Rooster was pecked and now his eyes are matted shut.

mick&cori · Nov 28, 2013

My rooster got pecked within an inch of his life. Both of his eyes are closed, matted shut with blood, and swollen. His whole head and comb is a bloody mess too. I have him separated, sprayed him with Blu Kote, helped him eat and drink because he can't see. It's also cold here in Indiana, and since he doesn't have anyone to roost with, I also have a heat lamp in there for him.

I'm anxious to know if he has been blinded, or if they're just swollen and matted shut and will heal. Is there anything I can put on his eyelids to help the healing process? Anything that'll help get them open? Any advice on what else I should do? Maybe put a thick coat of Vaseline over his eyes to keep them moist so he'll be able to open them??

The ones that pecked him are going to the butcher in two weeks. He'll be separated for at least that amount of time. Then, when he goes back, there will only be six hens all for him. So, hopefully it'll not happen again.

Thank you in advance for your help.

Eggcessive · Nov 28, 2013

I would clean his eyes with a warm wet compresses while you are holding him. This will hopefully get the dried blood off. Then put Neosporin ointment inhis eyes once or twice daily. His eyes may be okay after the swelling goes down. Many of us have sworn that a chicken has lost an eye only to have it reappear a weeklater. Good luck.

mick&cori · Nov 29, 2013

Eggcessive said:
I would clean his eyes with a warm wet compresses while you are holding him. This will hopefully get the dried blood off. Then put Neosporin ointment inhis eyes once or twice daily. His eyes may be okay after the swelling goes down. Many of us have sworn that a chicken has lost an eye only to have it reappear a weeklater. Good luck.

I tried the warm compress and that didn't work. I put a thick coat of antibiotic cream over his eyes. I think he's worked one small hole in the slit of his eye that he can partially see, or at least see shadows.

Thank you much. He's my baby and I hate it when they get hurt and suffer, even for a few days. I'll keep you updated.

Dee Dee 2 · Nov 29, 2013

NO ~ NO ~ NO I am just passing on what my eye Dr. told me. POLYSPORIN YES ~ NEASPORIN NO. Polysporin is safe even for human eyes I use if for all my animal that my have an eys problem..Just remember not to touch the end of the tube to point of applicaation. If you do clean it off right away. Good luck with your roo. Hope he is OK and can see. I had one that lost an eye. His name became One Eyed Jack.

mick&cori · Nov 29, 2013

Ok. I haven't put anything on the eyes yet except Vaseline, just to give them some moisture. Where can you get polysporin? I've never heard of it before.

I like the name One Eye'd Jack! This rooster's name is Remington. We call him Remi for short. A few of my animals have guns and ammo names. I have 2 Pekin ducks named Smith & Wesson. I have another rooster named Ruger. I have two hens that are named Win and Chester. Win we call Winnie and we call Chester Hester so it sounds more girlie. Haha!!

Thanks again for your help. I do appreciate it.

Eggcessive · Nov 29, 2013

Dee Dee 2 said:
NO ~ NO ~ NO I am just passing on what my eye Dr. told me. POLYSPORIN YES ~ NEASPORIN NO. Polysporin is safe even for human eyes I use if for all my animal that my have an eys problem..Just remember not to touch the end of the tube to point of applicaation. If you do clean it off right away. Good luck with your roo. Hope he is OK and can see. I had one that lost an eye. His name became One Eyed Jack.

I have no idea why your vet told you this. The only difference in the 2 ointments is Neosporin has neomycin in it. Both Polysporin and Neosprin have bacitracin and polymixinB in them. They prescribe it for people every day, and BYCers use it all of the time in their chicken's eyes. There may be people will an allergy to any one of the ingredients, but most chickens are going to be. I would use antibiotic ointment rather than vaseline to prevent infection.

mick&cori · Nov 30, 2013

Well, Remi has one eye open, but the other eye has pus around the outer eyelid. He still hasn't opened that one, but at least he won't be blind.

I'm willing to try some cream to help with the infection. So, I can use neosporen? Just as long as it isn't the kind with pain killer, right?

ivan3 · Nov 30, 2013

Do you have any plain saline eye drops? If not, place one teaspoon of plain table salt into 2 cups of water and bring to a boil, remove from heat and place a lid on it and let it cool down. You can use a sterile pad to soak up the solution and irrigate the area with the saline before applying the ointment (eyedropper/syringe will work as well). Use a sterile cotton swab to place a thin coating of ointment to affected area of lids. The plain neosporin (dermal preparation) is of a `heavier' consistency than the eye ointments with the same med(s).

We've had some pretty beat up turkey eyes/orbits and none are blind, yet (just takes a while to heal, and when scabbing is heavy (and it's been two weeks or so after scabbing - we use warm wet soaks and plenty of normal saline drops to soften up scabs and gently use thumb and forefinger to pull lids slightly apart - open fully over the next two-three days without assistance).

KaitlynnM · Aug 28, 2015

I have two young chicks about 6 weeks old. One has a slight watery eye and the other one has both eyes completely shut now. Can I apply Vaseline untill I find out the cause?

Eggcessive · Aug 28, 2015

KaitlynnM said:
I have two young chicks about 6 weeks old. One has a slight watery eye and the other one has both eyes completely shut now. Can I apply Vaseline untill I find out the cause?

Your chicks may be dealing with respiratory disease such as MG (if they weren't pecked around the eyes.) MG can show up in young chicks after about 3-4 weeks old, and may be from the hatching egg or from a carrier chicken that they were exposed to. I would read this link about respiratory diseases and another about MG to decide what to do:
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ps044
http://umaine.edu/livestock/poultry/mycoplasma-gallisepticum-faq/

Rooster was pecked and now his eyes are matted shut.

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