Kaiyafitness
Chirping
- Apr 17, 2021
- 38
- 10
- 56
Hi everyone- this one’s a bit of a puzzle!
I have a 2 year old Silkie rooster, he is my absolute favourite chicken he’s super affectionate and friendly as I hand reared him, and him and his brother lived in a seperate coop from my main flock for the majority of their life- they were a great duo. Both roosters were in great condition and then a couple weeks ago both started to lose weight despite being wormed, in response I changed their feed from a standard pellet to a higher protein crumble and was mixing this with egg.
One week ago after being slightly lethargic and uninterested in food, the brother rooster died quickly, in response I naturally freaked out at this loss and the possible loss of my favourite rooster. The following day he appeared extremely lethargic, uninterested in moving or food and I was unsure if this was grief/ shock from losing his brother or if he was also sick. He was unable to go back to the main coop so I brought him two new pullets as I didn’t want him to be alone, and none of the hens from the main coop would move. Since then he has been continuously up and down, during the day he is outside with the hens but not moving around too much and crowing sometimes, but at night he appears very lethargic. He had a big appetite a couple days ago and was eating lots (crumble, rice, egg), but within the past two days is not interested and appears to have discomfort swallowing? He stands with his chest puffed out, I have checked his crop which I cannot feel as I assume it is empty from not eating much, and just his oesophagus is there. He has been wormed 3 times now with a strong wormer from the vet, so can’t be worms. With his symptoms of weight loss and lethargy and a dirty vent, I noticed more yellowish poos with a bit of blood in last week so I thought it may be coccidiosis and he is currently on coxiprol, on his second day- I have not noticed any improvement.
I syringe feed him water so ensure he is staying hydrated, a couple days ago I was giving some Epsom salts in case there was some sort of toxicity.
I am really unsure of what else I can do, I really don’t want to lose him and feel like I’m running out of options of what I can do to help him, if it is coccidiosis can he even get this if he’s been wormed? And if so how long can I expected to wait for improvement.
Other important things to note when his brother died there was blood coming from his beak, which I hadn’t ever seen before from a chicken- assuming they have the same thing maybe that’s helpful? Also both of them has fowl pox as brand new chicks and managed to battle through this- also thought that could be important.
I would really appreciate any advice and thank you in advance
I have a 2 year old Silkie rooster, he is my absolute favourite chicken he’s super affectionate and friendly as I hand reared him, and him and his brother lived in a seperate coop from my main flock for the majority of their life- they were a great duo. Both roosters were in great condition and then a couple weeks ago both started to lose weight despite being wormed, in response I changed their feed from a standard pellet to a higher protein crumble and was mixing this with egg.
One week ago after being slightly lethargic and uninterested in food, the brother rooster died quickly, in response I naturally freaked out at this loss and the possible loss of my favourite rooster. The following day he appeared extremely lethargic, uninterested in moving or food and I was unsure if this was grief/ shock from losing his brother or if he was also sick. He was unable to go back to the main coop so I brought him two new pullets as I didn’t want him to be alone, and none of the hens from the main coop would move. Since then he has been continuously up and down, during the day he is outside with the hens but not moving around too much and crowing sometimes, but at night he appears very lethargic. He had a big appetite a couple days ago and was eating lots (crumble, rice, egg), but within the past two days is not interested and appears to have discomfort swallowing? He stands with his chest puffed out, I have checked his crop which I cannot feel as I assume it is empty from not eating much, and just his oesophagus is there. He has been wormed 3 times now with a strong wormer from the vet, so can’t be worms. With his symptoms of weight loss and lethargy and a dirty vent, I noticed more yellowish poos with a bit of blood in last week so I thought it may be coccidiosis and he is currently on coxiprol, on his second day- I have not noticed any improvement.
I syringe feed him water so ensure he is staying hydrated, a couple days ago I was giving some Epsom salts in case there was some sort of toxicity.
I am really unsure of what else I can do, I really don’t want to lose him and feel like I’m running out of options of what I can do to help him, if it is coccidiosis can he even get this if he’s been wormed? And if so how long can I expected to wait for improvement.
Other important things to note when his brother died there was blood coming from his beak, which I hadn’t ever seen before from a chicken- assuming they have the same thing maybe that’s helpful? Also both of them has fowl pox as brand new chicks and managed to battle through this- also thought that could be important.
I would really appreciate any advice and thank you in advance