In December, I posted here about a young rooster with what we thought was poopy butt. Well, things haven't really changed at all for him despite everything. He's now about 5-6 months old.
Basic symptoms are that he's got non-stop diarrhea. Sometimes he gets constipated and then the next day he's back in explosive action. We're talking sickly sweet smelling, projectile spray poops. They are awful - alternating from normal brown to grey and sometimes they even look a bit like mashed up seeds. His backside is wet with poop no matter how often I get out there and clean him up and he makes a weird cackle sound every time he poops, presumably because it's wildly uncomfortable for him.
However, he is still eating, still drinking and has actually recently started hanging out with all our younger flock members. He is the only one to show any kind of sickness but even then, he doesn't seem lethargic. He still chases food and will put up a bit of a fight when another rooster or hen wants what he has. If he wasn't tailless (from trimming him), smelly and covered in poop, you would think he was a totally healthy and normal rooster. His feathers are a little dull but his wattles and combs are still red.
We've gone through periods of soaking him, washing him, applying anti-fungal creams to his vent and skin (thinking it was gleet) and trimming all his butt feathers off. I've offered more grit for them, checked the yard for anything he could be getting into but nothing seems to help.
It's hard to justify the $100 vet fee to clean him up because we aren't intending to keep him at all. In fact, I was hoping to give him to somebody else this week for the stew pot but in his current state, I don't think he'd even be edible. My partner and I have never culled an animal either.
We have no idea what to do next - is there something we've missed? Are there other conditions he could have? No other flock member has anything wrong with them. Or in the worst case scenario, is it inappropriate to advertise looking for somebody to cull him - would anybody even take him with a nasty butt!? I feel terrible for him but besides his poopiness, he seems content.
Basic symptoms are that he's got non-stop diarrhea. Sometimes he gets constipated and then the next day he's back in explosive action. We're talking sickly sweet smelling, projectile spray poops. They are awful - alternating from normal brown to grey and sometimes they even look a bit like mashed up seeds. His backside is wet with poop no matter how often I get out there and clean him up and he makes a weird cackle sound every time he poops, presumably because it's wildly uncomfortable for him.
However, he is still eating, still drinking and has actually recently started hanging out with all our younger flock members. He is the only one to show any kind of sickness but even then, he doesn't seem lethargic. He still chases food and will put up a bit of a fight when another rooster or hen wants what he has. If he wasn't tailless (from trimming him), smelly and covered in poop, you would think he was a totally healthy and normal rooster. His feathers are a little dull but his wattles and combs are still red.
We've gone through periods of soaking him, washing him, applying anti-fungal creams to his vent and skin (thinking it was gleet) and trimming all his butt feathers off. I've offered more grit for them, checked the yard for anything he could be getting into but nothing seems to help.
It's hard to justify the $100 vet fee to clean him up because we aren't intending to keep him at all. In fact, I was hoping to give him to somebody else this week for the stew pot but in his current state, I don't think he'd even be edible. My partner and I have never culled an animal either.
We have no idea what to do next - is there something we've missed? Are there other conditions he could have? No other flock member has anything wrong with them. Or in the worst case scenario, is it inappropriate to advertise looking for somebody to cull him - would anybody even take him with a nasty butt!? I feel terrible for him but besides his poopiness, he seems content.
