White eye. Swollen looks infected but hen acts as normal as can be. Help?

[CailetTempest]

My momma hen is a Barred rock. We got her from an auction March 4th, 2012. Along with other chickens. A few days after bringing her home we noticed her eyes were swollen and a clear liquid was draining from them. Well she seemed to be fine otherwise. We went to a local feed store and asked for advice They told us Vetericyn a couple times a day should help. No sneezing or coughing at all either. She is active and up and moving around except it appears she can't see very well. At first it was just swollen eyes and clear drainage. Now her one eye has a white almost like a thick cataract over the eye. She eats normal and everything else a chicken is supposed to do. This is first time since I was a kid that I have had chickens. The other chickens in the pen have no problems like hers or cough or sickness symptoms at all. Any ideas what to do? besides the vetericyn... Someone on these boards suggested that the meds we are using are no good for her at all so I really want to find what will work. I am afraid she will always be partially blind which is not a major problem as long as she is ok otherwise. Now she only has the white thing on her eye and no drainage at all. She was an adult when we got her so I am unsure how old she is...

Any suggestions?

This shows her bad eye. It's swollen but not weeping at all. She is named "momma" and is more of a pet than anything else for me.

 

[spoonranger]

Hi, I know this is an old post now but can I ask what happened to your hen in the end? One of mine has exactly the same thing: an awfully swollen eye and head - on one side only with the other side perfectly normal. The eye is now completely covered by a white swelling. She is acting normally, eating fine, with her only problem not being able to see out of the bad eye. It has not responded to antibiotics.

Did you find out what it was? Did she die?

I'd be grateful for any info if you ever get this message!

Thanks

 

[R.M. Hens]

I would like to know as well as I am going through the same thing with one my hens. She is not responding to any antibiotics. Still happy as can be though.

 

[spoonranger]

Hi, thought I'd let you know what's going on with my hen as the intial poster probably won't see this. I've been advised by a vet that it's almost certainly an abcess and I am doing twice-daily epsom salt poultices to encourage it to burst. 2 dessert spoons of salts in half a pint of warm water. Poultice with cotton wool for one minute three times, alternating with a one minute poultice of cold plain water. So six minutes in total.

It's a bit fiddly but I'll let you know if it works!

 

[soliloquy72]

I know this is an old thread but I just woke up to find my beloved rooster having a white eye!

How do you actually get a poultice on a chicken? My rooster is very tame and gentle, he's like a pet, but he won't let me actually touch him. I would have to try and do it while he's asleep.

I just moved 27 new chicks out to our barn and I am very concerned about keeping them healthy. We've never had sickness before. Of course, it had to happen just as we brought our new chicks out there.

Is it possible the chicks had something? They all seem very healthy and active, no symptoms.

 

[Heron's Nest Farm]

Hey everyone. This is my second time going through this. It's a worm in the eye. No joke. Last time it came out easily and I thought it was just an encapsulated infection. This time it wasn't coming out so easily, so I started searching the web.

I found this and I will be expressing the worm on my hen later today. Good luck folks!

Up until this point I have been using Bactrin ointment around the eye and a homeopathic sty wash to no avail. Happy to have found this video that explains what happened last time!