New 10 month old Rooster ill after transport

As far as we know he was fine when I took him to my car. I noted he stunk really bad, but assumed he'd gotten pooped on by someone on the top roost. He rode in a fabric pet taxi with several chicks. They are all Crested Cream Legbars. Beyond that I didn't notice anything unusual. When I got home I put him into a kennel with water and food. The chicks are all fine, but I noticed something slimy on his beak and figured he'd gotten poop on his beak in transport. Came to check on him a few hours later and saw him shaking his head and scratching. I looked closer and saw something like a flea on speed run up out of his head feathers and run in a loop around his comb a couple times. I immediately took him out and rubbed poultry powder into his feathers. He was very compliant and didn't fight anything I did to him. I put him back in the kennel. Came back out a few hours later and he was still shaking his head occasionally and now his head was drooping and eyes were half closed. I looked closer and saw he had some slimy stuff dripping from his nostrils and beak - looked like mucus. I realized I had not seen him eat or drink. I took him in the house and put him back in the fabric kennel to keep an eye on him. I mixed up some probiotics and electrolytes in his water and tried to give him some in a dropper. He had no interest but I did get some into him. He'd look ok and then start drooping, eyes fluttering and head twitching. I kept forcing a little of the water mixture into him throughout the day. Each time I would scrape some more dried on mucus from his beak/nostrils. I opened his mouth to see if I could observe anything stuck in his throat or anything. I saw nothing but one little piece of grass on the inside of his beak which I removed.


This morning he is still alive thank goodness, and I am letting him wander around the living room a bit since he wanted out. But he still doesn't want to eat or drink and the tips of his comb look like they are turning black. He mostly just stand sort of hunkered down, and looks droopy. I scraped more dried mucus from his beak and forced more water mixture into him. His poop is mostly the white which I think is the urine. I am afraid he is dehydrating himself and not sure what else to do.


Is this a heat injury? It was in the mid 90's yesterday when I transported him. He was in the rear of the car, the A/C was on and the car was comfortable to we humans but may not have circulated to the very back too well.

The previous owner examined the rest of the breeder pen and no one else has any signs of any illness.


Thanks for any help!!

Got some pictures, not sure how good they are or if they will help but worth a shot. Couldn't really get the mucus to show up but you can see some of the blackening comb.

He appears to have some sort of respiratory disease. The smell, nasal discharge, and lethargy make me think that Infectious Coryza is a possibility. If you can get it, I would purchase some Tylan50 or Tylan200 (the 200 version is the same, just more concentrated). Both antibiotics can generally be found at a livestock supply store.

Tylan come in an injectable form, and in a powdered water soluble form. The injectable works faster, and is what I'd recommend. Once you learn how to inject (I'm sure you can find some great into on injecting on BYC--I know how to, but am not good at explaining it), it is easy and fast to do. But if its the only thing you can get, the powdered water soluble form will work, too. The injectable Tylan50 dosage is 1cc for large-fowl, .5ccs for bantams, injected into one side of the breast once daily for 5 days. The Tylan200 injectable dosage is .5ccs for large-fowl, .1-.3ccs (depends on the size of the bantam) for bantams, injected into one side of the breast once daily for 3-4 days. Alternate the side of the breast that you inject into, and use a small gauged needle, as Tylan can make the injection are painful.

I'm not sure of the soluble Tylan dosage, so I'd just search around on BYC to find that. When treating with either form of the antibiotic, do not give any dairy products, probiotics, or Apple Cider Vinegar. Vitamins/electrolyte are fine, though, and everything is fine to give after the treatment. Improvement is usually seen after 2-3 days of Tylan treatment.

Along with Tylan treatment, give your rooster supportive care, like you would to a human that has a cold. Make sure he is kept warm and clean. If he doesn't seem interested in eating, entice him to eat with foods such as moistened chicken feed, mealworms, scrambled eggs, applesauce, or fresh fruit. If he isn't drinking, dip his beak in water or drip water on the side of his beak to get him to drink. Or continue giving him water with a dropper (but be careful not to get water into his lungs). I'd also put some poultry vitamins/electrolytes into his water, like you've been doing, as that will give him an extra boost.

Good luck with your rooster!

