Rooster won’t open eyes/eyes cloudy

[PNWHank]

Hi everyone,

We’ve been taking care of our rooster for about a week now who his very lethargic and won’t open his eyes.

7 days ago, we introduced him to our flock and one of our hens ripped part of his ear lobe off, we cleaned it and put ointment on it. We’ve been flushing his eye and surrounding area with saline and some of it went into his wound and he screamed, so evidently the wound didn’t heal up this week. The whole time he hasn’t opened his eyes and when we do get them open, the surface of both eyes is cloudy. I’m wondering if there is anything else we can do to get his eyes open again, at least just the lids? He is eating dry pellets and water but we have to shake the bowl and stand him up.
He doesnt seem to know it’s daytime from what I can gather..
Is there a chance that his eyes will recover? He is about 3 months old

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Is he new to your flock, did you just get him 7 days ago? Where did you get him from?

 

[PNWHank]

Is he new to your flock, did you just get him 7 days ago? Where did you get him from?

Yes he is new, we got him exactly 1 week ago from someone who hatched him but couldn’t keep him inside the town district

 

[BigBlueHen53]

@Eggcessive, @azygous, @Wyorp Rock, what do you guys make of this rooster's eyes?

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Is he new to your flock, did you just get him 7 days ago? Where did you get him from?

It's always a good idea to quarantine a new bird before putting it in with your flock, and also there is an introductory process to integrating a new bird so it doesn't get hurt. It can upset flock dynamics to just throw a strange bird in with an existing flock.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Here's an article on integration you might find helpful (full disclosure, I wrote it!):

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/integrating-a-pictorial-guide.79343/

 

[Wyorp Rock]

We’ve been taking care of our rooster for about a week now who his very lethargic and won’t open his eyes.

7 days ago, we introduced him to our flock and one of our hens ripped part of his ear lobe off, we cleaned it and put ointment on it. We’ve been flushing his eye and surrounding area with saline and some of it went into his wound and he screamed, so evidently the wound didn’t heal up this week. The whole time he hasn’t opened his eyes and when we do get them open, the surface of both eyes is cloudy. I’m wondering if there is anything else we can do to get his eyes open again, at least just the lids? He is eating dry pellets and water but we have to shake the bowl and stand him up.
He doesnt seem to know it’s daytime from what I can gather..
Is there a chance that his eyes will recover? He is about 3 months old

Photos of him, the ear lobe and other eye too?

Both eyes are cloudy? They were cloudy when you got him right?

Since he's new to you, I'd cull him so as not to potentially spread something to the existing flock.

To me, the eye looks blind or he may be partially blind. Hard to know what's caused that, but if both eyes are the same, I'd worry it is Marek's. Getting testing if you lose him would tell you for sure.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

That's what I was afraid of.

 

[PNWHank]

Photos of him, the ear lobe and other eye too?

Both eyes are cloudy? They were cloudy when you got him right?

Since he's new to you, I'd cull him so as not to potentially spread something to the existing flock.

To me, the eye looks blind or he may be partially blind. Hard to know what's caused that, but if both eyes are the same, I'd worry it is Marek's. Getting testing if you lose him would tell you for sure.

His ear love is scabbing over now, both of his eyes are cloudy unfortunately, and his eyes were fine when we got him. He is still walking around, eating, drinking and preening, but his eyes are mostly closed except for a few moments.

We definitely suspected Mareks from just about the beginning of his sickness, but we held out hope that he was just fighting infection from the ear wound. It took a while for his eyes to look like this. From what I can tell he is completely blind though.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

You might inform the people you got him from. If there is Marek's in their flock, they shouldn't sell any more birds. Can you get him to a vet? One might be able to confirm the diagnosis.