Would you eat this chicken?

[Sunny Side Up]

I have a cross-bred Barred Rock rooster about 24 weeks old among the gang in the Dinner Theater pen. For the past two weeks or so I've been noticing that he's moving slower & acting more lethargic than his roommates. I have been letting them out to free range most of the day and noticed him lying down in the shade much more than the others. When approached he'll always hop right up & run away. For the past few days I have been keeping all the dinner guests confined to large cages. Today this BR roo was lying across the roost nodding off to sleep in the middle of the day. I picked him up to place him in the hospital pen & noticed he feels light, with a rather sharp keel bone, although he had a fairly full crop.

Please help me decide what to do with this guy. I really don't want to go through the trouble of butchering & dressing him if he's diseased and/or scrawny. Neither do I want to medicate him too much just to enable him to recover enough to be slaughtered. I don't need the meat for the family that much that I want to risk eating medicated meat.

But on the other hand, if there is a simple remedy I could try it would be worth it so that his life doesn't go to waste. I haven't butchered any chickens recently because of all the demands of the holiday season, but do plan to in the next week or two.

What should I do with this chicken?

 

[Tala]

I'd probably butcher him for dog food, if it were me.

Does he have lice or mites? or maybe worms? Something like that wouldn't be too hard to treat/recover from and it does seem like a possible problem that would make him thin despite eating.

 

[Minniechickmama]

I agree, it sounds like a worm issue. Treat him and see how he starts acting. Good luck.

 

[dappertophatter]

The short answer- No, with a capital N. Don't eat him if you're not sure what's wrong with him.

The long answer- He dosen't sound too good. Worms are a possibility, but if you medicate him and he does have worms, you're probably gonna want to medicate your whole flock, just to be safe.

Can he get to the feeders OK, or is he being bullied away? It could be something as silly as the waterer he always uses is empty. Have you made any changes in where you put food/water? Maybe he can't find it? I hope he does OK for you, and good luck!

 

[Sunny Side Up]

Right now he's in the hospital pen all by himself. He hasn't touched much of his food, and has plenty of it & water available. He doesn't have mites. I would think if he had worms then his roommates would also have them. But the others are fine & fat. I'm not seeing much poop out of him, he's in a wire bottomed cage so I can't tell much about what's coming out of him and what has been left by the previous patient. He's still alert & lively, making himself difficult to catch even in that little cage. But when unprovoked he just lies on the perch or floor & dozes.

The only other thing I see is a few threads of mucus-y looking matter on the feathers below his vent. Thin, yellowish & thready, like snot from a sneeze. Sorry for the gross image. I think I'll go ahead & treat him for worms & see if he improves.

 

[sjh]

Check his crop size early as you can tomorrow. If it has not gone down it could be a impacted or sour crop. I have never had to deal with that, but the med/emergency section has lots if info on it.