ilovegumdrop
In the Brooder
- Nov 12, 2021
- 9
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Gumdrop is a California Valley Quail rooster who is a few months over a year old. I have other outside poultry but he lives separately from them inside. For the last two weeks he has been not his vibrant self. I had a similar scare when he was 3. mo. old (Nov. '21) and became was unwell and had diarrhea. At that time, I had put him on Corrid which he was on for several days and didn't seem to be improving so the vet in this area (who is not very familiar with treating birds) prescribed the antibiotic, Baytril and not long after that he made a full recovery! Fast forward to this winter, he started having a few days of intermittent brown runny diarrhea but he wasn't acting all that different in his behavior. After those three days, I started seeing signs that he didn't feel good as well like huddled up with ruffled feathers and closing of his eyes in addition to the diarrhea getting worse and very mucusy and bubbly. I then got him on Rooster Booster electrolyte, vitamins, & probiotic mix and within a couple days he seemed to be not completely back to normal but greatly improved. His poops were starting to be mostly formed and much more normal-looking, he also was acting pretty much himself. Then after a few days of that I noticed he back-tracked a bit and he was getting more diarrhea and was sometimes closing his eye again. It has been two weeks since he's started not feeling good and is not recovered so yesterday I decided to give him Baytril again to see if it would clear it up. This morning he seems like he feels the worst he's felt through this whole episode. This time it has not progressed as quickly as when he was unwell when he was younger and not been quite as bad, however, he has been acting similarly and he got very weak last time so it has been upsetting to me. I have also been feeding him dandelion greens and clover through this period. As well as bringing in dirt for him to peck through. His appetite is not the same - he is not as into his dry crumble. He normally eats Purina Game Bird Starter 30% protein as well as dried meal worms and occasionally hard boiled egg and greens mix from the store. In the summer he gets outside and eats wild greens, etc. I also recently started offering chick grit. The vet can send off a poultry fecal test for cryptosporidium and avian giardia which I haven't opted for yet. Does anyone have any thoughts on what could be happening to him and what to do?? It would be most appreciated!
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