Possible eye worm??? Please help.

[Vegadoberman]

Im posting this because my mom hasnt done anything about her hens messed up eye. From a little bit of searching Ive found it looks similar to some cases of eye worms. We live in washington state - so no roaches here. Her eye has been this way for at LEAST a month. I told her to take the hen to the vet but the next day she reported that it looked fine. Well, I came back a month or so later and it obviously is not fine. It seems watery and she holds it closed more often than the right eye. What treatment is best in curing eye worms if this is indeed what is causing her eye to look this way? Vet RX? Ivermectin?? Thanks in advance.

 

[dawg53]

Im posting this because my mom hasnt done anything about her hens messed up eye. From a little bit of searching Ive found it looks similar to some cases of eye worms. We live in washington state - so no roaches here. Her eye has been this way for at LEAST a month. I told her to take the hen to the vet but the next day she reported that it looked fine. Well, I came back a month or so later and it obviously is not fine. It seems watery and she holds it closed more often than the right eye. What treatment is best in curing eye worms if this is indeed what is causing her eye to look this way? Vet RX? Ivermectin?? Thanks in advance.

It's not eyeworm. She may have debris in her eye. You can liberally flush it with saline solution and put terramycin eye ointment in the eye. Otherwise she may have the onset of a respiratory disease.

 

[Eggcessive]

Welcome to BYC. From the picture, it looks like the third eyelid or nictitating membrane is partially covering the eye. Also it looks like the pupil is not completely round, but pictures can be deceiving. Could you possibly take one more picture of the eye showing the pupil without any light reflection? Certain birth defects like a coloboma can resemble this, but Mareks disease can cause an irregular pupil. Here is a thread about coloboma: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/856189/keyhole-cats-eye-pupil-ocular-mareks

Eyeworm is usually only found in tropical areas where the Surinam cockroach is found. Here is some info about it with the treatment in post #3.:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/546566/eye-worms-i-give-up

Life cycle of Oxyspirura worms

Oxyspirura worms have an indirect life cycle. Intermediate hosts are cockroaches (e.g. Pycnoscelus surinamensis, the Surinam cockroach, for Oxyspirura mansoni).
Adult female worms deposit eggs in their predilection sites around the eyes. These eggs are passed in the tears through the lacrimal duct to the amouth, are swallowed and shed with the feces. Cockroaches ingest these eggs that release the larvae after digestion. About 8 days later these larvae penetrate the gut's wall, get into the haemocoel (the body cavity of insects) and become encysted, mainly in the fat bodies but also in other tissues. Development to infective L3 larvae is completed about 50 days after ingestion by the cockroaches.
Birds become infected when eating contaminated cockroaches. After digestion infective larvae are released in the bird's gut. They migrate along the esophagus the pharynx and the mouth to the lacrimal duct and the eyes. This migration is very fast: 20 minutes after ingestion of the contaminated cockroaches worm larvae were already found in the lacrimal ducts. Once there, they complete development to adult worms and start producing eggs.
The prepatent period (time between infection and first eggs shed) is 4 to 5 weeks.

Harm caused by Oxyspirura worms, symptoms and diagnosis

Oxyspirura infections are not very frequent in poultry operations and usually the affect single animals, not whole flocks. However, in endemic regions with abundant intermediate hosts many birds in a flock can be affected.
Infections are often benign, but severe infections cannot be excluded. In these cases, the eyes are severely inflamed and watery, and the birds are restless and scratch the eyes continuously. The nictitating membrane may be swollen and moves constantly. The eyelids may be stuck together with a sticky material under the eyelids. Conjunctivitis, excessive lacrimation and photophobia have also reported as well. Infections with secondary bacteria can also occur. In severe cases the birds become blind and the eyes may be destroyed.
Diagnosis is based on clincial signs and detection of adult worms under the nictitating membrane or the conjunctival sac. Eggs can also be detected in the droppings after fecal examination.

 

[dawg53]

I noticed the pupil also Eggcessive. I wasn't sure if it was the camera glare or what. Might have Seminolewind or Nambroth take a look/see.

 

[Vegadoberman]

Wow yes actually looking closer I can see a clear 'tail" coming out from the pupil (at the bottom) into the iris and a 'tail' about the same of iris going into the pupil at about 3 o clock. So why would this condition cause the third eyelid to be covering the eye as it is? She, as far as I know, has not been scratching at her eye or making any indication of irritation - aside from closing her eye more than the other and some tearing. Thanks for the quick responses guys

 

[seminolewind]

I had a rooster who I noticed had an oval pupil. He didn't live. However, he and other chickens do have some of that pupil border distortion. But less than yours is showing.

I doubt it's eyeworm (or bubonic plague, LOL

). I would look for a simple and common reason first. I do think a tear (injury) is possible, or irritation from dirt. Did you check all your other chickens? Is this hen skinny? Does she eat? What's her poo look like? Is she laying eggs?

 

[Vegadoberman]

Shes just under laying age. She eats and poos fine. I know nothing about chicken illnesses and injuries (I'm actually a gecko person, not poultry person ). Aside from her eye though, shes very healthy in appearance and behavior.

I had just looked up images of chicken eye problems and a picture of a hen with her third eyelid covering a lot of her eye popped up that looked very similar to my mothers hens eye. It brought me to this site and it was decided by members it appeared to be eye worms. That was my only lead for eye worms. haha

 

[dawg53]

Shes just under laying age. She eats and poos fine. I know nothing about chicken illnesses and injuries (I'm actually a gecko person, not poultry person ). Aside from her eye though, shes very healthy in appearance and behavior.

I had just looked up images of chicken eye problems and a picture of a hen with her third eyelid covering a lot of her eye popped up that looked very similar to my mothers hens eye. It brought me to this site and it was decided by members it appeared to be eye worms. That was my only lead for eye worms. haha

It's not eyeworm like I mentioned. You can actually see eyeworm in the eye, see pics. Also your hen would continually be scratching her eye due to irritation by the worms. Scratching the eye would cause blindness.

 

[Eggcessive]

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Coloboma is fairly common. My 6 yr. grandson has one, and is perfectly healthy.

A coloboma is a defect in the iris of the eye. It can appear as a black notch of varying depth at the edge of the pupil, giving the pupil an irregular shape. Coloboma may be associated with hereditary conditions, trauma to the eye, or eye surgery. It can be found in herons, owls, and other birds, as well as in chickens. Here are some pictures: http://onthewingphotography.com/wings/2012/02/27/birds-with-blown-eyes/