Sick Rooster

[Eggcessive]

How much amprollium are you giving? If usuing the 9.6% liquid you can use 2 tsp per gallon. Usually with amprollium you don’t want to give extra thiamine which the Critical Care has in the long list of ingredients. You may want to check with your vet about that. I would use the amprollium as your only source of water, and it can also be put into a small amount of feed. Let us know how he gets along, and glad that you could see the vet.

 

[bakervroom]

You may be correct. I think (once he is better) I am going to try to put him with the ladies and give the girls enough escape room and enough perching area to keep away from him if they want to. Probably start with limited time and increase it if it goes well. Definitely a learning experience. Thank you for your help and suggestion.

 

[bakervroom]

@Wyorp Rock @Eggcessive @azygous @Altairsky

The dose they prescribed was 10ml per gallon. You are also correct. It is the only water source for him and the hens for 14 days. I will check with the vet regarding the critical care. I am hoping that a few doses over the next 12-24 hours will get him eating on his own. I hope. The vet did give me a bit extra and I can get more from her so I probably will follow your suggestion and put some in their food as well. Thank you again for your help.

 

[Eggcessive]

Usually, they give 10 ml per gallon for 5-7 days, and then reduce the amount of amprollium to 2.5 ml or 1/2 tsp for an additional 5-7 days. Here is a chart below. Let us know how he gets along.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/content/type/61/id/6635518/width/500/height/1000

 

[bakervroom]

@Wyorp Rock @Eggcessive @azygous @Altairsky

I know that it has been a while, but I just wanted to give an update. I wanted to leave this information in case it might help others later on as well. It has been a month and we have improved, but not quite there yet. My major problem is getting him to eat on his own. He does drink on his own.

We started with a round of Amprolium for 14 days. After a week, we did not see improvement and did 6 days of amoxicillin. That didn’t seem to do much. After the 14 days, I went to a different vet that retested him and found a very small amount of coccidiosis. She felt that it was not enough to present a problem and likely the amount present in many healthy chickens. She did prescribe Albon, just in case. She gave him a B12 injection and gave us some to take home and give as needed. When he came home from the vet, he immediately ate on his own. That was the first time in a couple weeks. I am not sure if it was the B12. The B12 injections do seem to give him a boost however.

The vet noted that his color was excellent and his feathers were great, His weight was down a bit. She felt that for what he had been through he was doing well. She feels that he needs to get back to eating his normal feed to get proper nutrition. I had been giving him eggs with spinach and critical care. I am now mixing critical care with crumble and mixing it with water with vitamins, and he gets his spinach omelet. Her concern is that his system is messed up right now.

He has been off the Albon for about 4 days. His energy level isn’t 100%, but he is active. He runs, flies around, makes noises here and there, but has not been crowing. He is active has a good posture and I have introduced him back to his flock for portions of the day, as long as I can in consideration of the weather and cold. Today it is 9 degrees F and windy. He has made a lot of improvement since he was first sick, but I am struggling to get him all the way there.

My problem is that he does not eat on his own. He may peck at an egg out of your hand, but that is about it. He is very cooperative when we feed him. He will open his beak slightly so we can put food in his mouth and he eats it. I am hoping to find something that he will eat on his own and get him back on track. I think I am going to try oatmeal next. I have tried, eggs, different feeds, scratch, corn, watermelon (he never ate watermelon before when it has been offered though). I am not sure it there is something out there that would jump start him to eat on his own. Anyway, that is my update. Thank you again everyone for your help.

Oh, one thing that I almost forgot and that the rooster really enjoyed while I had him isolated living in the bathroom was a YouTube video of chickens. He would watch the laptop for hours and kept him stimulated.

 

[Eggcessive]

Instead of oatmeal, I would add water to his chicken feed, just a small amount, and make a fresh mash several times a day.

 

[bakervroom]

@Wyorp Rock @Eggcessive @azygous @Altairsky

Hello everyone,

I wanted to thank everyone who has helped and let you know that we had to put Charlie down a few days ago. Along with thanking you all, and I am very grateful that you took the time to offer help and advise, I wanted to pass on information regarding things that I probably did wrong that resulted in this outcome. I am hoping that maybe someone can avoid the outcome that I got, if they are looking to save their bird.

We had gone over a month feeding him by hand, as he had no interest in eating on his own. He was making improvements however. A week ago he took a major turn for the worse and began displaying neurological issues. His balance was way off and his head was cocked and he would shake it. He had difficulty walking and maintaining balance. It took me a couple days to get him to the vet as none were working.

At the vet, she noted that his color and feathers were still very good, but he had neurological issues and his breathing was concerning. Obvious now, she stated that the coccidiosis is secondary to some other more pressing issue and has been. Probably important to know from the beginning is that he was the only one in the flock to get sick. The vet felt it was likely a kidney or liver issue. She did mention that she was concerned about metal poisoning because of the neurological symptoms. We could have done blood testing, but it was going to take several days to get the results back and he didn’t have much time left.

So, I guess for someone down the road that may be reading this, here are my mistakes, what I learned, or my advice, for whatever it is worth.

1. An important sign was that he was around 10 months old, very healthy, active and was the only one in the flock to get sick.

2. At my second vet visit, the level of coccidiosis was way down and the vet even felt that he shouldn’t be sick. The belief was his digestive system was probably off from being sick and not eating his normal diet. We then continued treatment with a sulfa drug. He also had amoxicillin prior to this visit.

3. At this point, I wish I had done a blood test. It may have helped him and was probably the big mistake. At one point in this, I believe it was “@Eggcesive” that mentioned the yellow urites in the droppings may be related to a liver issue. I did not make the connection. By the time a blood test was mentioned it was too late.

4. The fact that he was young, healthy, the only bird to get sick, and upon second test, his coccidiosis levels were very low, probably should have made me look at other issues.

5. As for the possibility of metal poisoning, I don’t know if that is the case or how it would have happened. He was discarded in the woods before my daughter brought him home. I don’t know if someone tried to poison him first, 6 months ago, and then got rid of him. Maybe someone didn’t like him while he was in my care. I have no idea. Other than the fencing, he wasn’t exposed to metals or areas near or exposed to metal or chemicals. If that is the case, I don’t know the how, but I think the blood test at an early stage may have provided a treatment. Unfortunately, it was my mistake and he paid the price for it. Not that I want to see anyone with a sick bird, but If someone can learn or benefit from my mistake, it is the only benefit in this.

Again, thank you to everyone here who has tried to help and offer guidance. You all are awesome and I can’t say how much I appreciate your time and experience.

Thank you again and God bless.

 

[Eggcessive]

So sorry that you lost Charlie. Your state vet lab is a very good place to have a necropsy done, to find a cause of death or illness. With his not eating, loss of balance, and neck issue, it could have been possible that he had Mareks disease. They also have poor immunity to common thins like coccidiosis. Of course we won’t know, but if you should have any other younger bird with weird symptoms, it may be something to check out.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I just found this thread. I wish it could have had a better ending for your beautiful Charlie. Please do not blame yourself! If the veterinarians you took him to did not pick up on the clues before them, how could you possibly have? You did the best you could have for him, and no one can do more than that. Besides which, you had our best Educators helping you! Charlie died, yes, but he died loved and cared for. You did right by him. Never regret that!