Rooster with an injured eye

[JHH3]

Several days ago one of my jungle fowl roosters (Georgie) decided to challenge the status quo and got into a fight with one of his brothers in the rooster coop. He lost. For a few days he was drooping and I was worried he wouldn't make it but after a few aspirins and some rest he's back to eating, drinking and crowing.

However, he did have one major injury in the fight, his left eye area was injured. The day of the fight he was still peeking out of it and the eyeball appeared to be intact but since then it's remained closed. I haven't tried to mess with it too much but it concerns me because it's very swollen and appears to be stuck shut at this point. The area is not warm to the touch, don't think it's necessarily infected but the eye is at the very least scratched and gooped up due to the irritation.

As a cautionary measure I've given him a few doses of Duramycin subcutaneously, not sure it was necessary but didn't think it would hurt.

Asking for advice, should I mess with it or just leave it be. I don't have any medication for eye injuries, so I'd need recommendations on what to get if I need to treat it. While I'm hopeful that he'll regain use of the eye, I'm primarily concerned with keeping him alive and not in too much pain.

Other than the eye being closed and his being scuffed up he seems to be otherwise ok. He was quite indignant about being held down and photographed.

Pictures of the eye, the first picture shows how bad the swelling is.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Yes, I would mess with it.
Apply a warm compress to help loosen it, then slowly work it open. Use some saline to help flush it out/remove the gunk and pus.
You can use Original Neosporin or Terramycin eye ointment in the eye. I would flush the eye and apply the ointment at least once a day until it's looking better and not crusting up.
Rest of face, earlobes and wattles I would dab on a little Neosporin or vaseline - help keeps it moist and they don't scratch at the scabs so much.

He's eating/drinking ok though?
Is the eye intact? Once you get it open, if possible a photo would be good.

 

[MysteryChicken]

Several days ago one of my jungle fowl roosters (Georgie) decided to challenge the status quo and got into a fight with one of his brothers in the rooster coop. He lost. For a few days he was drooping and I was worried he wouldn't make it but after a few aspirins and some rest he's back to eating, drinking and crowing.

However, he did have one major injury in the fight, his left eye area was injured. The day of the fight he was still peeking out of it and the eyeball appeared to be intact but since then it's remained closed. I haven't tried to mess with it too much but it concerns me because it's very swollen and appears to be stuck shut at this point. The area is not warm to the touch, don't think it's necessarily infected but the eye is at the very least scratched and gooped up due to the irritation.

As a cautionary measure I've given him a few doses of Duramycin subcutaneously, not sure it was necessary but didn't think it would hurt.

Asking for advice, should I mess with it or just leave it be. I don't have any medication for eye injuries, so I'd need recommendations on what to get if I need to treat it. While I'm hopeful that he'll regain use of the eye, I'm primarily concerned with keeping him alive and not in too much pain.

Other than the eye being closed and his being scuffed up he seems to be otherwise ok. He was quite indignant about being held down and photographed.

Pictures of the eye, the first picture shows how bad the swelling is.

View attachment 2761584

View attachment 2761587

View attachment 2761591

I'm gonna be treating a rooster with an eye injury. This particular boy keeps fighting with another boy constantly, so it's not a surprise.

 

[JHH3]

Yes, I would mess with it.
Apply a warm compress to help loosen it, then slowly work it open. Use some saline to help flush it out/remove the gunk and pus.

Ok, he's not very cooperative but we'll give it a shot.

You can use Original Neosporin or Terramycin eye ointment in the eye. I would flush the eye and apply the ointment at least once a day until it's looking better and not crusting up.

Neosporin as in the regular stuff or a version for eyes? I thought that stuff says don't use in the eye (for humans)? Just ordered some of the Terramycin eye ointment, should get it Monday.

Rest of face, earlobes and wattles I would dab on a little Neosporin or vaseline - help keeps it moist and they don't scratch at the scabs so much.

Ok, I'll do that also though he doesn't seem to be bothered by them.

He's eating/drinking ok though?
Is the eye intact? Once you get it open, if possible a photo would be good.

I've seen him eat and drink, not sure how much eating he's doing but he's trying. He's having a little trouble aiming. He'll gobble down peanuts from my hand, so he's game to eat.

I'm not sure if the eye is intact, when I first saw him post fight his eye was blinky but not closed and seemed to be intact but I didn't remove him right away (he didn't initially appear to be in bad shape) so it's possible he got pecked in the eye later by one of the other boys.

If I can get his eye open and cleaned out I'll try to get a picture if he cooperates.

 

[Eggcessive]

Plain neosporin or triple antibiotic ointment can be used in a pinch. It is about $3 compared to prescription ophthalmic neosporin which is about $30 and requires a prescription. Terramycin antibiotic eye ointment is sometimes available at feedstores and is very good to use. Vetericyn makes aan eye gel and eye wash as well. Saline for flushing the eye is available at most Walmarts in the eyedrop aisle. Dripping it onto his eye will eventually help to open it. While on the roost at night when using a headlamp or flashlight is a good way to treat skittish chickens. Keeping roosters separate in pens can help to prevent fighting.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Ok, he's not very cooperative but we'll give it a shot.
Neosporin as in the regular stuff or a version for eyes? I thought that stuff says don't use in the eye (for humans)? Just ordered some of the Terramycin eye ointment, should get it Monday.
Ok, I'll do that also though he doesn't seem to be bothered by them.
I've seen him eat and drink, not sure how much eating he's doing but he's trying. He's having a little trouble aiming. He'll gobble down peanuts from my hand, so he's game to eat.

I'm not sure if the eye is intact, when I first saw him post fight his eye was blinky but not closed and seemed to be intact but I didn't remove him right away (he didn't initially appear to be in bad shape) so it's possible he got pecked in the eye later by one of the other boys.

