EMERGENCY!!! Sick/injured polish rooster!! Has bumblefoot, labored breaths, won't drink, barely eating, stomach bone protruding, barely walks!!!

[ChickenTender1203]

Megamind(sick chicken) is a 1 year old rooster. He got chased by my dog a couple weeks ago. Around the time he started to act weird. We also saw some red poop around this time and began treating the flocks for coccidiosis. We just stopped giving them corid. This last weekend he was again attacked by my dog but this time he only got away because he hid under a log. Otherwise he would have been killed. Just noticed bumblefoot yesterday and assumed it was from being traumatized. Lately he barely walks and these past 2 nights has been sleeping on the floor of the coop. He is fluffed up, sagging his tail, looks droopy, his skin seems really weird, barely eats, won't drink, and he just overall looks terrible. I also noticed that his bone from his crop to under his belly is protruding a bit when I picked him up, hopefully it's normal. I'm really worried about him. His head also got pecked out by the pullets. I just separated him from the flock and put some vitamin/electrolytes in his water. However he is not drinking a whole lot. Not sure if he is sick, injured or just traumatized. If you know what is wrong with him or how I can help him please let me know!

 

[TX Chick Noob]

The advice you are getting from Wyorp in your other thread is the best thing to do for him right now.

 

[ChickenTender1203]

He is still not doing better. He really only eats/drinks or bbn poops when ai take him out and make him stand up. Otherwise he just lays down. He seems underweight. How do you ai check for lice or mites? What else could this be? I know he has bumblefoot and th see t is probably why he is waddling. But he is also lethargic, having trouble breathing it seems, underweight, not eatjng/drinking as much. What do these symptoms imply? Diseases?

 

[TheBantamRoo]

You said you saw red poop. It could be coccidia, but it also could be worms. When’s the last time you have wormed?

And if the poop is SUPER red, like completely red, did you feed them beetroot? In my experience beetroot almost dyed their poop completely red and it’s really wild looking

 

[ChickenTender1203]

You said you saw red poop. It could be coccidia, but it also could be worms. When’s the last time you have wormed?

And if the poop is SUPER red, like completely red, did you feed them beetroot? In my experience beetroot almost dyed their poop completely red and it’s really wild looking

They were just treated for coccidiosis. I have not seen any red poop in a few weeks. They have never been dewormed. Do you think it is worms that he has? I haven't seen any in his poop. And if it was worms wouldn't the other chickens be affected?

 

[TheBantamRoo]

It could be worms. The only thing that doesn’t really make sense is the labored breathing. If the red poop is gone then they should be ok.

You won’t necessarily see any worms in your chickens poop unless they have tapeworms. Most internal parasites just release eggs that you can’t see with your naked eye. You have to go get a fecal test to detect their presence. That test can be done by a local vet, but I don’t think you would need to go do that. If you want to treat for worms, you can get Safeguard goat dewormer and that treats a lot of common worms chickens can get. Just follow the instructions for dosage on the back of the bottle. If you have any questions, there are lots of other people with more knowledge about this than me.

Tapeworms in the other hand reproduce by releasing parts of their body (proglottids) as egg cases into the environment. If a chicken has them, they look like little grains of white rice that may or may not be moving. They may or may not be affected by the safeguard, it depends on what type you have. But again, you don’t have them if you don’t see the proglottids.