Swollen eye and deformed looking head/neck_need advice

[Cheryl W]

Greetings Everyone,

I need some advice about 2 of my chickens. They are about 4-1/2 months old. I live near Emory, Texas. One lavender orphington seems to have a closed, swollen left eye (Pic 2) and the other one looks like the head/neck and even right side upper body are all out of alignment. This one stands away from the others and usually has its mouth open making strange noises. (Pic 1). I've only had these chickens for 2 weeks, and I know next to nothing about chickens. Any help/advice is much appreciated. Thank you.

 

[Eggcessive]

You may want to get some better pictures. It sounds like the swollen eye could be from a respiratory sinus disease, or an infected eye or peck wound. Do you see any bubbles, foam, or pus in the eye, and any crusty drainage from the eye or nostrils? The one with the neck out of alignment might be a case of wry neck (torticolis, crook neck.) That can be from a head injury, a vitamin E or B1 thiamine deficiency, heredity, and can also be a sign of certain diseases, such as Mareks. Do you have other chickens, and did you get them all at the same time? I would start some vitamins that include thiamine and give 400 IU of vitamin E daily, with a few bites of scrambled egg for selenium, the usual treatment for wry neck.

 

[Cheryl W]

I don't see any bubbles, foam, pus or crusty drainage. I got all the chickens at the same time from the same place. All heads/necks were normal 2 weeks ago when I got them. Hopefully these new pics are better, if not I'll get my hubby to help me next time. I do appreciate your help.

 

[Eggcessive]

Still hard to tell whether the one has wry neck or some sort of bone deformity of the spine. Did you see if there was drainage in the eye? I would probably try to locate some Tylan 50 or 200 from your feed store, and some syringes with needles. The tylan antibiotic can be given orally to your chickens 3 times a day. If you get one of those, I can give dosages if you know the weight in pounds. There also is Tylan powder for the water that you may get online. That can treat MG, a common respiratory disease in chickens. Here is some reading about MG:
https://extension.umd.edu/sites/ext... Mycoplasma gallisepticum (MG) Infecti....pdf

Here is an article on bone deformities in the spine and breastbone:
https://www.merckvetmanual.com/poul.../noninfectious-skeletal-disorders-in-broilers

 

[Cheryl W]

The chicken with the eye problem does act like he’s coughing or maybe sneezing but I haven’t captured him yet so I’m not sure about drainage. It looks like maybe it’s just swollen shut but that seems weird. I can’t see the eye at all. It does eat/drink. I gave the wry neck one some tuna and water with some Powerade in it. I’m going to the tractor supply store tomorrow. We don’t really have one near. I’ll see if I can get the meds but I have no way to weigh the chickens. Not even a scale in the cabin. The chicken is drinking the water/Powerade mix so that’s good. He hasn’t eaten the tuna yet. He feels like he doesn’t weigh anything. I caught him and put him in a dog pin inside the chicken run so the others can’t peck him. Thanks again for your help. I’ll read about the respiratory thing now.