JennaT
Chirping
Hi Everyone,
I am posting to see if anyone has experienced something similar with their chooks / rooster or simply to pass on information..
Yes, I intend on seeing a veterinarian once I can physically get to one. It’s a mixture of bad timing for appointments, extreme distances to get to them (isolated rural living downside) and a vet not turning up to a house call on three occasions.
BACKGROUND:
In March 2016 we adopted a ‘rescue’ rooster. The previous owners said he was approximately 12months old. The environment he lived in was awful: overcrowded with all types of poultry despite free ranging, physically abused by children and goodness knows what his nutrition or vaccination record was! When I collected him, he was almost feral because he feared people so much, but ultimately looked healthy. I later found out that he had been hit with a large object by some ‘charming’ teenager. I’m not sure where on his body he was hit.
After several weeks of calm, positive interactions with him, he began feeding from my hand, however patting or picking up was a major no-no for him. I was fine with this.
Each morning and into the early evening he would proudly crow, strut and mount his ladies (even though he’s too short to actually breed with them). However, when he first arrived, he did have what looked like an injury to his right eye. Because the eye was still open, I expected it to heal on its own as catching and restraining him caused way too much stress on him. There has never been any swelling or signs of infection such as pus or oozing even to this day.
About four months ago we decided to use conjunctivitis eye drops recommended by a chook guru as his eye was now staying closed and he was sleeping a lot. It also seemed to have a grey tinge across it (not a cataract). Our technique was to sneak up on him and drop some solution in. While he would let out a blood-curdling scream, leap up and run away each time, we did see a change. For about a week, he picked up and was opening the eye more. But then his eye began changing from grey to black. Since then, his health has deteriorated.
He never crows and his voice is cracked and raspy.
He has no vision in that eye and now sleeps 23hrs a day - and so deeply that he doesn’t even acknowledge the world around him i.e. hear my partner start the lawn mower. We now have to be conscious of him when we pull into the driveway as he’s excellent at camouflage and tends to sleep in the driveway. He barely eats. At one stage I was feeding him separately to the others, which went well for about three days. Now he pecks at it but doesn’t actually eat. He’s also started in the past two weeks, moulting around the neck and head.
It’s been frustrating trying to secure a vet visit as it takes an hour to get home then another hour to get to a vet therefore it’s well past closing. We tried a house call vet but they never turned up, supposedly due to the distances involved.
I suspect he has a cancer of some kind but still hold out (naive) hope it’s something easily fixed. I will be devastated if it’s cancer as he has had such an awful life and doesn’t deserve to die this young.
I guess I just wanted to see if anyone else has had this problem but also to share my experience in case someone on this forum comes along in a few months time needing advice.
Our boy in July 2016
1. How we find him every day - sleeping. 2. The suspect eye - no pus or signs of infection.
SUMMARY:
March:
Arrives to our property. Very skittish but otherwise healthy. Noticeable eye problem but only suspect an injury that will heal on its own.
April - July:
Had an eye problem in right eye which didn’t seem to get better. ie. closing it sometimes, grey tinge across the eye. No swelling or oozing. Still eating and strutting around, crowing a lot.
August:
Eye problem starting to affect him. Grey tinge increasing. No swelling. Starting to sleep more, not crowing as much.
September:
Eye problem continuing. Sleeping more and not crowing at all. Voice changing.
October:
Put conjunctivitis eye drops in the eye. See a positive change for a week. But then the eye changes from grey to black and he falls back into sleeping a lot, not crowing and now voice cracks a lot. Complete loss of vision in the right eye.
November:
Sleeps 23 hours. Hard to wake him sometimes, unless we touch him. Pecks at food but doesn’t actually eat it. Still drinking.
Thanks
I am posting to see if anyone has experienced something similar with their chooks / rooster or simply to pass on information..
Yes, I intend on seeing a veterinarian once I can physically get to one. It’s a mixture of bad timing for appointments, extreme distances to get to them (isolated rural living downside) and a vet not turning up to a house call on three occasions.
BACKGROUND:
In March 2016 we adopted a ‘rescue’ rooster. The previous owners said he was approximately 12months old. The environment he lived in was awful: overcrowded with all types of poultry despite free ranging, physically abused by children and goodness knows what his nutrition or vaccination record was! When I collected him, he was almost feral because he feared people so much, but ultimately looked healthy. I later found out that he had been hit with a large object by some ‘charming’ teenager. I’m not sure where on his body he was hit.
After several weeks of calm, positive interactions with him, he began feeding from my hand, however patting or picking up was a major no-no for him. I was fine with this.
Each morning and into the early evening he would proudly crow, strut and mount his ladies (even though he’s too short to actually breed with them). However, when he first arrived, he did have what looked like an injury to his right eye. Because the eye was still open, I expected it to heal on its own as catching and restraining him caused way too much stress on him. There has never been any swelling or signs of infection such as pus or oozing even to this day.
About four months ago we decided to use conjunctivitis eye drops recommended by a chook guru as his eye was now staying closed and he was sleeping a lot. It also seemed to have a grey tinge across it (not a cataract). Our technique was to sneak up on him and drop some solution in. While he would let out a blood-curdling scream, leap up and run away each time, we did see a change. For about a week, he picked up and was opening the eye more. But then his eye began changing from grey to black. Since then, his health has deteriorated.
He never crows and his voice is cracked and raspy.
He has no vision in that eye and now sleeps 23hrs a day - and so deeply that he doesn’t even acknowledge the world around him i.e. hear my partner start the lawn mower. We now have to be conscious of him when we pull into the driveway as he’s excellent at camouflage and tends to sleep in the driveway. He barely eats. At one stage I was feeding him separately to the others, which went well for about three days. Now he pecks at it but doesn’t actually eat. He’s also started in the past two weeks, moulting around the neck and head.
It’s been frustrating trying to secure a vet visit as it takes an hour to get home then another hour to get to a vet therefore it’s well past closing. We tried a house call vet but they never turned up, supposedly due to the distances involved.
I suspect he has a cancer of some kind but still hold out (naive) hope it’s something easily fixed. I will be devastated if it’s cancer as he has had such an awful life and doesn’t deserve to die this young.
I guess I just wanted to see if anyone else has had this problem but also to share my experience in case someone on this forum comes along in a few months time needing advice.
Our boy in July 2016
1. How we find him every day - sleeping. 2. The suspect eye - no pus or signs of infection.
SUMMARY:
March:
Arrives to our property. Very skittish but otherwise healthy. Noticeable eye problem but only suspect an injury that will heal on its own.
April - July:
Had an eye problem in right eye which didn’t seem to get better. ie. closing it sometimes, grey tinge across the eye. No swelling or oozing. Still eating and strutting around, crowing a lot.
August:
Eye problem starting to affect him. Grey tinge increasing. No swelling. Starting to sleep more, not crowing as much.
September:
Eye problem continuing. Sleeping more and not crowing at all. Voice changing.
October:
Put conjunctivitis eye drops in the eye. See a positive change for a week. But then the eye changes from grey to black and he falls back into sleeping a lot, not crowing and now voice cracks a lot. Complete loss of vision in the right eye.
November:
Sleeps 23 hours. Hard to wake him sometimes, unless we touch him. Pecks at food but doesn’t actually eat it. Still drinking.
Thanks
