Food and water amounts for sick/recovering rooster

[BonNuit]

Looking for wisdom from those more experienced.

My roo, Otis, ended up with severe frostbite on his combs (one part actually came off -- and was collapsing in the coop. When I brought him inside, he just sat motionless and only drank if I dropper hydrated or put his beak in the water. He took in no food for 36 hours.

I am treating his comb with spray hydrogel. I gave him 40 mg of aspirin the first two days.

I supplemented him with diluted Gatorade at first, replaced with Rooster Booster, and use a high calorie kitten supplement to get some calories in him. After the three days he would only eat VERY small amounts if I held the food up to him. He would only drink if I dropper him or stick his beak in the water.

He's been living inside since. He is now standing, moving around a bit, and eating little amounts on his own. He still isn't drinking on is own. He is definitely improving however. We are on day five.

My question: how much food is enough? Today he has eaten one egg, a tsp of pumpkin, a very small amount of pellets (this is the first time he has even tried to eat something more solid), and a tsp of scratch grains. He still isn't drinking water on his own. I have supplemented him with rooster booster and a high calorie kitten supplement. How much food is enough? I am aiming for at least 1/4 c. water a day.

He's 11 months old, a heritage RIR, and normally nearly 10 pounds. He also seems to enjoy watching tv with my 80 year old mum.

Thank you in advance.

 

[aart]

FB doesn't look too bad.
Wonder if he has other issues?
I leave hands off of FB.....and give EL/Vits to fight off cold stress.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/frostbite-in-sw-michigan.74597/
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/aarts-extreme-weather-spiel.75893/

 

[BonNuit]

FB doesn't look too bad.
Wonder if he has other issues?
I leave hands off of FB.....and give EL/Vits to fight off cold stress.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/frostbite-in-sw-michigan.74597/
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/aarts-extreme-weather-spiel.75893/

Thank you for answering. Here's a better picture of the worse part. I have only put the medication (spray only) to keep where it broke off from getting infected. I wondered the same thing -- but he shows no other signs of illness except listlessness and lack of eating/drinking at this point. Of course, that has caused loose stools -- but as he eats more, they are getting more normal, too -- albeit not a lot.

Edited to add -- only a week before this -- he fought off a hawk ... and actually won. We saw the whole thing from our window and rushed to help him. He seemingly had not a scratch on him -- but the hawk (who was on his back at one point) had feathers all over) -- before we chased it away. I wonder if this stress, combined with the frostbite just lowered his resistance? All his hens are doing just fine (14 of them).

 

[vantain]

Thank you for answering. Here's a better picture of the worse part. I have only put the medication (spray only) to keep where it broke off from getting infected. I wondered the same thing -- but he shows no other signs of illness except listlessness and lack of eating/drinking at this point. Of course, that has caused loose stools -- but as he eats more, they are getting more normal, too -- albeit not a lot.

I would agree that his frostbite doesn't look that bad, and certainly wouldn't be causing him to collapse. I have a cockerel who has about the same level of FB on his comb, and he's fine. Yours is probably suffering from something else. His eye looks cloudy and watery in the photo. Is he breathing normally? It is possible he might have become hypothermic for some reason. I'm no expert, just making a comment.

 

[BonNuit]

I would agree that his frostbite doesn't look that bad, and certainly wouldn't be causing him to collapse. I have a cockerel who has about the same level of FB on his comb, and he's fine. Yours is probably suffering from something else. His eye looks cloudy and watery in the photo. Is he breathing normally? It is possible he might have become hypothermic for some reason. I'm no expert, just making a comment.

Thank you so much for answering.

He is breathing normally. His third eyelid was caught by that photo, I believe, as his eyes always appeared clear throughout this. The first signs something was wrong was that he wasn't coming out first in the morning, didn't seem to be eating, and then they morning I brought him inside, he had collapsed after stumbling out of the coop. That was the morning that I noticed the part of his comb that had actually come off -- and thought he might just be in extreme pain, or had dehydrated.

I've seen no other obvious symptoms of illness, other than lack of feces/runny that is relatively expected when not eating or drinking.

 

[webmistress32]

I had a rooster with the exact series of symptoms including the frostbite. It was during a big cold snap like we are having now in Chicago land. In the end we found a big external infection on his tissue ... E. Coli. Long story short he ended up passing away after many many weeks of nursing care. I would recommend looking over his body very carefully under the feathers and see if you find anything.

