Swollen eyes following ringworm

[Bluebellhoney]

My rooster Sev has been suffering from ringworm for about a month. I separated him from the girls and initially treated it with daktarin as the vet told me, but it didn’t really fully clear up, and it started to travel from his comb to his right eyelid. He isn’t the most compliant boy, and I got some of the cream in his eye when trying to treat it.
He has a bald patch on one wing ‘elbow’ that I have also been putting the cream on.
His eye then got worse and closed up. I changed to a newer athletes foot treatment and this seemed to really get the ringworm under control, although still no sign of feather regrowth on his wing. I also started cleaning his eye with soothing dog eye drops (again on advice from vet) I have been doing this and the cream once daily for 20 days now.
Yesterday, it started to get worse again. and today the left eye is also swollen. His comb looks lumpy, and he has a couple of lumps on his right ear lobe.
I also noticed he was waving his head a little yesterday.
I just don’t know what to do next. He doesn’t seem to have any respiratory symptoms, and is eating and drinking very happily- other than the odd head shake he doesn’t seem bothered.
He was such a friendly boy and is now terrified of me and won’t come anywhere near me. I have to wait until night time to treat him and it stresses him out so much.
I will put a photo on so you can see if I can get close enough to him.

 

[Bluebellhoney]

Here he is, you can see the lumps on his ear lobe in the last pic. I can’t get close enough to show the bald elbow properly, but there’s a glimpse in the 2nd pic

 

[Wyorp Rock]

My rooster Sev has been suffering from ringworm for about a month. I separated him from the girls and initially treated it with daktarin as the vet told me, but it didn’t really fully clear up, and it started to travel from his comb to his right eyelid.

He has a bald patch on one wing ‘elbow’ that I have also been putting the cream on.

His eye then got worse and closed up. I changed to a newer athletes foot treatment and this seemed to really get the ringworm under control, although still no sign of feather regrowth on his wing. I also started cleaning his eye with soothing dog eye drops (again on advice from vet) I have been doing this and the cream once daily for 20 days now.
Yesterday, it started to get worse again. and today the left eye is also swollen. His comb looks lumpy, and he has a couple of lumps on his right ear lobe.
I also noticed he was waving his head a little yesterday.

Has he had any respiratory symptoms?
I'm assuming you are in AU? I don't see it in your profile, but the products you mention leads me to believe that.
I would ask the vet if they have an ointment like Terramycin or similar to put in his eyes to see if that helps.

The bumps on the earlobe likely are age and breed related.
http://www.aviculture-europe.nl/nummers/09e03a06.pdf

 

[Bluebellhoney]

Hi, yes I’m in Australia.
He doesn’t have any other symptoms, his breathing sounds fine, crop clear each morning, no nasty smells, poop normal. I will ask for the terramycin, thanks- they aren’t a chicken vet and are a bit surprised at my persistence with him I think!
Good to know that the lumps might be normal. Do you think the feather loss is due to the ringworm?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Unlikely the feather loss is due to ringworm (Favus). I see new feathers coming in. Watch to see if he's picking at that area, he may have a pin feather bothering him there or possibly a hen is picking at it. I have never used it, but folks report pine tar works well as a deterrent for picking so you could try that.
Have you checked him over well for lice and mites?
Not sure what you are feeding, but he may also benefit from a little extra protein like egg, fish or meat.
I hope your vet is able to help you out.

 

[Folly's place]

Could he be rubbing his face in the ointment? Allergic to it? How about giving him a bath to clean everything off, rinsing his eyes with warm water, and see how he does. Maybe eye ointment, and/ or have the vet check for corneal injury.
Mary

 

[Bluebellhoney]

Unlikely the feather loss is due to ringworm (Favus). I see new feathers coming in. Watch to see if he's picking at that area, he may have a pin feather bothering him there or possibly a hen is picking at it. I have never used it, but folks report pine tar works well as a deterrent for picking so you could try that.
Have you checked him over well for lice and mites?
Not sure what you are feeding, but he may also benefit from a little extra protein like egg, fish or meat.
I hope your vet is able to help you out.

I feed a complete layers mash, but they also get treats each day such as yoghurt or cottage cheese, mealworms, chopped, cooked veggies, porridge, pasta (a favourite), only occasionally scrambled eggs so I will increase that.
Do you know if it’s possible that the ringworm could have got in his eye? The vet seemed to think it would clear up easily, but his comb still looks different than it did before he had it.

 

[Bluebellhoney]

Could he be rubbing his face in the ointment? Allergic to it? How about giving him a bath to clean everything off, rinsing his eyes with warm water, and see how he does. Maybe eye ointment, and/ or have the vet check for corneal injury.
Mary

I have been wondering about giving him a bath. He is a very big boy and quite stressy now he has had all this trouble. He used to love a cuddle but he just panics now. I have been washing his right eye every night since it started looking off with sterile water and then putting the soothing drops in. It was completely closed initially and there was a little plug of yellow gunk that came out, so it has improved a bit, and there has been no pus since. However now both eyes are swollen.
It is possible that the ointment treating the ringworm is the cause, yes- I think I will stop applying it for now and get the terramycin, if that doesn’t help we will go back to the vet. My vet is lovely with the dogs but doesn’t do chickens, it’s a lot to pay to be told it’s probably not worth doing anything! He is happy and well in every other way (except the feathers) and he is such a lovely boy to the girls. He really protects them and makes sure they go to bed on time- it’s upsetting him so much when they are still out in the evening and he can’t get to them to herd them to bed! He keeps calling to them when he has a tasty treat too, poor boy.

 

[Bluebellhoney]

Could he be rubbing his face in the ointment? Allergic to it? How about giving him a bath to clean everything off, rinsing his eyes with warm water, and see how he does. Maybe eye ointment, and/ or have the vet check for corneal injury.
Mary

Thinking about it, it does look a bit allergy like. It would be great if that is all it is- do you know if I can use hydrocortisone cream on his comb? It’s still bumpy as you can see in the pics, and if it is an allergic reaction that would be what I would use for myself (I get hives)
Is it normal for it to stay bumpy after ringworm? My only experience of it is in horses when of course it looks quite different.

 

[Folly's place]

You are doing fine, and i wouldn't add a steroid cream. Glad he's doing better!
I've never seen ringworm on my birds, no experience here.
And giving him a bath probably won't be worth the stress, if he's improving without it...
Mary