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- Jan 8, 2025
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Hello! Long time lurker, first time poster. Hoping for some feedback to help us manage this issue.
We have a 7 month old Australorp hen who has what I am assuming are bilateral nictitating membrane defects. Has not come into lay yet. She came to us as a 16 week pullet this way. Her membranes never fully retract and are always covering 1/2-1/3 of her eyes. Due to this she often experiences irritation and presents as uncomfortable when she has a flare up, similar to conjunctivitis but she never has any discharge or significant inflammation. She will become withdrawn, eyes closed and sits with her head drawn into her body, clearly uncomfortable. When this has happened, we have separated her, flushed her eyes and treated with neosporin (we are not able to buy Terramycin OTC in my state). She generally starts feeling better within 24-48 hours, so I’m making an assumption she is experiencing general eye irritation, dry eye, or foreign body injury. We’ve had this happen twice now and she’s recovered quickly both times.
She does not present with any upper respiratory symptoms, no bubbles or pus in her eye, no coughing, draining, etc. No visible parasites that I have found. All other vitals remain normal. Appetite good, poop normal. We’ve worked through the laundry list of all the potential viral issues that might cause an eye issue and I’m not seeing a correlation off the top. I have Tiagard on hand but I have not treated anyone with it yet. I did run a corrid treatment as a general Hail Mary since her loaf body position could have been ill vs pain.
Our chickens are currently kept in a large (12x16) coop with an attached run, great ventilation and hardware cloth all around. Coop is currently half pine shavings over rubber stall mats over hardware cloth (we have ground squirrels and weasels that use their tunnels) and the other half is wood floor. Run is sandy loam (we are on a beach dune). Zero contact with wild birds. No HPAI reported in our county yet. We only have 4 chickens total—No one has presented with any illness symptoms.
I’ve tried to research to see if this could be associated with any known illness or injury. If it wasn’t bilateral, I would suspect injury of some kind. I reached out to the farm we bought her from and they noted they have had this happen in the past and she shouldn’t have been sent out to us with our order. They would have kept her for their general laying flock. They would take her back but suggested she may have better care with us since we have a small flock and offered to reimburse for her, they would trade but they didn’t have any older australorps currently. I was thankful for their response and offer to make it right. We will be keeping her and trying to make her comfortable when this happens.
Since they mentioned they’ve had that happen before, I thought I would reach out to the collective group and see if anyone had any management tips or other treatment suggestions for keeping her comfortable. None of my chicken friends have seen this presentation before and, if it’s normal, I haven’t found a lot online about it. When we build our permanent coop, I can change out the bedding material if the dust from the shavings contribute here. Or if maybe there were some other thoughts as to why she has this issue, maybe not a physiological defect she was born with? Our equine vet will be here in March so I will see if I can get some Terramycin at that time.
Pics added to show how her eyes always look and when she isn’t feeling too hot. The pic with her eye open was on day 2 of her flushing treatment this week so slightly inflamed, but the membrane is always like that. She’s a friendly girl, despite looking like she’s constantly judging you.
Thanks for any advice offered!
We have a 7 month old Australorp hen who has what I am assuming are bilateral nictitating membrane defects. Has not come into lay yet. She came to us as a 16 week pullet this way. Her membranes never fully retract and are always covering 1/2-1/3 of her eyes. Due to this she often experiences irritation and presents as uncomfortable when she has a flare up, similar to conjunctivitis but she never has any discharge or significant inflammation. She will become withdrawn, eyes closed and sits with her head drawn into her body, clearly uncomfortable. When this has happened, we have separated her, flushed her eyes and treated with neosporin (we are not able to buy Terramycin OTC in my state). She generally starts feeling better within 24-48 hours, so I’m making an assumption she is experiencing general eye irritation, dry eye, or foreign body injury. We’ve had this happen twice now and she’s recovered quickly both times.
She does not present with any upper respiratory symptoms, no bubbles or pus in her eye, no coughing, draining, etc. No visible parasites that I have found. All other vitals remain normal. Appetite good, poop normal. We’ve worked through the laundry list of all the potential viral issues that might cause an eye issue and I’m not seeing a correlation off the top. I have Tiagard on hand but I have not treated anyone with it yet. I did run a corrid treatment as a general Hail Mary since her loaf body position could have been ill vs pain.
Our chickens are currently kept in a large (12x16) coop with an attached run, great ventilation and hardware cloth all around. Coop is currently half pine shavings over rubber stall mats over hardware cloth (we have ground squirrels and weasels that use their tunnels) and the other half is wood floor. Run is sandy loam (we are on a beach dune). Zero contact with wild birds. No HPAI reported in our county yet. We only have 4 chickens total—No one has presented with any illness symptoms.
I’ve tried to research to see if this could be associated with any known illness or injury. If it wasn’t bilateral, I would suspect injury of some kind. I reached out to the farm we bought her from and they noted they have had this happen in the past and she shouldn’t have been sent out to us with our order. They would have kept her for their general laying flock. They would take her back but suggested she may have better care with us since we have a small flock and offered to reimburse for her, they would trade but they didn’t have any older australorps currently. I was thankful for their response and offer to make it right. We will be keeping her and trying to make her comfortable when this happens.
Since they mentioned they’ve had that happen before, I thought I would reach out to the collective group and see if anyone had any management tips or other treatment suggestions for keeping her comfortable. None of my chicken friends have seen this presentation before and, if it’s normal, I haven’t found a lot online about it. When we build our permanent coop, I can change out the bedding material if the dust from the shavings contribute here. Or if maybe there were some other thoughts as to why she has this issue, maybe not a physiological defect she was born with? Our equine vet will be here in March so I will see if I can get some Terramycin at that time.
Pics added to show how her eyes always look and when she isn’t feeling too hot. The pic with her eye open was on day 2 of her flushing treatment this week so slightly inflamed, but the membrane is always like that. She’s a friendly girl, despite looking like she’s constantly judging you.
Thanks for any advice offered!
