Rooster with an eye infection

[AgroUrica]

Saw him the other day with one eye shut. Isolated the bird and have been tending to him twice daily. He usually has a small amount of pus built up which we remove with a cotton swab. I've tried some eye drops that are used to treat infections in human eyes and am also giving him some antibiotics. So far he's not getting better, though he's not getting worse either from what it appears.

The bird is otherwise healthy, eating, and wants to be with the hens.

Any advice or suggestions on anything else I might try?

 

[ChickNanny13]

What kind of antibiotic are you giving?
Is it just his eyes or is he sneezing?

Terramycin - eye antibiotic

@dawg53 @Eggcessive @micstrachan @casportpony
Thank you in advance for your advice

 

[micstrachan]

Can you post photos? A warm, damp compress (cotton ball?) might feel nice for him. Can you get antibiotic eye ointment? No other respiratory symptoms? If not, perhaps his eye got scratched. Sorry not to be of more help at this time.

 

[AgroUrica]

Sorry for not getting back to you guys sooner on this one.

First let me say that where I live, antibiotics are hard to come by. Yes, we gave the rooster some general antibiotics for a few days and he improved. Before his eye was swollen and sometimes closed, but eventually opened, but only to a point.

As you all likely know since you're bird people, a bird has an upper and lower eyelid like most animals and a third that crosses the eye vertically from front to back. That membrane seemed to remain about half-way across the eye which I'm sure was affecting his vision in that eye.

One day a young man who had worked for me for a few years came by and I asked for his help. He's raised fighting cocks for years and seems to be a pretty good medic.....guess you'd have to be raising fighting cocks. LOL

Anyway, he looked at the bird and commented that he'd obviously had a really bad cold and that as a result, his eye had become infected. Then, while I was holding the rooster, he began using his thumb and applying pressure at the base of the bird's eye closest to his beak. I protested for fear he'd harm the bird's eye but he continued. Within a few moments out came a pale yellow mass about half the size of a sweet pea. I was amazed, but that wasn't the end of it.

He looked at both the bird's eyes from the sides and then straight on and started applying pressure once again to the same eye. This time, out came another mass, but this one about the size of a sweet pea and the color of an egg's yolk, bright yellow.

He told me that leaving those masses in there for a few more days and the bird might have lost sight in that eye. Within two days the bird's eye was completely normal and he's back to doing what roosters do.

The same young man told me he's had birds with similar masses that were impossible to remove by hand and that he literally had to remove by cutting open the skin near the top of the eye socket and pulling them out. The bird's then completely recover.

 

[ChickNanny13]

Thank you for the update, not often we get them. Glad to know your guy is doing alot better. I've seen a video of it being done, removal of the "pus" from the eye/sinus. You all have a Merry Christmas