3 week old chick with closed eyes

[duckducksnooze]

Hello again,

We have a maran who's around 3-4 weeks old. For about the last 5-6 days she's been keeping both eyes closed the majority of the time. It first started with the right eye being closed and now it's generally both eyes that are kept closed. They don't look swollen and she can open them. When we take a closer look there doesn't seem to be anything noticeably wrong. There's no discharge, she's still walking around eating and drinking, etc. We're in Canada so we can't get terramycin easily and all the vets in the area aren't taking new patients. We've been using polysporin (unmedicated) on her eye a couple times a day for the last few days and it doesn't seem to be helping her. We've also tried flushing her eyes as well. She'll rub her eyes against her wings quite frequently as well.

We're at a loss of what to do. She doesn't seem to have any other symptoms. There was a bout of sneezing that went around 2 weeks ago in the brooder but that's since stopped. We've ordered some terramycin online and it's not getting here for another week or so.

Any suggestions or opinions would be appreciated!

 

[Eggcessive]

Where did the chick come from? How is the air circulation and quality where the chick is located? Make sure all bedding is clean and dry, avoid water spills by raising waterers on a brick to shoulder height. The Polysporin has bacitracin and poly mix in B so that will help until the Terramycin gets there. Look for any bubbles or foam in the eye, or yellow crust around the eye. That can be a sign of MG, a chronic respiratory disease. Eyes are very sensitive to dust, mold in the bedding, and something irritating getting into the eyes. Has anyone been pecking her eyes?

 

[LaFleche]

Hello and welcome to BYC!

How do the droppings of your chick look?

What exactly are you feeding?

Did you already check for lice and poultry mites? And check in the coop as well at night rubbing your finger alog the underside of the roost. In case you keep it/them in the house still: how many chicks are they and how big is the brooder?

 

[duckducksnooze]

Where did the chick come from? How is the air circulation and quality where the chick is located? Make sure all bedding is clean and dry, avoid water spills by raising waterers on a brick to shoulder height. The Polysporin has bacitracin and poly mix in B so that will help until the Terramycin gets there. Look for any bubbles or foam in the eye, or yellow crust around the eye. That can be a sign of MG, a chronic respiratory disease. Eyes are very sensitive to dust, mold in the bedding, and something irritating getting into the eyes. Has anyone been pecking her eyes?

They came from a hatchery in the area.
Air circulation should be fine. The brooder is in a large room and it's placed in the center.
Haven't seen any eye bubbles yet or crust.
We also haven't seen anyone peck her eyes. However it may be due to staring at them more, but I'm finding two of the maran's (we have 4 + 7 others of different breeds) are starting to favour one of their eyes as well (rubbing it against their feathers, scratching behind them, etc).

 

[duckducksnooze]

Hello and welcome to BYC!

How do the droppings of your chick look?

What exactly are you feeding?

Did you already check for lice and poultry mites? And check in the coop as well at night rubbing your finger alog the underside of the roost. In case you keep it/them in the house still: how many chicks are they and how big is the brooder?

All the droppings seem to be fine. Haven't noticed anything out of the ordinary.

They're still on the chick crumble medicated feed.

We haven't specifically done any checks for lice or mites. My wife holds them multiple times a day and hasn't mentioned anything.

The brooder is about 4 feet x 3 feet and 2.5 feet tall. There are 11 in there.

 

[Eggcessive]

Don’t worry about mites or lice if they are on unused bedding inside your house, and came from a hatchery.

 

[LaFleche]

The brooder is about 4 feet x 3 feet and 2.5 feet tall. There are 11 in there.

I would consider this much too small for 11 chicks of 4 weeks of age.
Do they still have a heat lamp running?

As indoor chicks there should not be any mites nor lice present.

 

[duckducksnooze]

I would consider this much too small for 11 chicks of 4 weeks of age.
Do they still have a heat lamp runni g?

Yes there is still a heat lamp. It keeps them around 26 degrees celcius.