Did Denagard Kill My Rooster?

[machoman]

Hello,

My flock has what I believe to be mycoplasma so I ordered some Denagard and it arrived today. Everyone has a sneeze, now some are coughing and three have rattly breathing. It's been going on for a while, but has gotten worse the past week, hense the purchase. I added 16 cc of 12.5% Denagard to 1 gallon of water and filled everyone's water. We have 4 coops. The last coop had only one rooster who was to be a meat rooster, but I wasn't sure when I would cull him, so I treated him too. He got the last of the second gallon of water. He started drinking the water right away and seemed very thirsty. He also didn't run to his feed like he normally does. Everyone drank their water.

I came back to grab two to other meat roosters to cull when I heard shuffling coming from the singular rooster's coop. He was unfortunately in the very final movements of death. Time elapsed between drinking the water and death was about 30-45 minutes. Everyone else is completely fine ( 7 laying hens, two breeder roos and 6 meat roos ), about 7 hours have gone by since I filled the bowls. I have no idea what happened. The only thing I can think of is the Denagard, but everyone is just dandy. He had a sneeze and a slight cough. I did process his coop-mate a few days ago, whitheld food for 24 hours prior and noticed during processing that his crop was very full. Thoughts?

 

[wood&feathers]

I haven't used this medicine, does it come as a liquid or powder? Is it possible the water near the bottom had too much in it?

 

[machoman]

It came as a liquid. I wondered the same thing myself. I did make sure to shake it up a little bit, but I also wondered if it somehow settled to the bottom.

 

[dawg53]

Most likely whatever respiratory disease he had is what killed him. Denagard is used to treat MG/MS/MM in poultry. Were your birds diagnosed as having MG/MS/MM and denagard recommended to treat it? If not, it's possible denagard would be ineffective in treatment if it was infectious coryza or infectious bronchitis for example.
Your dosages were correct and the other birds didnt have any adverse effects nor death. If denagard was the cause, it would most likely affect your other birds as well, but it didnt.

 

[silkiechicken]

Unlikely the antibiotic had any direct affect on the roo even if you over dosed him with it.

As for a very full crop after 24 hours of feed withdrawl... are they getting enough grit? Perhaps he had a blockage in the gut or a sour crop?

 

[machoman]

There was not a vet diagnosis. Just my own research and input from other seasoned chicken owners. They were given grit in their feed, I did switch feed about a week ago and it seems a bit more powdery, so maybe more grit? Unfortunately I don't know much about this rooster as he was given to me about 2 weeks ago as a meat rooster. He seemed fine, this came as a shock to me. I feel very badly about it. When I culled the other one that came with him, it did not go well. He was big and older and I'm petite. So, it was decided I would most likely give the other one away to someone who was more comfortable culling such a large one. I felt badly about his mate suffering and now it appears he has as well.

 

[goodeggsforyou]

There was not a vet diagnosis. Just my own research and input from other seasoned chicken owners. They were given grit in their feed, I did switch feed about a week ago and it seems a bit more powdery, so maybe more grit? Unfortunately I don't know much about this rooster as he was given to me about 2 weeks ago as a meat rooster. He seemed fine, this came as a shock to me. I feel very badly about it. When I culled the other one that came with him, it did not go well. He was big and older and I'm petite. So, it was decided I would most likely give the other one away to someone who was more comfortable culling such a large one. I felt badly about his mate suffering and now it appears he has as well.

I just want to say I'm sorry for the difficulties. I appreciate your kind heart and can sure relate to not wanting them to suffer. Take care and best to you.