This is my second thread about our Red, 16 month old Buff Orpington rooster. A month ago began acting withdrawn. The weather was very hot and at first I associated his behavior with the heat and the fact that he had relinquished flock Alpha to one of his flock mate roosters. Two weeks ago my husband noticed that his comb and wattles were getting paler and paler. I wormed the flock at that point. We've had problems with Coccidia before and thought that might be flaring up again. Everyone perked up a bit, even Red but then he returned to his droopy self and started standing in a corner of the coop by himself. I picked him up at this point (I do not handle my roosters unless I have to) and discovered that he has lost a significant amount of weight. Keel bone very prominent. Next, I wormed with Ivermectin and once again he perked up a bit and has a bit more color in his face and is a bit more active but still not close to being normal. He is gobbling down food. In addition to his regular game bird crumbles he has had a small dish of oatmeal twice a day. I have been giving him probiotics/rooster booster in his water, but his general physical condition is so poor that I've withheld the second dose of Ivermectin that was due on Sunday and started him on Clavamox out of sheer desperation at this point. Today we brought him inside, mainly because I wanted a chance to see what his droppings were looking like. He immediately produced a semi formed, bright green granular stool with a lot of clear fluid along with it. I haven't seen any parasites in the dropping. We have no Avian vet nearby. I'm researching every day trying to find something that might help this sweet rooster get back to the girls he loves. Frankly, I've tapped out my medical knowledge and I'm sitting here almost in tears from the helplessness I'm feeling as I watch him slowly disappear. I'm wondering at this point if he doesn't have clostridium perfringens secondary to the coccidiosis I treated early on. Help? Anyone? I think the only thing keeping him going right now is is strong will to live.
What ever is going on with him, it is in his digestive tract. I was just talking to him and could hear his bowels making noise. His stool is still very watery/loose. Anybody? I'm not too proud to beg.....
Bump! Red is still with me this morning. He came out with the flock for their morning treat of WW bread. He still looks pale. I checked for lice or mites and found nothing. He seems unsteady on his feet. Still hoping to find a solution to whatever is wrong with him.
Hmm. Make sure he's drinking plenty of water. When my hens get sick i make sure they eat watermelon (sugar and lots of water). I also try to keep them quiet and cool. I have discovered yogurt is pretty good, it helps their digestion plus they really enjoy it! Oystershells also help digestion. Another thing that helps is cooked meat. I know it sounds bad but they actually really like chicken, egg yolks and egg shells are also good for them. Hope this helps!
Thanks Gomara1. Fortunately he is eating and drinking well. In fact, he seems to be steadily drinking water as his chest feathers are always wet. I've been giving him pro-biotics for 2 weeks now, emptying a regular pro-biotic capsule into oatmeal for him and adding Rooster Booster to his water. Today I am adding cider vinegar to their water. During the day I have been bringing him inside to stay in our shop where it is cool and taking him back outside to the coop to let him roost with his flock. This is Red before he got sick. A flock owner wouldn't find a better rooster than Red. He is gentle with both humans and hens, funny and fearless. The way he looks now is a shadow of this healthy happy boy. I can't figure out what has happened that has targeted only him. He is the only chicken in the flock of 30 that is showing these symptoms. I really appreciate the suggestions. I'll add some ground beef to his rice. That should perk up the protein. If Rice acts on poultry the way it does on humans it should hopefully settle his gut down.
I'm sorry for your loss. Sometimes we aren't able to tell what is wrong with our chickens unless we perform a necropsy, and look for something abnormal with the internal organs. A state vet or poultry lan may also perform a professional necropsy, if the body is refrigerated and shipped on ice packs.
Thank you Eggcessive. I did think about doing that but I didn't think about freezing him, etc when I was up at 2:30AM. I'm making a list of things I am going to pursue concerning what happened to Red. One of them being learning how to do fecal floats for parasites. I believe that he had an infestation of something that didn't affect the rest of the flock. What though is the mystery. His stool changed to mucous liquid white and clear towards the end telling me that there was parasite die off. He had been wormed with Ivermectin paste almost two weeks earlier and it wasn't effective until I re-wormed him yesterday with 3 good drops of the pour on under his wing. Obviously the pour on was more effective but it was too late.