 

[NatJ]

My question: how much food is enough? Today he has eaten one egg, a tsp of pumpkin, a very small amount of pellets (this is the first time he has even tried to eat something more solid), and a tsp of scratch grains. He still isn't drinking water on his own. I have supplemented him with rooster booster and a high calorie kitten supplement. How much food is enough? I am aiming for at least 1/4 c. water a day.

He's 11 months old, a heritage RIR, and normally nearly 10 pounds. He also seems to enjoy watching tv with my 80 year old mum.

Have you tried offering wet chicken feed? Sometimes chickens like it better that way instead of dry.

For how much food, maybe you could guess by feeling his crop. Normal, healthy chickens wake up with an empty crop and start eating right away. They have something in the crop all day long, and stuff it quite full in the evening so they can be digesting all night long.

Of course the same number of calories is a bigger or smaller pile depending on what kind of food it is, so it's still hard to judge, but feeling his crop might at least give you some idea.

A common estimate for laying hens is about 1/4 pound a day, which I think is usually between 1/2 cup and 1 cup depending on the brand. I don't know if he would need less than a laying hen (because he's not laying, and because he's not very active right now), or more (because he's bigger and is also busy healing.)

Sorry I don't have a specific answer on the quantity Hopefully he will get his appetite back soon, so he can decide it for himself.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Thank you for answering. Here's a better picture of the worse part. I have only put the medication (spray only) to keep where it broke off from getting infected. I wondered the same thing -- but he shows no other signs of illness except listlessness and lack of eating/drinking at this point. Of course, that has caused loose stools -- but as he eats more, they are getting more normal, too -- albeit not a lot.

Edited to add -- only a week before this -- he fought off a hawk ... and actually won. We saw the whole thing from our window and rushed to help him. He seemingly had not a scratch on him -- but the hawk (who was on his back at one point) had feathers all over) -- before we chased it away. I wonder if this stress, combined with the frostbite just lowered his resistance? All his hens are doing just fine (14 of them).

The first signs something was wrong was that he wasn't coming out first in the morning, didn't seem to be eating, and then they morning I brought him inside, he had collapsed after stumbling out of the coop.

Have you checked him really well for any hidden wounds he may have suffered from the Hawk attack?

His feet and toes are not affected by frostbite, correct?

Photos of his poop?
I would try to encourage him to eat his normal feed, but if he needs extra, then tube feeding would be a good idea. Most use Kaytee Baby Bird formula to tube, but you may be able to soak his food well enough that you can syringe it. https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/crop-feeding.75454/

If vet care is an option, that would be good, but it's understandable if not.

Frostbite can take it's tole, if he was struggling for days before you brought him in. If he were mine, I would be inclined to try an antibiotic to see if that makes a difference. Still check him really well for injury. Amoxicillin (Fish Mox) can be ordered online.

 

[BonNuit]

I had a rooster with the exact series of symptoms including the frostbite. It was during a big cold snap like we are having now in Chicago land. In the end we found a big external infection on his tissue ... E. Coli. Long story short he ended up passing away after many many weeks of nursing care. I would recommend looking over his body very carefully under the feathers and see if you find anything.

When you say an external injury -- do you mean like a wound? What should I be looking for exactly? Thank you.

 

[BonNuit]

Have you checked him really well for any hidden wounds he may have suffered from the Hawk attack?

His feet and toes are not affected by frostbite, correct?

Photos of his poop?
I would try to encourage him to eat his normal feed, but if he needs extra, then tube feeding would be a good idea. Most use Kaytee Baby Bird formula to tube, but you may be able to soak his food well enough that you can syringe it. https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/crop-feeding.75454/

If vet care is an option, that would be good, but it's understandable if not.

Frostbite can take it's tole, if he was struggling for days before you brought him in. If he were mine, I would be inclined to try an antibiotic to see if that makes a difference. Still check him really well for injury. Amoxicillin (Fish Mox) can be ordered online.

Thank you for answering.
As far as checking him really well -- I have pulled his feathers apart looking for signs of mites, etc -- I haven't seen anything unusual. I also used the shower head on his bum last night (since he had a diaper on for part of the day) -- and even wet, I didn't see any signs of issue -- but I can certainly check better and more since two of you brought this up.

I checked his feet very well -- there's no sign at all of frostbite.

I have attached two photos of his poop. The first is the terrible diarrhea he had until he started taking in some food/drink. The second, is once he started eating. Last night he had solid poops (no pic yet) although they were slightly green.

I've called around for a vet that will take poultry -- the only one I could find is more than 45 minutes away -- pretty impossible since this ice storm hit, and I am also caregiving for a family member on chemo.