Rooster not acting normal for about a week. Lethargic, fluffed, away from flock, stands still, or just lays down. Bubblefoot??? Please help!

[ChickenTender1203]

That's a good sign that it's not a strength issue but an appetite issue. That yogurt has sugar in it which is actually beneficial to him for right now. It will elevate his glucose which feeds all of his systems and will bounce him back onto his scaly little feet more quickly. But sugar beyond that can present a problem for his crop and liver. So that's why the plain Greek yogurt (has live microbes) is better for him.

Make his crumbles available even though he's not craving them at the moment. He'll eat them when he's ready. Meanwhile, any high energy, high protein food will get his systems working again. Offer cooked egg, however he likes egg best, boiled rice, tofu, unsweetened applesauce, raw squash, grated raw carrot. These things will awaken his appetite and give him strength and that will nudge his appetite and get him back to eating normally.

Here's a tip. Get some probiotic tablets, preferably acidolphillus. This will expedite his system returning to normal and greatly improve his poop. It's hard to say whether he had ascites. If he does have it, it's not treatable anyway. It's a symptom of liver disease. It may be this can improve with a little special care. If you can pick up some milk thistle capsules from the vitamin aisle, one capsule a day, whole, directly into his beak can improve liver function.

So say he does have liver disease. Is that fetal? Treatable? If it is ascites does it need to be drained? Givibg him these probiotics and vitamins will help improve liver function but will it not completely cure his liver disease? I don't know much about it and ai just want him to get better. I can adj my mom to get some of those milk thistle capsules and probiotics or at least see if she has them at her store. We have some home canned unsweetened applesauce I'm not quite sure where we got it. Either a family member or possibly from the amish a few years ago. I can ask about it. We usually have whole carrots for the chickens and horses anyways so we can give him some of that. We got a pumpkin for the chickens, would giving him a bit of that help? Thank you so much for your time and effort into helping me, I know it must be annoying having to keep responding to me, but I seriously really appreciate it.

 

[ChickenTender1203]

I had to leave pretty soon after school, so I didn't have time to syringe any water to him. I just put his cream into the yogurt and ai hope he will still take it. I'm not sure how his crop or bulge is doing, either. He was picking up his head, which is good enough for me. I couldn't get him to stand very well. He is still curling his toes but even more so.

 

[azygous]

Do you see that black badge under my name? BYC leadership has designated me as one of the people here who other members can feel free to ask questions and learn. It's what BYC Educators do. You ask. We answer. You get to ask all the questions you want.

Liver disease in chickens is not a curable disease, but with care, a chicken can live a normal life until the liver disease causes liver failure and the chicken dies. Lots of things can cause liver disease. Damage from an illness or toxin exposure or cancer tumors on the liver caused by a virus that also causes the liver to enlarge. (No, bigger is not better.)

I've had chickens with ascites, and I've had very bad luck treating them. Yes, you can drain the fluid, but this is a procedure with risks. My chickens either died from infection from withdrawing the fluid or from shock from being dehydrated before the procedure and suddenly losing a critical balance of bodily fluids. Personally, I've concluded draining is not worth the risk, and it only buys the chicken a few more months at best. It's your call if you wish to do it.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Glad to see he's interested in the yogurt.

Is he doing any better?

 

[ChickenTender1203]

A few minutes ago I tried to get him some yogurt and check on the bulge and his vent. When I went out to see him. I almost thought he had passed on. He didn't pick up his head even if ai tapped on the crate. His face was in the food bowl, but not eating. Just laying there. So ai took him out and he didn't want to stand at all. I checked to see if he was splitting his legs because of the bulge but it wasn't really large enough to be in the way. It spans from the very bottom of his keel bone to his vent. I looked at his vent and it was just covered in crusted yellow, along with his feathers. I wiped the crusted part of of his vent and a bunch of yellow pudge just came out. I wiped at it but it was just slowly pouring out. Really slow with just a little bit after that. I think it might be what is filling up that area on his vent in the bulge. I'm wondering if a bath would help, but he seems to be having a hard time standing so maybe one that he can lay in. I tried to feed him some yogurt, and I put the cream on it again thinking he would eat it but he didn't. I was already late at this point so I just put it away (I actually forgot I left it on the counter whoops). I put him back in the crate and he just kind of stood for a second and then collapsed face first into the water bowl. I left him there. I dont think he was in the water just on the bowl. I still had to feed and let the 2 flocks out so there wasn't much I could do since I can't be late for school. It was kind of my fault because I let my brother borrow my phone for an update. It was going to take an hour and ai didn't want to wait so I went to bed. He said he was going to throw it in my room when it was done, but he didn't. I woke up at 3 and tried to get in his room to get it but he locked his door so I hoped my 4:30 alarm would wake him up. It didn't. So I woke up half an hour late. I also did not get to text my mom to get me those probiotics and stuff. She had texted me that she had already left and was on her way home and she got off late. She doesn't work tonight so I will probably wait for Friday morning to get those instead of making her go shopping on her day off unless we have somewhere to be with a store nearby.

 

[azygous]

If there was a bad smell to the yellow oozing from his vent, he has a raging infection. From the description of his declining behavior, it may be getting too late in the game to save him.

It sounds like you and your family are overwhelmed with other priorities. It may be best to consider euthanizing this roo.

 

[ChickenTender1203]

If there was a bad smell to the yellow oozing from his vent, he has a raging infection. From the description of his declining behavior, it may be getting too late in the game to save him.

It sounds like you and your family are overwhelmed with other priorities. It may be best to consider euthanizing this roo.

The anti fungal doesn't seem to be working. Maybe antibiotics will? Or increase his doesage?

 

[azygous]

The antifungal may not be working because his crop issue is being influenced by an infection. You can try him on an antibiotic, but unless you have one on hand or can buy it today, I have my doubts your rooster will survive even another day.

If you have an old people prescription in the bathroom or can find something at your feed store, let us know what it is, and we can helpyou figure out the dosage.

 

[ChickenTender1203]

The antifungal may not be working because his crop issue is being influenced by an infection. You can try him on an antibiotic, but unless you have one on hand or can buy it today, I have my doubts your rooster will survive even another day.

If you have an old people prescription in the bathroom or can find something at your feed store, let us know what it is, and we can helpyou figure out the dosage.

We have that one antibiotic at TSC. Would a bath help to clean his vent and allow it to come out easier and see if he can empty it all out? Can this antibiotic be given orally? It looks like injection but it would be easier if we could just try to direct it straight into his crop through his mouth. I've heard that antibiotics are frowned upon, is it because it has side effects? Or you cant eat eggs or meat by chickens taking it? Or something else?

 

[ChickenTender1203]

The antifungal may not be working because his crop issue is being influenced by an infection. You can try him on an antibiotic, but unless you have one on hand or can buy it today, I have my doubts your rooster will survive even another day.

If you have an old people prescription in the bathroom or can find something at your feed store, let us know what it is, and we can helpyou figure out the dosage.

Do you understand what exactly his "crop issue" is? It I'm wondering if anti fungal isn't working because it is a bacterial infection and not a fungal. Will antibiotics kill the yeast? I was looking at more of the antibiotics available at TSC. Which one would be best? Do we even know exactly what kind of bacteria we are dealing with? Or what it is affecting? These are just some of the antibiotics that are cheapest they all seem similar. I see liquamycin, terramycin, Duramycin and vetrimycin, if that means anything. There were also some other kinds of those but that was the only terramycin one.