Last Friday we had a chicken that had a swollen eye and wattles!! Not sure how that happened.
It was towards the end of the day that I found her, huddled by the coop. Once I knew something was wrong, I brought her inside, placing her in the tub that once had the chicks in it.
Her eye and wattles were swollen. Her chest slightly protruded as well. I sprayed her with veterycin spray, put electrolytes in the water.
Saturday she began to jerk and swing her head, also making gurgling noises. At one time she did ‘spit’ out mucus or saliva. Whatever you want to call it. Yuck.
She didn’t eat or drink anything Sunday. The whole time she was in the house she stood. I never once saw her lay down. I’m thinking her chest may have been really uncomfortable.
I ended up ordering Terramycin, an eye ointment, off of Amazon since Tractor Supply was out of stock. The ointment didn’t get to our house until Monday night.
We did take the chicken, Doris, to the vet Monday. The vet gave her a shot of antibiotics in the chest. It cost $58 for the shot and visit.
Afterwards, Jacob took the chicken shopping 😀 .
In the box she did start drinking. After receiving the shot, she did seem to start getting better! Amazing how fast the antibiotics were beginning to work. That night her wattles were already decreasing in size. She was eating and drinking, laying down. Since the Terramycin had been delivered, we smeared the ointment on her eye.
The next day she moved around in the tub quite often, clucking, and seemed more aware.
Today, Wednesday, I put her outside to enjoy the beautiful, sunny day! We will continue to give water with electrolytes and smear the ointment on her eye until she goes back out permanently.
Check out our video below to see how she’s doing now!
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