A. Inquiry
CPC. Zaentata – by email
I have chickens whose eyes are swollen and foamy, what are the causes and how to treat them? Please explain.
B. Answers
Thank you for the submitted question. Based on the information that you convey, we suspect that your chicken has a disease Infectious Laryngotracheitis (ILT). However, more complete information is still needed to be able to support the suspicion of the disease. Confirmation of such a diagnosis should be by conducting a more thorough examination of clinical symptoms, as well as surgical examination of the carcass.
Chickens affected by ILT show symptoms of difficulty breathing and sticking out their necks like choking because in their respiratory tract there is a cooling mass that can hinder the passage of air. Other symptoms that appear are watery eyes, chicken snoring and coughing. In the results of carcass Surgery found changes such as the presence of foamy exudate from the eye bags, mucus mixed with blood in the trachea, inflammation and persejuan in the larynx, as well as persejuan in the trachea.
The disease cannot be completely cured with antibiotic treatment, because there are no drugs that can cure diseases caused by viruses. Drugs containing antibiotics cannot kill the viruses that cause the disease. But when the disease has infected, the treatment actions that can be done include:
- Perform selection and isolation on affected chickens based on the severity of the disease so as not to infect healthy chickens. Immediately remove the dead chicken and bury it away from the cage area.
- Give vitamins to help speed healing by using Vita Stress or Fortevit.
- Can also be given herbal Respitoran to help overcome respiratory disorders due to ILT attacks or when the presence of bacterial infections (CRD and Coryza).
- To suppress the field virus in the cage, disinfect the cage and equipment using Antisep or Medisep.
- Improve biosecurity by limiting the traffic of people and cages from sick to healthy cages so that the infection does not spread to other flocks.
- Keep cage conditions away from excessive dust and ammonia as they can worsen respiratory symptoms. To reduce the smell of ammonia, use Ammotrol.
- In addition to the possibility due to ILT disease, watery eyes / appear foamy can also be caused by several things such as high ammonia levels, respiratory system diseases such as Chronic Respiratory Disease (CRD), Coryza, or it could be due to the reaction post vaccination. So it is necessary to explore further information and other clinical symptoms that appear to make it easier to determine the direction of diagnosis and appropriate treatment.
