Roo HOLDING WINGS OUT but is NOT HOT

[PoultryPedia]

His comb is cold & it's a cool night. I have him in a sheltered coop.

Has anyone ever heard of a problem that causes the symptom of a chicken holding its wings out to the side (other than because of being overheated)?

He is sick with either coryza or mycoplasma right now. I treated all my birds a few weeks ago for this with Gallimycin & Terramycin. He was showing no symptoms at that time.

I started treating with Tylan 50 injectible plus Duramycin in water 3 days ago (2 days after he began gurgling in his breathing). I gave .6 cc injection in breast 1 day, .8 in breast on day 2, & 1 cc in back of neck last night. Today he has been reluctant to move & hasn't eaten all day (other than a little grits-garlic-&-oatmeal I force-fed him tonight, along with a few drops of Poultry Nutri-Drench).

I'm afraid I gave too much Tylan at once in neck &/or I hit something significant in his neck rather than just injecting subcutaneously. I injected a little less than halfway up the back of his neck.

However, I gave the same 1 cc dose to a hen a couple days earlier & she was fine. Another hen who's been very sick was sluggish for half a day after a .3 cc back-of-neck injection (& I followed up the next day with a .7 cc injection in same area).

He's not panting & I've only heard a little gurgling a very few times. I haven't dared to give him any Tylan tonight.

I love this rooster & don't want him to be suffering.

Help??

 

[AngelzFyre]

If he's been on antibiotics, he needs to be on them at least 10 days or whatever he has will multiply back and take over. I've never injected them into birds, so I can't help with that..but would definitely continue what you were giving him in his water.
It sounds like he's got a fever and he's feeling hot, even with the cool temps outside and his comb and wattles cool. Just like a dog/cat's nose, those don't show fever. His comb would be cool just as it is outside because the body will hold heat around his internal organs to keep them going even though it's colder out.

He needs to be isolated from everyone else, kept warm and out of drafts. If you have a separate hutch or even large kennel, that would work.
Rub some Poultry RX on his comb and wattles and keep giving him the Poultry Nutri Drench to keep him getting the amino acids and minerals he's not getting while not eating. It goes directly to the bloodstream and helps build his immune system back. I use a dropper full on bread to soak it up and give it that way since they usually eat that right up and I don't stress them trying to force it by the dropper into their mouths.
Try scrambling eggs or whatever his favorite protein is and getting him to eat small bits at a time.

 

[PoultryPedia]

I will try the feeding-on-bread trick, plus giving extra protein.
Thanks so much for the evaluations & recommendations!!!!!
Since he hasn't been drinking, I think I'll medicate some water & give to him by syringe, too.

 

[AngelzFyre]

I hope he gets better quick!
Just be careful not to aspirate the water/meds while using the syringe and also someone else may have different advice about the antibiotics.
Luckily I've not had to use them on birds..only on cats, dogs, horses. Do know they've always told me at vet that 7 to 10 days was minimum for any antibiotic I've used.
Probiotics won't hurt either, in between when his meds are given. They will restore the good bacteria in his gut.

Update when you can...I'll be checking tomorrow and praying he's better!
I'm off to hit the hay.

 

[PoultryPedia]

Quick update: The roo is doing much better!
Per your counsel, I also gave him Tylan again intramuscularly after considering comparative safety in the hens & observing the rooster's improvement.
I'll post further updates.

 

[AngelzFyre]

Yay!!!!!

Great to hear and thanks for updating!!!

 

[speckledhen]

Quote:
Sorry, I just saw this thread or would have answered sooner.

He could have been having a fungal issue in his lungs. I just had this issue with my own Delaware rooster. No discharges, just sounded like he had pneumonia. Antibiotics will not fix it--you need anti-fungals. I brought mine in the house. He got an Oxine solution in the cool mist vaporizer, several misting sessions per day, and after about a week, he is fine. Good news is that fungal infections are not contagious bird to bird, but on the flip side, they can make them have so much fluid in their lungs that they suffocate.

