Frostbite’s domino effect

[BrynneB]

My rooster suffered frostbite during the Great Texas Freezeout in February. He has had some prett serious ups and downs since then - he lost a foot. He has been on pain meds and antibiotics the whole time. He has many good days - eating, crowing, communing with his hens. The last few days have been hard - he’s listless, head-swaying, and not eating without help from me. He seems to be retaining his food in his crop longer than he should. I think his gizzard is malfunctioning, and I fear it may be the meds. Does anyone have experience with that?

 

[azygous]

What "pain meds" have you been giving him?
What are the antibiotics? How much, what strength and how long has he been on them?

Some antibiotics will kill off the good bacteria in the digestive system, and the result is a yeast infection. Sometimes, it's only the crop that's affected, but when it's really bad, it can go the entire distance from throat to vent, causing systemic misery.

Here's some info on how to tell if your chicken has a crop disorder, which kind, and how to treat it. https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/

 

[BrynneB]

Thank you. I was looking up malfunctioning gizzard, not bad crop. This helps. The drugs are:
Rimadyl for pain (anti inflammatory), with side effects including kidney damage
Cefpodoxime - antibiotic, which I know will kill the gut flora.
He has been on these for a month. That can’t be good. I have been giving him exact slurry with probiotics and electrolytes via tube, but I think that could be part of the problem if he can’t empty his crop. I am reluctant to massage his crop if that might force dluid into his air sacs.
He’s been off the meds for two days, and he started eating wet bread on his own yesterday.

 

[BrynneB]

What "pain meds" have you been giving him?
What are the antibiotics? How much, what strength and how long has he been on them?

Some antibiotics will kill off the good bacteria in the digestive system, and the result is a yeast infection. Sometimes, it's only the crop that's affected, but when it's really bad, it can go the entire distance from throat to vent, causing systemic misery.

Here's some info on how to tell if your chicken has a crop disorder, which kind, and how to treat it. https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/

Dosage prescribed by vet - 1/4 pill of Remadyl and 1/2 pill of antibiotics twice a day for the last month.

 

[BrynneB]

Dosage prescribed by vet - 1/4 pill of Remadyl and 1/2 pill of antibiotics twice a day for the last month.

I was giving him pill-sized balls of suet peanut butter mixed with grains to try to move away from tube-feeding and give him something more substantive. Sometimes he would eat on his own, but he quit a few days ago, then I realized he wasn’t processing his food. I didn’t want him to dehydrate so I gave him soggy whole wheat bread.

 

[azygous]

Have you determined if he has a crop issue and which it is? Bread can aggravate crop issues by the carbs feeding the yeast infection and the bulkiness adding to an impacted crop. Read over the article I linked to. You may need to treat him for yeast.