Cockerel off feed

[chiknGeek]

The water looks dirty, but it's the vitamins...

 

[Wyorp Rock]

5 month old cockerel

difficulty swallowing, when he tried to drink water it just sort of drooled back out of his mouth.

I don't have a picture of his poop. I will try to take one tomorrow.
I feed 16% protein all flock.
A handful of scratch in the evening (between 11 chickens).
I dewormed with safeguard 1cc
He was not vaxed for Mareks (he is not showing any of the signs of neurological Mareks)
There is another cockerel, same age, had been the subordinate fellow.
I have looked in his throat and don't see any lesions or anything else odd.

He is drinking. He did not seem interested in the wet mash, maybe picked at it a tiny bit.

I would check his crop first thing in the morning before he eats/drinks anything - it should be flat.
Try to get some poop photos when you can.

Has he been fighting with the other cockerel?
The tips of his comb are slightly purple, do you notice if he seems to have any difficulty breathing?

 

[chiknGeek]

His crop has seemed flat/empty in both morning and evening.
He had been chasing the other cockerel for about 30 seconds in the mornings when I let them out of the coop, then they just settle in for the day. I hadn't seen any huge signs of aggression. I had been planning to keep this cockerel and get rid of the other.

I did notice that he had a little purple on the comb. He has not had any rattling sounds or discharge. Two days ago he'd had enough of my prodding and flew around the inside of the hospital coop twice. Afterward I could audibly hear him breathing, but it didn't have any rattling sounds.

It seems that with respiratory issues there are usually fairly clear symptoms? He's been in the hospital coop for 9 days now.

 

[chiknGeek]

Poop from last night is the one on the litter scoop.
Poop in the box is from the night before.

 

[chiknGeek]

Worse news this morning, he clearly has some sort of discharge coming off his beak.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Did you look inside his beak?

 

[chiknGeek]

He would not let me get near him this morning. I didn't even realize he would be able to fly up onto those shelves. I can catch him tonight after chicken bedtime. Headlamps make chicken temding so much easier.

Any specific symptoms to look for in his throat?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

He would not let me get near him this morning. I didn't even realize he would be able to fly up onto those shelves. I can catch him tonight after chicken bedtime. Headlamps make chicken temding so much easier.

Any specific symptoms to look for in his throat?

Look for lesions or yellow pasty material.
I would check him over while you have him gathered up - look for mucous in the nostrils, bubbles in the eyes. Look for lice/mites while you're at it.

The drooling with mucous makes me think he's either got a crop issue (could be a blockage lower - in the gizzard, proventriculous or intestines), something like canker or thrush or a respiratory illness.

 

[chiknGeek]

Evening status report.

He ate his full ration of feed today. He drank water.

I looked in his mouth and didn't see anything that looked like a canker or yellow pasty stuff. I looked at pictures on google for reference.
No lice or mites under his wings, around his vent, or near his eyes.
Eyes were clear and normal.
A little bit of dampness around the nostrils. Much less than this morning.
Crop felt empty.
He'd just had a cecal poop.

I tried to take a picture inside his mouth, but its pretty blurry.

 

[chiknGeek]

I have the chicken health handbook by Damerow. Aside from not seeing anything in the throat, canker seems to be the closest match.

I'm just so confused. None of the symptoms that would make a diagnosis obvious seem to be there.