Hi all, I am a complete novice to chicken husbandry. I rescued a barred rock rooster that was roaming the neighborhood. It appears that he ran away from home because the other roosters were picking on him, ended up about 2 miles+ from where he started! Anyway, he is about 7 months old and a real sweetie, follows me everywhere, sits on my lap...Yeah, I'm spoiling him. I do have a question for you all. He seems to be eating and drinking and acting just fine, looks healthy, clear eyes, alert...but, he is breathing through his mouth a lot and there is a clear discharge coming from his nostrils. Should I be concerned? Thanks in advance for any advice!
Hello there and welcome to BYC! How nice you could rescue this rooster! You are too kind. However it sounds like he has a respiratory infection to which he needs antibiotics. Chickens don't catch colds per say, but when they get respiratory infections it generally kills them. I would get him started on something like Duramycin or Sulfadimethoxine. Some feed stores will carry Duramycin so I would call around and see if you can locate any. If you have to order it on line, it might be too late. Sounds like you are definitely spoiling him! Keep us posted and I hope you can get him started on meds soon!
Hi Glad you could join us here! How nice of you take him in and spoil him! He sure does sound like a friendly chap!! TwoCrows has left you some great advice so I hope he is well agian soon from his breathing troubles. Wishing you the very best of luck and enjoy your time here on BYC
Sounds like a very lucky rooster to have found you. Hope the meds will fix him up just fine - and eventually we'll get to see photos of him. Welcome to BYC
Welcome to BYC! It's great to have you. Sounds like he may have a contagious respiratory disease. Chickens don't get colds - they get a more permanent sickness. Mycoplasma is the most common one and fits the symptoms you described to a T. If you plan on keeping only him, then I'd recommend treating him with Tylan or Duramycin (Tylan is more effective) and seeing how he responds. If you plan on getting more birds, you should have him blood tested to determine exactly what he has and then decide if it is worth it to add to the flock or if you may want to consider other options like culling. If he does indeed have Myco or another contagious respiratory disease, then all other birds who come into contact with him will become infected. These diseases will typically create "carriers"; these birds may show symptoms but recover or they may never become sick, but they contract and spread the disease regardless. These diseases can be treated but they cannot be cured; once they are in a flock, they are there for life. Infected birds may relapse or begin to show symptoms when they are stressed. In the meantime, you should not sell or transfer him to anyone who has chickens, as he may infect their flock.
Welcome to BYC Glad you joined the flock! That is a very lucky rooster, having found you. You were given good advice by the above posters, I hope he'll recover soon!
Thanks everyone for all the great advice. Today he doesn't seem to be doing any of that. I wonder if it might have been due to the heat, or could he have eaten something that causes that reaction? I am looking up the antibiotics recommended, it would probably be best to treat him just in case. But today there is no drainage at all and no mouth breathing.