If I can get his eye open and cleaned out I'll try to get a picture if he cooperates.

You can get him to cooperate.
Put him on the table like you have him, pull him to you to help capture the wings and go to work on the eye.
Yes. Original Neosporin is fine to use in the eyes. That's what I use and haven't had any problems. Flushing and cleaning out that eye is important though. You may need to flush it 2-3 times a day if it's getting gunky.

I would assume you have him caged, so try to see if his crop is filled at night. He may need to be hydrated, you can syringe fluids into him.
If the photos you posted are the most current of him and it's been several days, he's not doing the best. Work on hydration and then give him wet mash. He may not be eating/drinking too well if he's not seeing properly. Hand feed him.

He's took a beating. Likely he'll take another if you put him back with the other roosters after separation. 4x8 dome pens are probably the quickest and most economical to build. I suggest that you have if you don't have 1-2 or some type of separate housing where you can separate roosters, then you may want to get started on that too.

 

[JHH3]

You can get him to cooperate.
Put him on the table like you have him, pull him to you to help capture the wings and go to work on the eye.

I managed with my son's help holding him and holding his eye open.

Yes. Original Neosporin is fine to use in the eyes. That's what I use and haven't had any problems. Flushing and cleaning out that eye is important though. You may need to flush it 2-3 times a day if it's getting gunky.

I did the best I could getting it cleaned out but wasn't able to get it completely cleaned out. There is some yellow mucus like stuff in there, it was the constancy of sour cream and his eye lids and around the socket is so swollen that I couldn't get down in there well enough to get it all out and it wouldn't wash out. I used a liberal amount of Neosporin in the cavity. I did manage to see an eyeball way down in there, it's just so swollen that it's sunk way down there. Looks like he got a couple of punctures around the lower eyelid which is probably why it's so swollen. I'll put pictures at the bottom of the eye. Managed to get some Neosporin on his comb and wattles also.

I would assume you have him caged, so try to see if his crop is filled at night. He may need to be hydrated, you can syringe fluids into him.
If the photos you posted are the most current of him and it's been several days, he's not doing the best. Work on hydration and then give him wet mash. He may not be eating/drinking too well if he's not seeing properly. Hand feed him.

He's in a closed dog crate right now, will probably move him to a wire crate in a few days. I've seen him both eat and drink, offered him a raw egg after working on his eye which he ate some of, also fed him some peanuts which he gobbled down. His food bowl was depleted from what I gave him this morning so I'm fairly certain he's been eating ok, gave him some more if he's still hungry it's available.

I think the picture is a little deceiving, although he had a few rough days he's definitely doing better than he was at first, thought I would lose him then but when he's not being manhandled (or chickenhandled) by us, he's a bit more lively.

He's took a beating. Likely he'll take another if you put him back with the other roosters after separation. 4x8 dome pens are probably the quickest and most economical to build. I suggest that you have if you don't have 1-2 or some type of separate housing where you can separate roosters, then you may want to get started on that too.

Probably, though I think this all came about because I had to take the dominant rooster out to rest his foot (will probably be posting about that separately eventually). The dominant rooster is my Wyandotte and he's massive, none of them really challenge him when he's in there. There was a power vacuum and Georgie wanted to fill it so he picked a fight he couldn't win (the rooster he fought had lost most of his comb last winter, nothing to grab on to).

Haven't decided what I'm going to do with him once he's better, might try putting him back in after I put the big rooster back in and see how it goes but I haven't decided, just want to get him better for now.

Separate facilities for all of them isn't the most viable thing for me to do but I'll play it by ear, in a pinch I could separate them all but it'd be better if they can coexist as a group. I appreciate the advice, but I'll have to think about how I could implement it.

Anyhow, here are some pictures of his eye currently.

These two (above and below) show the goop that I couldn't get out, got some big chunks out but this was deeper and wouldn't rinse out and I couldn't coax it out with anything I could come up with. Any thoughts on how to get it out? Thought about a q-tip but I didn't want to leave strands of fuzz in there. It's deeper than it looks in the photo. I'm hoping the Neosporin in there and some time will cause it to work it's way up and out.

If you look closely, you can see the orange of his eye back in the upper right, it's just sunken down due to the eyelid swelling.

Those two wounds in his lower eyelid are what I think is causing the most swelling, though he looks to have several circling his eye. I put Neosporin around his eyelid as well and in it.

I really appreciate the help and the advice.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Yes, it's pus in the eye.
You'll have to keep working on it to get it out. Flush, push/press out, flush and apply ointment. Ideally 2X a day at least. If you did use a qtip, wet it down first with the saline then use it to help pull some of it out. Sometimes it's a process.
Chicken pus does not dry up on it's own, that's why it has to be removed like you are doing.

It's good that he's eating and drinking.

 

[JHH3]

Yes, it's pus in the eye.
You'll have to keep working on it to get it out. Flush, push/press out, flush and apply ointment. Ideally 2X a day at least. If you did use a qtip, wet it down first with the saline then use it to help pull some of it out. Sometimes it's a process.
Chicken pus does not dry up on it's own, that's why it has to be removed like you are doing.

It's good that he's eating and drinking.

It's tough stuff, that pus. Not sure I'll be able to do it 2X a day every day but I'll try. I think once the eyelid area swelling starts to go down it'll get easier to get it out.

I just had the thought that I could maybe use a syringe with the needle removed to suck the pus out, the tips on the ones I have should be small enough, I might try that tomorrow unless you think it's a bad idea.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Not sure if it would work or cause some damage. Generally pressing/pushing and coaxing the pus out is what is done.
If you try it, let us know how it goes.