Roosters are known to be very active, boisterous animals who are full of energy, they can be crazy at times but they are needed.
If your rooster is suddenly lethargic, and has closed eyes, you’d be right to be worried. This article looks at why this happens
Table of Contents
Lethargic rooster with closed eyes
If you know roosters, you know that a rooster being lethargic and it closing its eyes is not normal. If you see this in your bird you can safely assume that the bird is sick. Here are possible reasons why your bird may be doing this:
He knocked into a window:
If your bird knocks into a window he will act lethargic and close its eyes.
What to do:
If the bird isn’t severely injured, isolate the bird in a warm room where it can recover in peace and quiet.
Leave some food and water in reach of the bird and allow it to rest and recover. The bird will go back to its normal loud and boisterous self after some rest
If the rooster is severely injured, you’d need to take the bird to the vet.
Anemia:
Anemia can affect a wide variety of birds chickens included, this ailment can develop if your bird becomes infested with mites. The mites will drink the bird’s blood, causing heavy blood loss, and this will cause the bird to develop anemia.
Anemia can cause your rooster to act lethargic and close its eyes, it can also cause the bird to develop depression, lose weight, grow slower than usual and become pale
What to do:
There is no specific treatment for anemia in birds, however, you can treat your bird’s secondary bacterial infections using antibiotics.
Treating the bird by giving it iron and protein supplements, iron-rich foods, as well as poultry vitamins and electrolytes in the water will help.
Give the rooster scrambled eggs, frozen chopped up spinach, gamebird feed, as well as poultry Nutri drenched in water, these are all good sources of vitamins and minerals, use this as a temporary diet boost.
Getting rid of the mites involves bathing the bird in topical Ivomec
The best thing you can do against anemia is to vaccinate birds before egg production happens.
Temperature changes:
Chickens are very sensitive to temperature changes in their environment, a rise in temperature can cause your bird to start to become lethargic and close its eyes.
This isn’t something to worry about, it can be treated quite easily
What to do:
If your bird is acting lethargic and closing its eyes because it is overheating then you’d need to cool the bird down.
You can do this by making sure that the bird rests in a shaded area, you can also give the bird water-rich foods like cucumber and watermelon, roosters love these foods.
Also, make sure that the bird has access to clean fresh water
Respiratory infection:
Your bird may be lethargic and have closed eyes because it is suffering from a respiratory infection.
Other symptoms of respiratory infections in birds include sneezing, coughing, shaking their head, breathing problems, and discharge coming out of the bird’s nose and eyes.
What to do:
Birds don’t show signs of illness until they are very sick and can’t mask the signs of their sickness anymore, this is a defense mechanism ingrained in them that helps keep them safe from predators.
If you do realize that your bird is sick then you’d need to act quickly.
Start off by removing the bird from the flock as soon as you realize that the bird is being lethargic and is closing its eyes. This is necessary because the illness that the bird may have may be contagious.
If you pick up that your rooster is sick, then you’d need to figure out what’s wrong with it and help it to quickly get better or get it to the vet as soon as you can.
There are a variety of respiratory diseases that can cause your bird to become lethargic and close its eyes.
Taking the bird to the vet is recommended, your vet will be able to quickly figure out what’s wrong with the bird before it deteriorates to a point where it can’t be saved.
If you enjoyed this article then you may also be interested in other chicken related articles. Here are some articles that you may be interested in: Chicken Pecked To Death, Chickens Eyes Stuck Closed, Chicken Irregular Pupil, Chicken Blind In One Eye,