black_fleet
Songster
Hello all,
Long time lurker, first time poster.
I have a barred-rock rooster named The Governor (Gov'nah!), roughly around one year in age. Last night as I was locking up my flock, I noticed that The Governor was not his usual happy self. Usually, when I put my ladies away, he follows right in to eat and maybe do a little dance or two for a few of them. Last night, he proceeded to climb into the roost and lay right down, not bothering with any of his usual routines.
This morning, when the birds were loosed from their house, he emerged last and very lazily for this guy. I always feed them within the outer enclosure of their house, but they usually don't care too much for the feed in the morning. Instead, within a few minutes most of the birds will run out to the fields, yard, etc. All the hens did as so, as I would expect. The Governor however never left the outer enclosure of the coop. A bit later, we noticed that he gave a small amount of poop, looking green like mint-chocolate iced cream, and maybe slightly foamy, but not even as big as a penny in size. While we watched him, he drank a lot of water, but never approached the feed once. No pecking at the ground or scratching either. Knowing that an isolating chicken can be a sign of illness, I immediately decided to quarantine him in our 'bird emergency care center'. When I caught him, he didn't put up nearly as much of a fight as I would expect from this hefty little guy.
In the time I've watched him so far, he's pooped twice more, both times expelling nothing but clear watery matter. His comb also seems to be a darker shade of red than it is normally.
I have examined him for any wounds and there are no apparent injuries. While handling him, he did not seem to be in pain or in any more distress than I would expect him to be from being handled.
A bit about their food and drink. I always use a small amount of apple cider vinegar in their water, and also regularly clean and disinfect their water sources. I also regularly dose them with red pepper seeds alongside their feed for health. Their feed is a mixture of crumble and cracked corn, though they prefer the bugs in the fields.
As far as the rest of the fleet goes, I have thirteen chickens, two rooster and eleven hens. The other rooster can be somewhat aggressive towards The Governor, but nothing bloody and generally there isn't any physical contact. I am aware that a lack of hens could cause depression in this bullied rooster, and am working towards increasing my fleet size appropriately. The Governor was hatched and I didn't have the heart to rehome him at the time, knowing I already had a rooster.
We live in Florida and the weather has been a bit willy-nilly lately, one day it might be in the 50s-60s during the day, dropping to the thirties at night, followed by a seventy degree day the next, then maybe some rain, then back to the cold. It's been a wild one these past few weeks.
Their housing is a three part setup. I have an elevated box with roosts for them to sleep on. Plastic crates with mesh wire running over them type of thing. That leads to an external enclosure from which they cannot escape without being let out, though they can still go 'outside' if they please. There is good ventilation of the box, but it may have some drafts to be honest. Outside of this two piece setup is a fully fenced in area which serves as the chickens 'yard', though they rarely stay in it anymore.
We live on a decent sized farm and the animals have free roam during the day. Mostly just pine forest in the back and grassy fields everywhere else.
On another note, I haven't really wormed any of my birds beyond supposed natural dewormers like red pepper seeds. In the twenty five years I've kept chickens, I've never had problems. Last year however I bought a few birds from tractor supply, and lost a couple of them to illness, but its been quite a while since the last and there was quite a while in between each illness.
I don't really care to see a vet as the wallet wouldn't really allow it, so I am hoping to get some advice here. These forums have been an absolute boon in the past for me. Any insight or advice would be greatly appreciated, and if there is anything I can do to clarify the situation, I will do so to my best abilities. I really love this little guy and I would be distraught if anything happened to him.
Long time lurker, first time poster.
I have a barred-rock rooster named The Governor (Gov'nah!), roughly around one year in age. Last night as I was locking up my flock, I noticed that The Governor was not his usual happy self. Usually, when I put my ladies away, he follows right in to eat and maybe do a little dance or two for a few of them. Last night, he proceeded to climb into the roost and lay right down, not bothering with any of his usual routines.
This morning, when the birds were loosed from their house, he emerged last and very lazily for this guy. I always feed them within the outer enclosure of their house, but they usually don't care too much for the feed in the morning. Instead, within a few minutes most of the birds will run out to the fields, yard, etc. All the hens did as so, as I would expect. The Governor however never left the outer enclosure of the coop. A bit later, we noticed that he gave a small amount of poop, looking green like mint-chocolate iced cream, and maybe slightly foamy, but not even as big as a penny in size. While we watched him, he drank a lot of water, but never approached the feed once. No pecking at the ground or scratching either. Knowing that an isolating chicken can be a sign of illness, I immediately decided to quarantine him in our 'bird emergency care center'. When I caught him, he didn't put up nearly as much of a fight as I would expect from this hefty little guy.
In the time I've watched him so far, he's pooped twice more, both times expelling nothing but clear watery matter. His comb also seems to be a darker shade of red than it is normally.
I have examined him for any wounds and there are no apparent injuries. While handling him, he did not seem to be in pain or in any more distress than I would expect him to be from being handled.
A bit about their food and drink. I always use a small amount of apple cider vinegar in their water, and also regularly clean and disinfect their water sources. I also regularly dose them with red pepper seeds alongside their feed for health. Their feed is a mixture of crumble and cracked corn, though they prefer the bugs in the fields.
As far as the rest of the fleet goes, I have thirteen chickens, two rooster and eleven hens. The other rooster can be somewhat aggressive towards The Governor, but nothing bloody and generally there isn't any physical contact. I am aware that a lack of hens could cause depression in this bullied rooster, and am working towards increasing my fleet size appropriately. The Governor was hatched and I didn't have the heart to rehome him at the time, knowing I already had a rooster.
We live in Florida and the weather has been a bit willy-nilly lately, one day it might be in the 50s-60s during the day, dropping to the thirties at night, followed by a seventy degree day the next, then maybe some rain, then back to the cold. It's been a wild one these past few weeks.
Their housing is a three part setup. I have an elevated box with roosts for them to sleep on. Plastic crates with mesh wire running over them type of thing. That leads to an external enclosure from which they cannot escape without being let out, though they can still go 'outside' if they please. There is good ventilation of the box, but it may have some drafts to be honest. Outside of this two piece setup is a fully fenced in area which serves as the chickens 'yard', though they rarely stay in it anymore.
We live on a decent sized farm and the animals have free roam during the day. Mostly just pine forest in the back and grassy fields everywhere else.
On another note, I haven't really wormed any of my birds beyond supposed natural dewormers like red pepper seeds. In the twenty five years I've kept chickens, I've never had problems. Last year however I bought a few birds from tractor supply, and lost a couple of them to illness, but its been quite a while since the last and there was quite a while in between each illness.
I don't really care to see a vet as the wallet wouldn't really allow it, so I am hoping to get some advice here. These forums have been an absolute boon in the past for me. Any insight or advice would be greatly appreciated, and if there is anything I can do to clarify the situation, I will do so to my best abilities. I really love this little guy and I would be distraught if anything happened to him.