High heat/humidity is causing fungal infections in many flocks that sound like pneumonia (gurgly breathing, but no discharges or other symptoms, sounds like deep in their lungs) and most have no idea what they're dealing with. Oxine WILL kill the fungus. Get it at Revival Animal Health or if you have an Amazon.com gift card, they dropship from Revival. Oxine AH (without the "activator") works wonders.

Roosters pass much more oxygen through their lungs than hens just by their high stress lives, they breathe deeper and suck in spores that may be floating around, making them more susceptible to fungal infections in a certain atmosphere set-up like we've had here all summer. My oldest hens, my old hen who is laying internally, my Delawares who have trouble in the heat, my molting hens all were affected most of all by this (ones who pant the most), but the rooster was turning purple and couldn't breathe on several occasions. It was basically about 8 birds out of the 45 in my flock that had to be misted with Oxine in the house, though I did set up the vaporizer in the main coop two nights in a row at roost time for about 45 minutes each time so all of them could breathe in the Oxine. The state vet here seems to concur with this finding of fungal infection. Yard full 'o Rocks spoke to him because he was experiencing the same deal with some of his birds and so did we.

 

[PoultryPedia]

AngelzFyre--I've been able to give the one hen medicine by mouth more safely since I discovered the solution to a problem I was encountering. I switched from using a syringe I got from a feedstore to using ones I got at a pharmacy (the kind they have for diabetics). The plunger moves much more smoothly and I don't accidentally squirt too much at once like I did previously.

speckledhen--Thanks! SO HELPFUL!!!! I'm suspecting my birds may be having fungal issues. I've been desperate some days to cool them off & poured cool water in the shavings & sand box near the ventilation grate in their coop. Likely there have been some fungi develop.

I guess I need to get going with Oxine treatments. Any idea where to get the most inexpensive vaporizer? Or is it possible to jerry-rig vaporizer treatment using just a spray bottle??

All 3 birds are shaking their heads on some days. All three are overheated & sometimes pant, without sufficient explanation for cause at various times. Sneezing is rare. One (Hannah) had gurgling for weeks when I first got her, but 1st Terramycin treatments greatly reduced that. Hannah appears to have coryza (bubbles in eyes for weeks, & now sweet-smelling discharge from one nostril).

Neither hen has layed any eggs in the 2 months I've had them, & the previous owner said they hardly have--if at all--for many months. All 3 birds are 2 years old. Another rooster the previous owner had was apparently infertile for quite a while. Does anyone know if infertility from mycoplasma or coryza might end up being permanent?

I did 5 days Tylan, to make sure I gave a full dosing. I am stopping since I read that if Gallimycin is ineffective, Tylan will be, too. Gallimycin treatments I gave over a month ago did nothing toward improvement.

The only medicine that's been effective is Terramycin. I have them on a second round of that. Terramycin ointment also cleared up the bubbles in Hannah's eye. I'm starting to flush her runny nostril with Terramycin mixed in water.

I'm going to start giving them all garlic regularly & am already giving yogurt, egg, kelp, vitamins, etc.

And yes, I plan to keep a closed flock, other than possibly to try hatching eggs in the future & to keep the chicks greatly separated from the adults. I've heard you can sometimes have healthy chicks in those circumstances.

 

[speckledhen]

If you can get a fine mist spray bottle, you can spray in their faces so they breathe it in, but not 100% sure of the solution, maybe you can mix up a gallon like you would in a vaporizer, about 6 ounces to a gallon and keep that around in a dark container. Oxine should be kept in an opaque container to keep potency.

As far as MG and Coryza, I have never had those here and as you may know, I personally wouldn't treat them. Sounds like you may have had a situation ripe for fungal infection as well as whatever other issues they were having.

 

[chicken delighted]

sorry to hear of your flock having this, i had a yooung pullet about a 2 weeks ago come down with a weezing sound , weight loss dapression. not sure about the holding out of wings it had been hot here every one look like that but she was the only one that looked ill. i started her on the tylan and gave her vet RX drop twice a day once orally and then on some high protine food, eggs srcamble,tuna fish,ect, also gave her some oral vitiams and kept her in a pen for a 8 days,she recovered wonderfully and is out back with the flock i have not sen any other sympotoms from any other bird
i hope things get better think of you!