge. I am able to clean his face and eye with only a towel and a single swipe. But most people will find it more difficult the first time. It may help to use the toothpick or tweezer to remove any solid build up, but do so very gently because most chickens will be aggressive and make sudden movements. A toothbrush can also be a valuable tool for cleaning the feathers of built up gunk around the eyes. But any tools need to be used very gently and carefully, as no pain should be experienced by these procedures. My chicken is accustomed to it and does not try to escape because we have been doing this daily for a month. But unaccustomed chickens will be hard to handle at first. Always handle the chicken with enough force to not escape until you feel his body relax, and then you can hold her more gently and they should get the hint that there is no pain.
Rub the eye with a wet or damp towel to remove all built up discharge. This eye may look clean, but there are still a couple bits to clean.
Step 2 Drying the eyes
The last swipe should be with a damp to moderately dry towel. You are trying to remove any excess moisture in the eye and so a dryer towel helps pressing on the eye and drying around his face.
Similar with the swollen eye, you want to clean around and on top of the eye opening. But the swelling is painful, so it may not be possible to open the eye without causing pain, but applying pressure in areas will allow you to discharge any fluid and the final damp dry will leave the inside of the eye as clean and dry as possible.
For the swollen eye, he is really only able to open it after the procedure is done. Although it is clean in this photo taken after the prodedure, he wasnt really trying to open it for the photo. You will see later that he gets it open a little more during eating.
Step 3 Cleaning the choana and beak
This step is optional, as most readers will only want to allow their hen to be able to see and eat, and perhaps administer medicines that will fight the infections or swelling. However because the infection is inside my chickens head, I have to relieve the pressure and remove the discharge through the choana, instead of normally the discharge may be removed from the eye or go away on its own.
In this step I will be doing a hydrogen peroxide cleaning of the top of the mouth, tongue, and beak to remove the discharge built up on those areas. The result is a clearer choana and clean mouth and tongue, and leaves the chicken very eager to eat and happy. If this step is skipped, excessive build up makes the chicken unable to eat. He may find it difficult to maneuver food inside his mouth, or even close his mouth enough to swallow food. I find it well worth the minor discomfort of this procedure to how more readily the chicken is able to eat when his tongue and mouth are not caked in built up discharge. It also relieves the pressure and may keep the eyes from seeping, depending on if the swelling is the cause.
Start with a hydrogen peroxide in the syringe. I am using full strength, but for first time or chickens that will fight, better try with a dilute mixture.
Sitting down for this procedure is necessary. It requires a steady hand because it will cause a minor discomfort to the chicken, and he has to be held in a steady position to prevent him swallowing the hydrogen peroxide. The steady hand is also necessary to remove the built up discharge from inside of the chaoana.
With the chickens head tilted forward so fluid drains out, the hydrogen peroxide is sprayed directly on the roof of the mouth at the choana. It is important to tilt the head forward so that he will not swallow the hydrogen peroxide. If he does swallow some, you will want to finish the prodedure soon so that you can flush his mouth and give water. Hydrogen peroxide is not dangerous to swallow but overall is not comfortable.
After spraying the hydrogen peroxide and with his head still tilted forward, using a wooden skewer or tweezers scrape away the discharge out of the choana area. It is possible to do this step without hydrogen peroxide, and doing so only with tweezers and water. Whatever is most comfortable and easiest, it can be tried multiple ways after the chicken is accustomed to the procedure, he will probably stay still while you scrape away the discharge, as long as you are steady and careful not to cause pain.
After there is no more discharge to scrape off the choana, tongue, and bottom edges of the beak, flush with clean water in the syringe. Spray the choana and beak, and after a flush, allow your hen to swallow some water to flush any hydrogen peroxode she may have swallowed.
As a result of this procedure, the tongue and beak no longer have a built up discharge, and the choana is clearer and swelling should go down throughout the day. It may be necessary to wipe the eyes again with the clean damp towel one more time, as this procedure does cause fluid to enter the eyes again.
That concludes the procedure for cleaning the eyes and hopefully relieving pressure in advanced infections.
At the end of the procedure, he patiently waits to be given his food. After eating, he can be isolated or let free depending. Note you will probably have to make sure his fluid intake is adequate after eating. I flush him again with some vitamin and water, and wipe his beak down after eating. He is happy to go to isolation for a long nap with a full crop. In the afternoon he will get water again, have his eyes wiped with a damp towel again, and be fed again before being put to bed for the night. In the morning he may or may not require the full treatment or just a towel to wipe his eyes.
All done, ready to eat.
Fish and rice to eat. Monitoring his droppings will help know if the diet is working. He needs a probiotic but I dont have anything right now, so I try to give a very high nutrition food such as fish and supplements.
Back to isolation so the other chickens wont bother him.
Appendix
Diet considerations
Medicine considerations
