URGENT Swollen foot and eye swollen shut

[Ivana M]

Hi everyone!
My grandpa got them recently from a neighbor who moved to a home. Said they are 2-3 years old. They came in quite a bad shape and have been quarantined from the start.

Her eye is swollen shut and filled with puss. We are washing it with saline and putting antibiotic drops but it looks no different.She smells bad but doesn't have a runny nose and still eats and drinks a little. Could it be coryza? I did try to remove it but I'm scared to damage the eye as I can't even tell where it is.

As for the other chicken, her foot is very swollen.She limps quite a lot but seems lively and eats very well. I did soak it in epsom salt and warm water and try to get it out but it is so hard. Really hard even after soaking for 30 minutes.

I live in rural Croatia and no vets take care of chickens near me and suggested putting them down.
Please help, any advice I'm thankful for.

 

[SmiYa0126]

@azygous @Eggcessive @Wyorp Rock please help!

 

[Eggcessive]

Is it hot there with mosquitoes around right now in Croatia? The scabs on the face could be fowl pox, a virus that mosquitoes spread, and lasts about a month. The swollen eye probably is from a respiratory disease or from a peck, or from something getting stuck into the eye. You need to wrap the chicken in a towel, and clean her eye with a little water (add 1/2 tsp to a cup of water and dissolve it.) Press out any pus around the eye and under the eyelids. Rinse it again and pat dry. If you have an antibiotic ointment or eye drop, put that in there twice a day after cleaning the eye.

The swollen foot is bumblefoot a bacterial infection that enters the body from a small cut. Soak the feet in warm soapy water for 10-15 minutes a day to soften scabs. Try to remove the scab and then squeeze out any pus inside the scab. This may take a couple of days for success. Put disinfectant on the wound, and apply a clean pad dressing wrapping the foot. What do you have there for disinfectant? Iodine, chlorhexidene, saline are good. Antibiotic ointment can be applied to the wound and a dressing applied. Here is a link to read and see pictures of the steps involved including the dressing:
https://the-chicken-chick.com/bumblefoot-causes-treatment-warning/

 

[Eggcessive]

Here are 2 good videos on removing pus from a chickens eye with infection:

 

[Eggcessive]

This is an older video where the bumblefoot is treated with surgery which I have done, but you may be able to treat it with just warm foot soaks and removing the scab without cutting. There is a good part at the end of applying the bandage:

 

[Ivana M]

Hi, thank you so much for your response!
Yeah, we had a heat wave recently and lot of mosquitoes around. The others could have pecked her too, she was the smallest and they didn't seem to like her.

Question about pressing puss out, can I hurt her actual eye? I saw the videos and even tried to press a bit yesterday but I freaked out, thought I would hurt her more.

I have saline and could buy chlorhexidene today.Will continue to soak it and hopefully avoid surgery. What do you think of this way of treating it, could it work? I have ihtamol at home.

Once again, thank you so much for such a thorough response, I really appreciate it. I know so little but it breaks my heart to see them like this.

 

[Eggcessive]

Be gentle with her eye trying to get pus out, but it needs to come out if there is any. Q Tips or other tools may help. The tissue around the eye could just be swollen, but if pus or infection is in the sinus cavity or in the roof of her beak if you look there, it should be removed if possible. Here in the US we use ointments, such as Terramycin/oxytetracycline, Erythromycin, and Neosporin in the eye twice a day.

 

[Ivana M]

Will do! Have a nice day and thank you so much for the help!

 

[Ivana M]

@Eggcessive I pushed out a huge ball of puss like on a video, washed it with saline, tried to get the rest of it out but couldn't. It's very firmly stuck and she gets defensive when I try. Is it possible that eye is rotten and this is all that's left?
I'm washing it every 2 hours with saline and she perked up a lot, eats better and walks around but I cant get it out.
Her poop is greenish.

 

[Eggcessive]

Good job. Yes, it is possible that after time the infection has taken her eye, but you can wait and try again to flush out infection and look around in there. Tweezers or other tools may be used on getting the pus out if she is kept still by someone holding her.