Rooster appears blind after fight can this be temporary?

[Kris5902]

His neck is also somewhat twisted down, and he doesn’t want to or seem able To put his head back to drink. He is very much out of his comfort zone here. He has been on his own since he hit maturity, and doesn’t have any actual fighting experience with another rooster, so he got beat up quite badly

I am working on getting the video up, rural internet woes… but I’m just going to take him back out to his run with his girls. He will be more comfortable on his own turf.

 

[1cock2hens]

Not butthurtt

he is definitely visually impaired now. I have a lot of Roosters, just processed the 12 less lucky ones from this year
View attachment 3333535
Please excuse the mess, I’ve had my hands full building our house, and taking care of all the livestock. This is his general posture.

I get it, I built my own house while establishing a farm and taking care of 2 bsbies. I've had roosters with busted up faces and bloody eyes after severe beatings and they are back to 100% in a week. I don't know your rooster and haven't handled it so I obviously don't see what you see but I've literally had 100s of roosters and have never had one beat blind. They often will stand with there head down acting completely out of it until they just snap out of it. Chickens fight naturally and can generally take a beating pretty well

 

[Kris5902]

I get it, I built my own house while establishing a farm and taking care of 2 bsbies. I've had roosters with busted up faces and bloody eyes after severe beatings and they are back to 100% in a week. I don't know your rooster and haven't handled it so I obviously don't see what you see but I've literally had 100s of roosters and have never had one beat blind. They often will stand with there head down acting completely out of it until they just snap out of it. Chickens fight naturally and can generally take a beating pretty well

I’ve got plenty of boys and although this rarely get serious with them, I’ve seen more than enough really bad looking injuries. My Leghorn Cross boy, also a Top Rooster in my free range flock has had some pretty ugly looking fights. Long story short I’m not particularly unaware of Rooster issues and physical injuries. I’m also somewhat familiar with vision loss, as I have had two roosters partially blind, my current Top Boy is partially blind (in his right eye) in fact. Also have had to deal with two blind from birth Calves. But as Hawks eyes aren’t missing or cloudy… that gets a little outside my knowledge base.

 

[theoldchick]

This guy is in a lot of pain and needs something for pain management. I've used valium and metacam on roosters like this and they have responded very well. Some vets will use manitol if brain swelling is suspected. These medications are rx only by a veterinarian. You can try 81 mg aspirin twice daily and see if this helps with his pain. Also a soak in warm water may help-but do this only if it does not stress him and there are no gaping wounds hidden under those feathers. Otherwise he may enjoy a heat lamp to bask under to help ease those tight muscles. I hope he improves!

 

[coach723]

His pupils do look a bit large for the light he's in, but pictures don't always tell the whole story. If they aren't reacting to light, that's concerning. The neck could be from injury, could be a form of wry neck, the vitamins that @Wyorp Rock recommended might help with that. If it's from an injury from the fighting then it may take some time to see improvement if he's going to get any. A head injury is certainly a possible cause. Not knowing exactly what happened in the fight, it's hard to know. I've had very bloodied birds, broken beaks and spurs, but nothing that caused permanent damage. I'm also very careful with my boys, any signs of any fighting or aggression outside the norms of pecking order, they get separated. Anytime you have more than one boy there is always the possibility that something can happen. Even with separate pens they can be determined, and if they manage to get loose, wreak havoc. I've got 3 adults and one juvenile living together at the moment, with hens, with no big problems, but it very much depends on the birds.

 

[Kris5902]

When I put him back in with his own ladies, he took a few halting and very unsteady steps towards the coop/back corner of his run and I gave them all a solid handful of scratch right in front of him, and they went for it and he joined in. I’m pretty sure he is locating the food based off of the girls pecking. I wouldn’t normally feed on the ground in this weather, but it’s better than nothing. I did notice his pupils, although still dialated, reacted to the light changes, even if he didn’t actually see/track my finger, which you can see in the video… that is still uploading. It’s been almost an hour of fighting with the Internet, so I’m going to go do a little roofing and hope I get better signal for the upload down there. I also heard a gurgling from his abdomen after he drank (with assistance)

 

[Kris5902]

His pupils do look a bit large for the light he's in, but pictures don't always tell the whole story. If they aren't reacting to light, that's concerning. The neck could be from injury, could be a form of wry neck, the vitamins that @Wyorp Rock recommended might help with that. If it's from an injury from the fighting then it may take some time to see improvement if he's going to get any. A head injury is certainly a possible cause. Not knowing exactly what happened in the fight, it's hard to know. I've had very bloodied birds, broken beaks and spurs, but nothing that caused permanent damage. I'm also very careful with my boys, any signs of any fighting or aggression outside the norms of pecking order, they get separated. Anytime you have more than one boy there is always the possibility that something can happen. Even with separate pens they can be determined, and if they manage to get loose, wreak havoc. I've got 3 adults and one juvenile living together at the moment, with hens, with no big problems, but it very much depends on the birds.

Yes, my main free range flock has Six usually peaceful boys. There’s posturing, the occasional little standoff, but very rarely actual significant fights, although there have been a few. I only keep the boys that settle in, find a place in the overall flock, and don’t have big attitude issues. Hawk and one other Mature Rooster currently have their own pens, and he’s not been with other boys since he started to hit maturity. So it was essentially like putting two completely strange boys together, and a total screw up on my part in leaving the yard to take the phone call thinking that Sausage was secured enough in his own area. (Sausage was going to go in and become sausages, until several hens decided he wasn’t half bad after all… and now I am regretting that decision). The comb and broken spur honestly don’t worry me, those injuries are very minor. It’s the vision, and potential for an internal injury. I have a B vitamin on hand and gave him that this morning, in addition to nutridrench, water, and eggyolk.

Edit to add: the neck position and posture is completely new post fight, he hasn’t had any issues with wry neck previously.

 

[Poultrybonkers]

it could be a concusion from being hit with spurs or a broken neck from being attacked and spurred as they can have a bad kick when fighting.

 

[theoldchick]

He's able to pin his pupils which makes me think he can see. I think his neck hurts so badly that he's not moving-ever get a crick in your neck or a spasm in your back? Try the low dose aspirin twice daily and see how he does. So sorry you have been mocked.

 

[Kris5902]

He's able to pin his pupils which makes me think he can see. I think his neck hurts so badly that he's not moving-ever get a crick in your neck or a spasm in your back? Try the low dose aspirin twice daily and see how he does. So sorry you have been mocked.

They are now trolling my YouTube