I know this is more of a "health" question but since this board gets more traffic, I was hoping I'd get a response quicker here.

Just went out to close up the chickens and found one young roo outside. We don't have a ramp, they have to "hop" about a foot to go inside. This guy just refused to hop up there, even though I tried to herd him in. So I caught him and checked him out inside in the light and he has one eye almost closed. It is weeping and quite red but not swollen. It's only the one eye and neither he nor anybody else in our small flock have any respiratory symptoms. Do you think that he just scratched his eye on something outside? Or maybe got some dust or something in it? I'm hoping that since it's just the ONE eye and no respiratory symptoms that it's injury versus disease.

Should I flush his eye out? If he was hesitant to jump into the coop tonight, I'm concerned that he may be vulnerable to the other roosters in our flock. They don't really fight, as they all grew up together but I wouldn't want him to get picked on either. He obviously is having a little trouble seeing with the eye so weepy.

Any suggestions? I'm hesitant to do antibiotics on the whole flock for something that seems so minor. But I could just dose him if I separate him I guess. Or is that even necessary if it's just a simple scratch? Can you use antibiotic eye ointment that the vet gives for dogs and cats? I have some of that but not sure if it's okay.

Thanks!
Susie

Susie, when one of our roosters had this problem (red, swollen eye that had some fluid drainage), I figured: 1) these symptoms are typical of bacterial infections and 2) I was going to treat him with a broad spectrum bactericide. I asked the man at the local Farmers' Co-op what they use for pink eye in cattle (pink eye is also a bacterial infection). He sold me a spray can of Furazolidone. You spray it directly into the eye twice a day for three days. It completely cured my rooster.

Good luck!

Thanks, Info! Today he has some "gunk" in the eye, for lack of a scientific term! LOL! We put him in a cage within the chicken house last night, just for security and he held his eye closed all the time. But this morning when I let everybody out, he is keeping the eye open. He's also staying a little bit away from the rest of the flock. I think he feels a bit vulnerable.

But anyway, in light of the "gunk", I do want to treat it as an infection. I'll look for the product you described or something similar at the feed store this afternoon. Thanks for the specific name. That can be a REAL help!

Susie