Rooster w/ Black wattles

[ellisacresfarmtn]

I have a rooster who needs help.

I was gone on a trip these past two days, and when I came back I found one of my younger roosters on the perch in the coop. His earlobes and one of his wattles is a deep, dark purple - almost black. His other wattle is shrunken while the black one is swollen and leaking a brown, foul smelling liquid. When I say foul, I mean that I have been raising chickens for 13 years and don't have a weak stomach, but this made me gag. One of his eyes is swollen shut but his face doesn't look or feel extremely swollen. My first thought was avian influenza, but I am now more convinced it could be a spider bite. It looks like there is a small puncture would on the swollen wattle and a layer of skin on the wattle is peeling off. Nothing else is swollen or has any signs of cyanosis. The only other thing I noticed was inside his mouth his saliva is sticky and he acts like he's a little out of it and is having some trouble breathing. He hasn't coughed or sneezed but he is very reluctant to eat and drink. I don't have a picture, but hopefully my description can suffice for now. I left him alone in a dark room separate from the flock and don't want to stress him out too much. He isn't the most docile roo I have, and even though he is under the weather he still tries to avoid me.

Am I right in my assumption that it's a spider bite. I have around 200 birds and no one else is showing any signs. I'm stressing out here. If you have lots of birds like me you'll know how I feel; one sick bird could mean all of them.

Edited to add: The coop he's in used to be infested with brown recluse, now that I think about it. If he WAS bit by one, is there any saving him?

 

[MysteryChicken]

Can you get pictures?

What's your location? Almost sounds like a snake bite.

 

[Eggcessive]

Welcome to BYC. Yes, please post pictures if you can. I haven’t dealt with anything similar, but he sounds critical. I would make sure that he will drink some fluids and electrolytes. There is no treatment for a brown recluse spider bite unfortunately. The tissue bitten can become necrotic and die, and make them very sick. I hope others with experience will be helpful. Let us know how he gets along.

 

[Papaye]

Post pictures, please...!!
But it seems urgent, so...

(Note : Look... I don't know any chemical products you could buy where you are. But I think I know well enough how to use the natural ones, so if you want to know what I would do in your place...)

First : put vinegar on his wattle. To disinfect the bite.
Second : rub his wattle with olive oil. Olive Oil helps to heal AND to fight necrosis!!

If you can, you then put a big layer of Green Clay on his wattle, and bandage it for approximately 24 hours.
But I think it would be difficult...?

Otherwise, you could just regurlaly rub his wattle with Olive Oil AND also with a mix of honey and Olive Oil.

(...I don't think you have access to Cade Oil? Would be great. Would actually be better!)

But post pictures, so we can see what your rooster looks like for now!

And try to make him drink. He has to drink to heal...!!
You coul even want to put some Olive Oil and thyme in is water to help him : it would benefit him...!
And in his feed, I would recommend you to put at least some honey and (powdered) curcumin : they will act like a natural antibiotic. (You could mix honey and curcumin in wet cat food...?)

Good luck.

(Also, think about cleaning your rooster swollen eye!!
With very warm water first to boost cells regeneration, then with cold water to stop any worsening of its state... Do that 3 times a day until he begins to open his eye, then 2 times a day until his eye look normal again.)

 

[ellisacresfarmtn]

Can you get pictures?

What's your location? Almost sounds like a snake bite.

I am in middle Tennessee, in Gallatin.
Here are pictures of him. My camera is awful so if they're blurry I apologize! I would have responded earlier, but we had a tornado go through.

 

[MysteryChicken]

I am in middle Tennessee, in Gallatin.
Here are pictures of him. My camera is awful so if they're blurry I apologize! I would have responded earlier, but we had a tornado go through.

That rate of necrosis makes me believe it was a rattle snake.

 

[Tonyroo]

Poor guy, hope he can pull through. Brown recluse has very toxic poison.

 

[ellisacresfarmtn]

That rate of necrosis makes me believe it was a rattle snake.

I thought either a snake or a brown recluse.. poor guy. I sprayed it down with some Banixx, but I'm not sure if that will help much. It really does look like it's rotting.

 

[Eggcessive]

Sorry that you have just had some tornadoes there. I had just read that head a few minutes ago. His wattles do appear necrotic and dying. While you were out of town, could he have been fighting with another rooster? He has some black bloody specks on his comb. Please keep us up to date on how he is doing.

 

[ellisacresfarmtn]

Sorry that you have just had some tornadoes there. I had just read that head a few minutes ago. His wattles do appear necrotic and dying. While you were out of town, could he have been fighting with another rooster? He has some black bloody specks on his comb. Please keep us up to date on how he is doing.

It's possible. I checked the other roos though and none of them seem bloody or beaten up. He did switch coops on his own which makes me suspect he may have fought with a roo in the coop he used to be in.