Rooster eye red and swollen, puss, crust, black spots on comb

[Rancho Sundown]

Hello there, my family and I have had chickens for many years. In the past year, as our flock has increased, a few of our chickens have gotten pox. They all got better on their own. About 10 days ago our rooster’s eye began to puss. Now it has swollen shut and is crusty and still pussing. He has a few black spots on his comb, just like the hens when they had pox. I read that pox is transmitted by mosquitoes and it has been a very wet winter (well, wet for here in San Diego.) But is this maybe more than just pox? We really love our rooster and so do his ladies!

 

[Eggcessive]

I would soak his eye with a warm wet compress until the cust softens, and you can get his eye open. Then rinse his eye with saline, and remove any pus from inside the eye with QTips or tissue. I would then apply some antibiotic ointment to the eye—terramcyin from the feed store, or plain neosporin/triple antibiotic ointment twice a day after cleaning the eye. Try not to disturb any of his scabs, since that can spread the pox.

The swelling looks more like mycoplasma (MG) or another bacterial infection which can be a secondary infection to the pox.

 

[Rancho Sundown]

I would soak his eye with a warm wet compress until the cust softens, and you can get his eye open. Then rinse his eye with saline, and remove any pus from inside the eye with QTips or tissue. I would then apply some antibiotic ointment to the eye—terramcyin from the feed store, or plain neosporin/triple antibiotic ointment twice a day after cleaning the eye. Try not to disturb any of his scabs, since that can spread the pox.

The swelling looks more like mycoplasma (MG) or another bacterial infection which can be a secondary infection to the pox.

Eggcessive,
Thank you so very much for your response! We did exactly as you said and our guy is so much better! We used terramycin from our local feed store.

 

[Eggcessive]

That is great to hear. Thank you for the update.