I hate to say this but I think you bought a sick rooster. His stinking may be a sign of coryza. He probably has one of the respiratory diseases like coryza, mycoplasma, LT, or others. If you don't take him back (which I would do) you can either kill him or treat him with antibiotics. Unfortunately he has exposed the chicks. Antibiotics you can use are Tylan 50, Duramycin-10, Oxytetracycline, and others Your local farm store can help you find them. I would call the place I got them and have a little talk. Maybe he's innocent, but he may have had disease before. These things become chronic, and may never be cured. Here is a good sight for disease info: http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ps044

I should add that I got the rooster from a good friend so I know for sure she has never seen any signs of him ever being sick. There is no doubt there was never any sign of illness till he was transported. (He was in the breeder pen with her flock when I picked him up.) But could the stress have brought it on?

Yes, in a bird who has been sick before and/or is a carrier, stress can bring on an outbreak.

familypendragon said:

I should add that I got the rooster from a good friend so I know for sure she has never seen any signs of him ever being sick. There is no doubt there was never any sign of illness till he was transported. (He was in the breeder pen with her flock when I picked him up.) But could the stress have brought it on?

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Sorry, I didn't mean to offend you. Sometimes roosters are fed layer feed which has 3 times the calcium they need, so the urates in his droppings may be due to the stress on his kidneys if her is eating layer, or could be do top dehydration. Roosters can be pretty high strung when they are moved, so I hope he settles down for you , and is not really sick. Watch him for eye bubbles, swelling of the eyes and face, sneezing, and eye/nasal drainage. If he develops any of those symptoms you might want to start the meds. Watch them for coccidiosis in the next couple of weeks, since they may be exposed to different strains at your place.

treatment: Water soluble antibiotics or antibacterials can be used. Sulfadimethoxine (Albon®, Di-Methox™) is the preferred treatment. If it is not available, or not effective, sulfamethazine (Sulfa-Max®, SulfaSure™), erythromycin (gallimycin®), or tetracycline (Aureomycin®) can be used as alternative treatments. Sulfa drugs are not FDA approved for pullets older than 14 weeks of age or for commercial layer hens. While antibiotics can be effective in reducing clinical disease, they do not eliminate carrier birds.

I keep dimethox on hand as it is so effective for most bacterial chicken infections as well as coccidosis.

Eggcessive said:

Sorry, I didn't mean to offend you.  Sometimes roosters are fed layer feed which has 3 times the calcium they need, so the urates in his droppings may be due to the stress on his kidneys if her is eating layer, or could be do top dehydration.  Roosters can be pretty high strung when they are moved, so I hope he settles down for you , and is not really sick.  Watch him for eye bubbles, swelling of the eyes and face, sneezing, and eye/nasal drainage.  If he develops any of those symptoms you might want to start the meds.  Watch them for coccidiosis in the next couple of weeks, since they may be exposed t o different strains at your place.

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No, no - not offended - I just didn't explain well enough at first. There is no question that I was somehow duped by an unscrupulous breeder as this was her "baby" She is very worried as well. I still am not sure what is going on. I spent all night trying to find something with "Black comb" and "mucus" as the symptoms :/ He has eaten salad and apples, and I think drank a little water on his own. I changed to clear water in case he didn't want/need the electrolytes. He woke us up this morning crowing in the living room at 5 am So I am hoping that means he is feeling better. We moved his carrier to the front porch. I haven't gotten to give a thorough going over yet. But I will let you all know what I find. I wish I could find information on heat injury to chickens. Everything I find pretty much just tells you how to keep their coops/runs cool in the summer and then warns that they can die from heat stroke. I can't really find anything that describes what symptoms would happen if they got heat injury but didn't die.

Well, I just visited with him on the porch and what I saw was that his comb seems back to regular color, he blew snot bubbles out his nose, there is no drool coming out of his beak now though, he shook his head a few times, I hear no sound accompanying his breathing but it looks slow and labored as I see his chest rise and sink very distinctly and slowly, and he is making little chinking noises like my Australorps make. He ate and drank in front of me on his own. He looks alert when I make a noise but then sinks down shutting his eyes, dropping his head down and falls alseep while breathing deep and heavy. His legs feel cold when I touch them but his beak feels hot.

If he smells it does sound like Coryza. I was shipped sick juvies who had it when I took them out of the box late this winter and have been through it. As the chicks were also in with him they may now be carriers as well. Hopefully the chicks are in quarintine. You should know in a few days if he passed it to the chicks. I would dust the chicks too if you haven't already. Good luck!