# Hen with a swollen eye. Help.



## Tawnschickens (May 13, 2017)

My poor hen petri is my problem bird (she's always getting hurt) but today when I went out to check on the chickens I noticed she's got a very swollen eye that was slightly crusted shut. I picked off the crusty and I can see her eye ball and it doesn't look like she's got anything stuck in there. I'm not sure if any of the others pecked it or if she poked it, she is very accident prone, but it looks a bit painful. I've wipe it pretty well and went to the feed store here in town and got some terramycin and gooped that in it... I'm hopeomg that'll help. I was wondering if anyone might know what exactly is going on with her. And if you all might think it'll go away?? 
Additional info: 
I have 7 hens and one rooster 
They get locked in the coop at night and it's left open through the day


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## Mother Hen (May 13, 2017)

Seeing how you don't know if it's contagious I would keep a close eye on the others and keep her separated from them for a few days.


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## Wyorp Rock (May 13, 2017)

Tawnschickens said:


> View attachment 33842 View attachment 33843 View attachment 33844 View attachment 33845 My poor hen petri is my problem bird (*she's always getting hurt*) but today when I went out to check on the chickens I noticed she's got a very swollen eye that was slightly crusted shut. *I picked off the crusty* and I can see her eye ball and it doesn't look like she's got anything stuck in there. *I'm not sure if any of the others pecked it or if she poked it, she is very accident prone*, but it looks a bit painful. I've wipe it pretty well and went to the feed store here in town and got some terramycin and gooped that in it... I'm hopeomg that'll help. I was wondering if anyone might know what exactly is going on with her. And if you all might think it'll go away??
> Additional info:
> I have 7 hens and one rooster
> They get locked in the coop at night and it's left open through the day



Hi @Tawnschickens 

Have you added any new chickens to your flock within the last 30days?
Can you tell us a little more about Petri being accident prone?
Is she lethargic?

She looks like she has some pecking and/or mating wounds on her comb and face, most likely she has been pecked in the eye.  Gently flush the eye with some saline to remove any debris,  apply your Terramycin eye ointment (good stuff).  You may need to flush the eye at least once a day - apply ointment 2x day if you can.

Separating her IF you think the swelling is from a respiratory illness would be a good idea.  If injury/wound, then let her be with the flock or if she is being picked on, then you may want to consider caging/kenneling her inside the run to let her rest and heal.  Offer her some poultry vitamins in her water (Poultry Nutri-Drench, Rooster Booster Poultry Cell, etc.) and extra protein like chopped egg or tuna in addition to her normal feed to give her a boost.

Keep us posted.


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## Tawnschickens (May 14, 2017)

Thank you for the advice! Yes petri has a history of being picked on, originally I kept my birds cooped up for the most part of the day following a hawk incident and she had gotten injured during mating, this caused my other girls it pick on her as well, I had her separated for months the after that to heal up (she had a little skin flap that's healed weird so she's got permanent "bed head") however after I began to just let them free range all day all that pretty much stoped, I do believe it's injury related and not respiratory. She is still
Very active, goes around scraching all day and runs up
For feeding times (she loves or
Eat out of my hand) I checked her this morning still swollen but I'll
Go get a saline wash and flush it real well and get that ointment in there twice a day! Thanks again!!!


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## Acquamarina (May 14, 2017)

Best wishes, I hope she gets well soon


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## Tawnschickens (May 16, 2017)

Just a quick little update… Petri seems to be getting better! she walks around with her eye open most of the day, The swelling has gone down a lot!  kind of a hassle to wrangle her up every day but after a good flush and a reapplication of meds I give her a plate full of scrambled eggs!!  she appreciates it thanks for all the advice on here it really helped I can't wait for her to be back to 100%  here's some
Pics of her progress! (Yes she's a ratty looking
Thing, but what can I say the girl has had a rough life, love her tho)


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## Wyorp Rock (May 16, 2017)

I'm glad to hear she is doing better!
Thanks for the update


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