What to do with Rooster?

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deerlady11

deerlady11

In the Brooder
7 Years
Oct 14, 2012
54
5
33
Ok so I just got this Rooster yesterday. I have quarantined him in another room on the other side of the room my hens are in. He sneezed a couple times and I didn't think much of it. I let him outside today in a small pen to stretch his legs. When I went to catch him to put him back...he got to running and that’s when I heard all this congestion and flym like sounds going on inside of him. When I picked him up he was breathing hard and I could hear it just rattling and then he started coughing.

So I read the post about Respitory infections. I read that even if I can get him better he will always be a carrier. What do I do with him now? I'm guessing that he shouldn't be with my hens...correct? He sounds horrible. I put a heat lamp on him and he's getting medicated chick feed mixed in with reg feed. I don't have any antibiotics on hand.

He is pictured below. I took these pictures this morning. A very beautiful Rooster. An Olive Egger Roo. Thanks for your time.


 
You can treat him with Duramycin-10, available at Tractor Supply and other feed stores. If he has been in the same building as your hens, they've probably already been exposed. If it were me, I would treat them all with the Duramycin-10 at the 400mg dose. The directions are on the back of the package. Do not eat the eggs while you are treating and for the withdrawal time after treatment. If caught early you may be able to lessen the affects of the disease and you will have them for a long time. Word of advice though, you shouldn't sell, trade, give away any of these birds or their offspring as they can be infected as well.

It may be hard to do, but to really practise biosecurity you should have any new bird or birds in another building far away from your existing flock for 6 weeks to be sure there is nothing to worry about.
 
So lets say further down the road that I have hatched out chickens from this Rooster and my hens. Lets say they are carriers of this as well. Does that mean that they can't be eaten?
 
deerlady11 said:
So lets say further down the road that I have hatched out chickens from this Rooster and my hens. Lets say they are carriers of this as well. Does that mean that they can't be eaten?
Click to expand...
No it does not. You can eat these birds and their eggs after the withdrawal period, no problem. As for any that hatch, there are 2 minds on this one. Some learned people say that these eggs will not reach full maturity in the egg and so cannot hatch. There are others who have had chicks hatch and although they are deemed carriers, have immunities carried from their parents. I am still reading up on this stuff myself. As far as I know I don't have it in my flock but I truely believe forwarned is forarmed. Read all you can and pick up some books on poultry health and treatments. Always a good idea to have something you don't need electricity to search.
 
ok so Husbands thinking is that we need to get rid of the Rooster because he is an obvious carrier and go ahead and treat the girls in hopes that they have not gotten contaminated because they have not had any interactions and its been less than 24 hours since I brought the Rooster here. Now I know that it can only take 5 minutes but I am hoping that because they have been seperated and really shouldn't even had an air exchange that they have not been infected.

This Rooster will basically have to be treated throughout his lifetime for this illness. This just really stinks! I really was excited about this Rooster and he's so nice. What a cruddy experience for my first time getting a Rooster. Sorry...but I'm a little upset. Thanks for letting me vent all.
 
deerlady11 said:
Ok so I just got this Rooster yesterday. I have quarantined him in another room on the other side of the room my hens are in. He sneezed a couple times and I didn't think much of it. I let him outside today in a small pen to stretch his legs. When I went to catch him to put him back...he got to running and that’s when I heard all this congestion and flym like sounds going on inside of him. When I picked him up he was breathing hard and I could hear it just rattling and then he started coughing.

So I read the post about Respitory infections. I read that even if I can get him better he will always be a carrier. What do I do with him now? I'm guessing that he shouldn't be with my hens...correct? He sounds horrible. I put a heat lamp on him and he's getting medicated chick feed mixed in with reg feed. I don't have any antibiotics on hand.

He is pictured below. I took these pictures this morning. A very beautiful Rooster. An Olive Egger Roo. Thanks for your time.


Click to expand...
Medicated feed is only to prevent cocciodosis. They don't have a medicated feed that does anything else...so may as well stop that. A lot of times it's just a cold and not a really big deal. Sometimes it's serious...
If you have more roosters than you need then I guess you could just eat him, but I am a wait and see how it goes.

There is no reason that chickens need antibiotics once every few months...that is barely better than what we are trying to avoid by having our own chickens.
I would wait and see how he does, and if he gets better then good, and if not then alright, it sucks, but sometimes these things happen. Especially with chickens.


Wait wait wait...so you went and got a new rooster and added him straight with your other chickens, only to then find him sneezing..it's possible wherever you got him from knew he was ill and wanted to pass the buck off to someone else, or he is just sneezy because you use a different bedding material than he might be used to...
You should always have a wait period when you get new birds before you add them with your existing birds. Some things you can't protect against no matter how long you wait to introduce as well.
I got adult chickens to start with, then I got a mama hen and 7 chicks...after the hen and chicks time was up they went into the big coop and everything was fine...then one of the chicks started limping...and then another one started limping..then they both started losing control of most of their body parts...
I am assuming that the older existing chickens were exposed to marek's, and so then gave it to the chicks...but losing 2 out of 7 isn't too bad I don't think...but it's something to think about. I won't ever buy adult birds...I also won't get rid of the ones I already have..so the new chicks will suffer some losses, but eventually I will have a marek's resistant flock. I mean all the chickens I have now I assume are resistant simply because they never got sick when the other new chicks were dying...the remaining chicks have started to lay and everyone is doing great.
But anyway sometimes when adding adult birds to your coop there are some terrible effects.
 
