Livestock & Pets

Treating a Rooster with an Eye Injury

Treating a Rooster with an Eye Injury
His good eye.

 

Treating a Rooster With an Eye Injury

My rooster sustained an eye injury that needed treatment. I used a simple homemade remedy to cleanse the eye and speed the healing process. You can make this remedy with inexpensive ingredients you have in your kitchen cupboard.

Roosters Will Fight

I recently brought home two handsome roosters that needed a new home. You can read more about them in my post A Tale of Two Roosters. They had been raised together but soon started fighting over the flock of hens. The large rooster attacked the smaller one and pecked his eye. I couldn’t tell how bad the eye injury was at first.

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Treating a Rooster with an Eye Injury
The day after the injury it became obvious that he needed attention. You can see from this photo that the injured eye is oozing pus.

Treating An Eye Injury

The first day his eye didn’t look serious. It was closed, but there was no blood or drainage. I separated him from the flock and gave him food and water.

The second day it became obvious that I would need to treat the rooster’s eye injury. I sent my assistant (my son Joe) in to retrieve warm saline solution and a bulb syringe. I held the little brown rooster firmly in my arms and held the injured eye open while Joe gently squirted the warm salt water over the injured cornea.

Treating a Rooster With an Injured Eye - The Self Sufficient HomeAcre
After several days of treatment, his eye appears to be fully healed.

The following day I was able to take care of the procedure by myself and I noticed that the pus was gone and the eye looked much better.

On the third day the eye looked almost back to normal and I decided to give the guy a break. He is a very nervous, flighty little rooster and each time I catch him he squawks like I’m killing him.


Mixing a Simple Saline Solution to Treat a Minor Injury

I mixed together 1 cup of warm water to 1/2 tsp iodized salt as a cleansing solution for his wounded eye. I think in the future I would reduce the salt to 1/4 tsp to prevent causing a stinging sensation for the injured bird.

Salt water is an inexpensive topical treatment for minor injuries. I have never used it on serious injuries in my flock. When a chicken sustains a serious injury, I put it down in the same manner as I do when butchering…by decapitating it swiftly with an ax.

I hope you have found this post useful. Thanks for reading!

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19 Comments on “Treating a Rooster with an Eye Injury

  1. Sir today morning my roosters had fight and one my lovely rooster eye is swelling and and closing eyes. Please help me

    1. Hi,
      I suggest using the saline solution wash to clean the eye several times a day to help it heal. If the injury is more serious than a scratch, you may need to take it to a veterinarian for treatment.

  2. Hi!
    I had two rooster and they raised together..one of them injured his eye during fight. .
    When I saw there was lots of bleeding in his eye..He did not open eye for one week..
    Next week he started opening eye but there seems that it has blood in his eye and the colour of eye is changed..
    He opens 50 percent of his eye and when we pick him he closes at once..He is not able to see from that eye…His eye seems ok shape.wise but he has no vision and he cannot open it for 5 second continiously. .

    1. Hi Amir,
      I’m sorry to hear about your rooster’s injury. Have you tried rinsing the eye out with a saltwater solution? I found that helped my rooster’s eye heal up nicely. It may not save his vision, but it should help prevent infection. Best wishes

  3. Hi Lisa.
    How often did you use the salt water solution? I actually started it yesterday and just ran across your article. Thank you.

    1. Hi Lisa,
      I used the treatment 1 or 2 x per day, and I believe I used it for 3 days total before the rooster seemed to be pretty well healed.

      If you have a bird that has a deeper scratch, I would use the treatment 2 or 3 x per day until it is healed.
      Best wishes!

  4. Hi, Lisa; was just surfing for some treatment for one of my hens when I found your blog. My chickens are all the same age, and were raised together; but for some reason after a year, one hen has been singled out for bullying. At this point, she has one eye that has a white spot in it that looks like maybe an injured cornea, and she is keeping it closed all the time. I don’t have any meds for poultry, but I do have some terramycin opthalmic ointment. Can that be used on poultry?

    1. Hi Gail,
      I have read that it is ok to use for chickens, but I don’t know about using the eggs for human consumption.

      You can also use neosporin, the kind that doesn’t have pain killer in it. That may work as well.

      Let me know what happens. Best wishes…Lisa Lynn

  5. I have a hen with a similar pecking injury. Her injured eye has a dilated pupil and although she is now opening it, won’t leave it open.( I assume because it is light sensitive?) will this get better?

    1. Hi Lisa,
      I think that this should get better. I’m guessing that it just hurts to have the eye open to the light and air. If you can rinse it with a very mild saline solution, it may help the eye to heal and feel better more quickly.
      Best wishes,
      Lisa Lynn

  6. I have 1 rooster and have a poor visual may i ask if the hot water and salt will be the medecine to my rooster thanks

    1. Hi Ronnie,
      I dissolved a small amount of salt in warm water to treat an eye that was pecked by another rooster and it healed well after a few days of rinsing with that solution.

      If your rooster has a wounded eye, this may help. If he has poor vision for some other reason, I don’t think that a salt solution will help with that.

      Best wishes…Lisa Lynn

  7. Hello Ms. Lisa,
    I just came across your wonderful blog today, and not a moment too soon. I have three roosters, Bantam Cochin that i raised together with no problems. Til now. I have kept their 3 sons from this year and as the boys are maturing, the status quo has dissapeared, My oldest rooster, Sammy got his clock cleaned resulting in an eye injury. I have been keeping it washed outside with tolerably hot water to keep the eye from matting shut, i have Gentak generic Gentacin eye ointment for humans, and i keep him seperrate from all the older birds. He grandpas the littler kids in the baby barn for now. I dont know why he doesn’t keep his eye open more. He does when the roos are watching, for his own safety, but in my arms he closes it until he startles or i pick him up, the eyeball looks intact but whether he can use it remains to be seen. I don’t want to lose him. I will try the salt water as i am getting depressed at how long this is taking to heal. we live in the woods with hawks, and coyotes and a rooster or any bird with one eye doesnt stand much hope im afraid, Thanks for your advice.

    1. Hi Theresa,
      I’m sorry to hear about your rooster 🙁 I hope the warm salt water helps. Salt has antibacterial properties so it should help clean it out. Let me know how he’s doing!

      So glad to have you join me!

  8. Did the pupil in his injured eye remain permanently dilated? I’ve got 5 roosters and about 30 hens. Four of those roosters (all but the alpha) have what looks to be a dead eye. The eyes on all of the hens don’t seem to have this going on.

    1. Hi Chris,
      No, his pupil didn’t remain dilated. Did your roosters have injuries to their eyes? Are they related? If they are related and their was no injury…it could be genetic. If so, you might want to find a new rooster for breeding. I’ve never heard of a disease that causes this, but if could be possible.

  9. What great photos. Salt and water work for many injuries around the farm for the animals and humans. It is a very healing source. B

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