Eye/sinus infection in EE meat roo

[Sunny Side Up]

Please help me decide what to do for this 6-month-old EE rooster. He's part of a batch of surplus cockerels destined for the table. I pen them up at night and let them free-range all day. We've had a lot of rain here recently, and the extreme dampness seems to encourage respiratory infections in my chickens.

I've heard a few sneezes from some of these guys, but no wheezing. Only one has a goopy eye, but his breathing sounds fine. I have him confined to his own cage now.

Should I just treat his eye with eye ointment, or give him some Tylan-50? Or just leave him to shed it by himself? Should I try some other home remedies like garlic in his water? I don't want to put a lot of Rx in a bird we're going to eat. Could I process him with a goopy eye? Would that affect his meat, or just his head?

Thank you for your help with this.

 

[oldorchardfarms]

i would not trust not treating him and having some kind of infection in your meat, I would put him on antibiotics for a week quick the long you wait the harder it will be to get rid of. then after you have him off wait 15 days he should be clean. when ever i see the sighs of infection i treat asap because i had one of my rooster with an eye infection and did not catch it soon enough and it took over a month to treat.

 

[Sunny Side Up]

Thank you, that is about what I was thinking, I appreciate the confirmation. I don't plan to process again for a few weeks anyway, and even then will only do half of the remainders, doing the other half a few weeks after that. So he should be free of infection and antibiotics by then. Thank you!

 

[oldorchardfarms]

Your welcome!