What to do with Rooster?

[deerlady11]

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.

 

[Haunted55]

Ok Haunted55 and others..let's go back to the original thought here...the horse is out of the barn and why close the door. Now I obviously still have not introduced this Rooster to my hens. But I did walk in the room with the same clothes on. So lets say this is Coryza...if I get rid of the Roo..shouldn't I also get rid of my 2 hens? I mean I don't know what to do. If I get the rooster through this what do I do with him then. I put him with my hens...who might never have gotten sick to begin with. I get rid of Rooster and keep hens I can never bring any other bird in as long as the two hens are still alive. Man what a mistake I made. I thought that I seperated him enough but now I have risked my wonderful girls life.

So basically when you start with chickens....you can never add to them. You have to raise their eggs to expand the flock? WHat happens when your Rooster dies? How do you continue to breed your hens if your not suppose to bring outside birds into your flock?

I picked my 2 hens out from a group of 25 chickens when they were about 6 months old. They will be a year old in June I believe. They have never had a problem. This is truely frustrating and sad.

Again thank you all for your time and help.

Let's back up here a minute and look at this realistically. More home flocks than can be imagined have some of these diseases already. Anyone who tells you their chickens have never been sick is either telling an untruth or not paying attention. Okay? Truth. Now not everyone has Coryza, or MG, or some of the other nasties, but MG is one of the most overlooked disease of poultry there is. People say..."Oh they have a cold". Okay, they have cold like symptoms but not being a mammal, they can't have the common cold! Period, end of discussion. Chickens do not get colds. Allergies? Yes. Sneezing from something in the air? Yes. These normally do not cause coughing. You got coughing and sneezing and rattles in the lungs.....it's a disease in chickens. Onward.....

You treat your hens as if they are sick. We've already discussed this. Exposure is there and you want to minimize the 'hold',whatever this turns out to be, on your girls. This is one time an antibiotic is your friend and should be given as a prophylatic measure. It doesn't matter at this point, so again, onwards.

After treatment of all of your birds, roo and hens, put them together. This is what you have. They can live a normal and healthy life, produce offspring, etc.. As for adding any birds in the future, you just have to use common sense and really good biosecurity measures. This is now your life. You will need to keep new birds seperate for at least 6 weeks and watch to see if they show symptoms of a 'cold' after being added to your flock or in their seperated enviroment. If they do, treat them. That's it. Eggs from your original flock, if able to hatch will have some immunities to whatever this happens to be. Most that hatch will live, but there will be some that don't. It's just the way it is.

I have something much worse in my own flock. I have Marek's. Even bringing in immunized birds doesn't mean they won't all die and cause a reaction in my original flock that will kill them as well. With Marek's, there is no warning, it just is. With a respiratory illness, even Coryza, there is warning and it can be treated. Marek's cannot. Do you see where I'm going here? What you now have isn't a nice thing, but it isn't necessarily a death sentence for your birds now and future. Put it into perspective.

If I seem harsh, I am really sorry. I know it may seem like the worst possible thing to happen, but in reality, it isn't. It just takes a little more thought and attention. Your chickens do not know they are any different from any other. If you let them they will live out their lives doing chicken stuff just like anybody elses.

 

[Haunted55]

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.

 

[missnu01]

Ok Haunted55 and others..let's go back to the original thought here...the horse is out of the barn and why close the door. Now I obviously still have not introduced this Rooster to my hens. But I did walk in the room with the same clothes on. So lets say this is Coryza...if I get rid of the Roo..shouldn't I also get rid of my 2 hens? I mean I don't know what to do. If I get the rooster through this what do I do with him then. I put him with my hens...who might never have gotten sick to begin with. I get rid of Rooster and keep hens I can never bring any other bird in as long as the two hens are still alive. Man what a mistake I made. I thought that I seperated him enough but now I have risked my wonderful girls life.

So basically when you start with chickens....you can never add to them. You have to raise their eggs to expand the flock? WHat happens when your Rooster dies? How do you continue to breed your hens if your not suppose to bring outside birds into your flock?

I picked my 2 hens out from a group of 25 chickens when they were about 6 months old. They will be a year old in June I believe. They have never had a problem. This is truely frustrating and sad.

Again thank you all for your time and help.