Last edited:
deerlady11 said:
ok so Husbands thinking is that we need to get rid of the Rooster because he is an obvious carrier and go ahead and treat the girls in hopes that they have not gotten contaminated because they have not had any interactions and its been less than 24 hours since I brought the Rooster here. Now I know that it can only take 5 minutes but I am hoping that because they have been seperated and really shouldn't even had an air exchange that they have not been infected.

This Rooster will basically have to be treated throughout his lifetime for this illness. This just really stinks! I really was excited about this Rooster and he's so nice. What a cruddy experience for my first time getting a Rooster. Sorry...but I'm a little upset. Thanks for letting me vent all.
Click to expand...
Do you even know what is wrong with him? He might be stressed from the move, or it might be something that he didn't have before getting whatever from your hens that might already be resistant..I say just eat the thing if you aren't that attached and are worried it will be a life long thing...
My chickens sneeze from time to time throughout the day, but after the 2 we culled none have actually had any issues other than perhaps clogged nose holes, in which case they sneeze to clear them...
 
deerlady11 said:
ok so Husbands thinking is that we need to get rid of the Rooster because he is an obvious carrier and go ahead and treat the girls in hopes that they have not gotten contaminated because they have not had any interactions and its been less than 24 hours since I brought the Rooster here. Now I know that it can only take 5 minutes but I am hoping that because they have been seperated and really shouldn't even had an air exchange that they have not been infected.

This Rooster will basically have to be treated throughout his lifetime for this illness. This just really stinks! I really was excited about this Rooster and he's so nice. What a cruddy experience for my first time getting a Rooster. Sorry...but I'm a little upset. Thanks for letting me vent all.
Click to expand...
Actually, look at it this way....I heat with wood, no matter how careful and hard I try to keep the dust from that localized, it spreads, everywhere, even into rooms with closed doors. It just is.

As for treating him all his life...why? If he recovers from this and it isn't a major outbreak, chances are you won't see it again unless something very stressful happens to him or his environment. It's your choice, of course, but in my mind the damage may have already been done. I would treat and wait and see at this point. Culling is always an option, but it would be a shame to 'shut the barn door after the horse is already out' at this point. From what I've been reading just because he's a carrier, doesn't mean he will pass it on, just that he could if the conditions are right. I am still reading and learning so please do not take this for gospel! Not having dealt with it myself, that I know of, I can't tell you this is 100% right or not. All I can tell you is what I think and have read up to now. You will have to make the final choice.

I can tell you this, my sister had what I now know was probably a mild case of MG in her flock the first year of keeping chickens. She still has all 6 of her birds and they will be 2 years old next month. She has never had to give them an antibiotic again.
 
No he has never been with my girls. I had him seperated in a cage in another room. The only thing is that my girls where on the otherside of the wall in a different room. So they where basically just seperated by a wall. The Rooster is making gurggle sounds and you can hear the "mucus" or whatever it is rattling around in his chest. I have had him less than 24 hrs. This had to be a pre exisiting condition. I had read another post in this forum that said chickens don't get colds.
hu.gif


I just moved him clear to the back end of the barn by the donkeys. Hope they can't catch anything from him. I get attached to about anything. I just feel bad for the poor guy. If it's just a cold ... I would most definetely wait it out...but if it's not. Is it worth putting my girls at risk?

My other question is...suppose my husband goes out and kills my Roo. What do I do to disinfect everything that this bird was in contact with so as to make sure nothing else spreads? Will bleach work?
 
missnu01 said:
Medicated feed is only to prevent cocciodosis. They don't have a medicated feed that does anything else...so may as well stop that. A lot of times it's just a cold and not a really big deal. Sometimes it's serious...
If you have more roosters than you need then I guess you could just eat him, but I am a wait and see how it goes.

There is no reason that chickens need antibiotics once every few months...that is barely better than what we are trying to avoid by having our own chickens.
I would wait and see how he does, and if he gets better then good, and if not then alright, it sucks, but sometimes these things happen. Especially with chickens.


Wait wait wait...so you went and got a new rooster and added him straight with your other chickens, only to then find him sneezing..it's possible wherever you got him from knew he was ill and wanted to pass the buck off to someone else, or he is just sneezy because you use a different bedding material than he might be used to...
You should always have a wait period when you get new birds before you add them with your existing birds. Some things you can't protect against no matter how long you wait to introduce as well.
I got adult chickens to start with, then I got a mama hen and 7 chicks...after the hen and chicks time was up they went into the big coop and everything was fine...then one of the chicks started limping...and then another one started limping..then they both started losing control of most of their body parts...
I am assuming that the older existing chickens were exposed to marek's, and so then gave it to the chicks...but losing 2 out of 7 isn't too bad I don't think...but it's something to think about. I won't ever buy adult birds...I also won't get rid of the ones I already have..so the new chicks will suffer some losses, but eventually I will have a marek's resistant flock. I mean all the chickens I have now I assume are resistant simply because they never got sick when the other new chicks were dying...the remaining chicks have started to lay and everyone is doing great.
But anyway sometimes when adding adult birds to your coop there are some terrible effects.
Click to expand...
Missnu, please check out the link I have added here.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/123652/in-length-article-re-chicken-colds

As for the Marek's, I agree with you about the loss ratio. I am hoping to be able to prove or disprove the forever closed flock theory for myself this year. The wait time to add new birds from everything I've either read or been told is 6 months to 1 year. I am able to keep them seperate for that time frame so it'll be an intersting thing. You're right about the exposure as well. I will never buy birds from a farm store again that haven't been immunized for at least the turkey Marek's, nor from a swap. I also will not buy hatching eggs from anyone who is not NPIP certified and shows all the signs of keeping on top of their stock's health. Burned once......
 

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