Sick Rooster

[bakervroom]

I have a silver laced Wyandotte. He is about 9 months old. He was fine yesterday, but in the evenings seemed quiet. He currently spends most of his time in our garage as it has been very cold outside. He was an unplanned acquisition last fall as he had been abandoned in the forest. I have four hens that he shares space with, but does not have contact with or live with. I am afraid I do not have enough hens yet. Today, he did not immediately come out of his kennel. He usually is eager to get out and go into a pen in our garage. He eventually came out. He did not crow at all today, he wasn't pecking or scratching. He is eating. He eagerly ate scrambled egg and his feed. His poop is liquid, yellow, green and white. He has never been wormed. The other hens seem fine. I'm not sure if this is connected, but he has some black spots on his comb. They seem like scabs from something or not? He seemed cool in the garage, but the side of his head near his ears or waddles felt warm to almost too warm. His breathing seems ok most of the time, but as I held him and he started to relax, you could hear him breathe and he would have his mouth open occasionally. I am not sure if it is a respiratory thing or not. I have moved him into a bathroom away for the hens and where he is warm. I was wondering if anyone had suggestions as to what this may be and how to treat him. Any help would be very much appreciated. I am new to the chicken world, I apologize. I am attaching a pic of his comb and his poop. Thank you Gene

 

[SmiYa0126]

@Wyorp Rock @azygous @Eggcessive please help!

 

[azygous]

He may have a bacterial infection or he could have a worm load. You should probably try to treat for both. You will need a worming med. Get Safeguard as it is pretty mild while treating most species of worms.

Try to find amoxicillin somewhere. Left over human prescriptions work for chickens. The dose is 250mg two times a day for ten days.

Warning about moving him inside where it's much warmer than he's used to. It can make him sick, so reduce the room temp to around 50F or 10C.

 

[Eggcessive]

The yellow urates in his droppings is usually from liver problems or heart failure. I haven’t seen a comb like that, it are the marks from peck wounds? I have had wyandottes, but no roosters .

 

[bakervroom]

@Wyorp Rock @azygous @Eggcessive

Thank you all for your replies and your help. I am going to run to Tractor Supply in the morning and get some Safeguard. I am also going to try and track down some amoxycillin and some probiotic. Would Doxycycline work or does it have to be amoxycillin?

As for his comb, he has always had some black spots. I don’t know why. He doesn’t have any direct contact with the hens. I was worried about the hen to rooster ratio 4:1. When they are outside, they the hens have a 10X10 fenced in area and the rooster has a 10X10 area adjoining the hen area. When in the garage, he is in a pen by himself. I don’t think it is possible for it to be peck wounds. The hans are aware of him, but don’t seem interested enough to meet him at the fence. I don’t know if he bangs his head from time to time. I don’t know. I am just hoping that he has something treatable and that I have caught early enough. Thank you all again. I really appreciate it. Without you all, I’d be totally lost. Y’all are the best!

 

[Eggcessive]

Does he have any bubbles or foam in either eye, or any mucus from his beak or some that he is swallowing? Is he panting or gasping? There may be something going on with his liver causing the yellow urates. It could be heart related or from infection. Doxycycline is used for respiratory diseases such as MG, while amoxicillin is used for a general infection. If you can get an antibiotic from your vet, that would be best, but some are available online for birds.Here is a link for doxycycline:
https://jedds.com/products/doxycycl...Vm6Fb45-DAAwJE7x_KQlkMYeDmDdvlTc8Yhvn1_kH44tB
The amoxicillin available for birds is only 10% so probably not strong enough for chickens. Most times dosage of amoxicillin is 250 mg twice a day given orally.

 

[bakervroom]

@Eggcessive @Wyorp Rock @azygous

Thank you for checking in. The rooster is the same this morning. Both eyes are normal, no foam. He is not panting or gasping. I was holding him last night and he was falling asleep and he would take an occasional deep breath and have his mouth open and almost sigh as he exhaled. Not often only maybe 3-4 times in half an hour. I can't say if it is normal or not. He is not the type to sleep on my lap. Most I can say is that he is quiet and just wants to rest. I am still on the hunt for amoxycillin. Tried my vet this morning and could not get any. The tech said maybe Coccidiosis. I don't know though. They have a vet that does chickens, but she will not be in until next week. I forgot to mention, if you look at his picture, the yellow stuff on his beak is scrambled egg that he just ate. Thank you all again.

 

[azygous]

To rule out coccidiosis costs just $25-30. Take a fresh poop sample to them and have them run a quick fecal float test for worms and coccdia.

Try ordering this. https://jedds.com/products/amoxicil...63389&pr_ref_pid=6832885072061&pr_seq=uniform It appears they will sell it without a prescription.

 

[bakervroom]

@Wyorp Rock @Eggcessive @azygous
I wanted to thank you all again. I was able to get the rooster into the vet today. He had stopped eating and drinking. He does have coccidiosis. He is now on Amprolium, mixed with his water. Actually, the flock has to get it as well. We also have Critical Care to feed him. He did drink a little from his waterer and we were able to syringe some critical care into him. Hopefully we can get him back eating on his own. The syringe method is slow and frequent, but it beats the alternative. Thanks everyone!

 

[Altairsky]

He's a beautiful boy. Don't worry about the ratio, 1:4 is fine in most cases. Many breeders here have 1:2 ratio.