Or you can do what I do, hope for the best and keep moving on. I had some birds ride the marked train to chopville, but I didn't kill all my birds, and 10/12 are doing great! Right after getting the chicks that got paralysis I got a silkie rooster who is also doing great. Practice the best bio security you can, and cull birds that are sick, but I think it's an absolute waste to kill birds that are healthy other than they have been exposed to this or that. Get rid of any that are symptomatic, but there's a good chance you'll be pleasantly surprised how many chickens don't catch something one has, or catch it and are unaffected. I'm hoping when the new chicks are large enough to be added to the main flock that I don't lose too many, but I'm ready to deal with whatever happens. If I always keep the strongest chickens in the face of health adversity, then I should end up with a pretty unshakeable flock.

 

[casportpony]

Deerlady11, thought you should have the rest of the Baytril info:

 

[Betsy57]

I had a hen get a respiratory problem very quickly last year. One day she started sneezing, the next day wheezing, the third day she could barely breathe. It hurt me just watching her trying to breath. Made me so sad. I couldn't get her to eat or drink so I put her down. Last fall, my big rooster, Red, started crowing hoarsely so I thought, "Oh oh! He's sick now". I isolated him, gave him antibiotics, plain yogurt, apple cider vinegar, and in a week he seemed better so I put him back in with the gals. He was so excited to be with his gals again, or maybe still somewhat sick, his comb turned PURPLE right away. I thought, "my gosh, he's suffocating!" So I grabbed him and put him back in 'time out'. After another week of treatment, he was fine. Put him back in with the gals and no problem. I love having chickens, but they can be stressful when one wants to take good care of them. I only get chicks from hatcheries and always have them vaccinated for Marek's; will not get one from someone else no matter how "good" or clean their operation looks. Just never know what may be lurking out there. It is a good idea to have a place where a sick chicken can be separated from the others to be cared for and hopefully later returned to the flock. Hope your rooster is doing okay. I recommend the Chicken Health Handbook by Gail Damerow. Excellent resource as well as the great people on BYC.

 

[Betsy57]

Did you use them together or consecutively?
I hope they do have it, Duramycin is the first choice, then a more stubborn case you would switch to the Tylan. Call me silly, but I just have a problem with using the hardcore drugs as a first line of defense with these things. I know the way things went down for you it was kind of taken out of your hands, but I don't believe it's the best choice.

Now before I get yelled at too much let me explain. If the Duramycin-10 had been given first, for the 14 day course, it most probably would have worked, more work for you, but in the end your rooster would have been able to fight it off and also build up resistance against another outbreak. If for some reason it hadn't worked, maybe there was a secondary infection as well, then you could have switched to the Tylan. Unfortunately, you're now working backwards. In my experience, with myself, Cipro, the human equivelent of Baytril, doesn't work that great on respiratory infections. It will work, but because it isn't the best for the infection, it takes a lot longer to get results.

Yes, I used both Penicillin and Duramycin at the same time. He wasn't drinking or eating much so I thought he wouldn't get the needed medication so I did the shot so I knew for sure he was getting some medication in him. I bought the Tylan but never used it.

 

[deerlady11]

So we have been talking about these respiratory diseases and how easily they spread. I was thinking about this as I was buying a new waterer for Manny from TSC the other day. They had all the chicken stuff right next to the chicks they are selling at the store. So can the chicks carry these diseases? If so I imagine they could be spreading germs on the products that we buy that are sitting right next to them. I bleached the waterer before I took it out to the Roo but it was just a thought I was curious about.

 

[Betsy57]

So we have been talking about these respiratory diseases and how easily they spread. I was thinking about this as I was buying a new waterer for Manny from TSC the other day. They had all the chicken stuff right next to the chicks they are selling at the store. So can the chicks carry these diseases? If so I imagine they could be spreading germs on the products that we buy that are sitting right next to them. I bleached the waterer before I took it out to the Roo but it was just a thought I was curious about.

How is he doing? What medications are you giving him, if anything? If the chicks come from a hatchery that has a particular disease, sure the chicks can have the disease and/or be a carrier. But I think most hatcheries are very careful and pass inspections to prevent spreading of diseases (check the hatchery for sure, not all are very concerned about diseases and certifications). You did the right thing, sterilize anything you buy new before giving it to the chickens. Plus, I do that monthly for all my feeders/waterers.

 

[deerlady11]

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?