1yo. rooster weak suddenly and has lost weight

[orchidman]

I have one rooster and 10 hens since last spring. Friday I noticed the rooster wasn't crowing and seemed light when i picked him up. Yesterday he stopped following flock. I isolated him and brought him into a heated building. He is quite tame and I don't want to lose him.
He eats and drinks. But he is definitly ill. His Poop is somewhat watery no blood. Should I give him antibiotics. I have chlorotetracycline now. Thanks for any help.

 

[Blue_Myst]

Does his crop feel full? If you can't quite tell right now, feel it first thing in the morning before you feed him. If it's still full, you may have a crop problem on your hands. If so, gently messaging the crop and feeding bread soaked in olive oil can help.

Maybe you could give him a bit of yogurt or scrambled egg? It should help him perk up a bit at any rate.

Best of luck with him!

 

[orchidman]

Checked his crop and that's OK. Did give him some scrambled egg which he ate and seemed to enjoy.
I've been feeding 16% protein layer feed for the hens. Would the lower protein level eventually weaken him. My chickens do free range also but in the winter this is minimal.

 

[Kittymomma]

Quote:
Don't do antibiotics, using them because you don't know what is going on is a good way to build resistence in your flock so they won't work when you really need them. If you haven't already, check him over really well for parasites. I'm a big fan of doing fecal floats before worming, but in a roos case (no eggs to throw away) you might just go ahead and worm him since that seems a likely culprit for the symptoms he's showing. Keep going with the high protein treats, they'll help him keep his strength up while you track down the problem. I'm putting a link to the poop page at the bottom of this post. If you haven't checked it out already take a quick look and see if anything matches up. Good luck with your boy!

http://www.chat.allotment.org.uk/index.php?topic=17568.0

ETA: If you do worm him and it makes him better you'll need to do the rest of the flock too because they'll also be carying a worm load.

Edit x2---I forgot

 

[orchidman]

Thanks for the help.
Is wazine the wormer I'm looking for??

 

[Kittymomma]

Yes, you can also use ivermectin, but it's stronger so I'd start with the wazine and follow up with ivermectin in two weeks. You run the risk of putting him in shock if he has a big worm load and you start with the ivermectin.