HELP!! Newbie with sick rooster!

[Pip's chicks]

I have heard my rooster kinda cough a little in the past but he was always full of zest, ate well, and seemed good for the most part. I just thought I would keep an eye on him and obviously keep him away from the other birds because he is new and I have only had him a few weeks. This morning I noticed he didn't crow like his usual self. He is in the house in a x-large doge kennel and when I went to check on him and feed he was just sitting there lethargic and did not want to eat

I don't know what to do?? Could this be a upper resp inf that has now gotten worse there is no discharge from his nose or anything or could this be a heavy infestation of intestinal worms? I don't know what to do for him but he isn't lookin so hot this am at all and not eating scares me too. Any suggestions I am new in the chicken biz and have no clue what to give him or where to start??

 

[stoopid]

Does he rattle or gurgle when he breathes?

 

[Pip's chicks]

yes!! I just got him out to take a closer look and he sounds horrible!!! He even feels warm to me

 

[stoopid]

Update, please. Did you call Peter Brown?

 

[The_Rooster_84]

Sounds like what im putting up with any updates/advice?

 

[Pip's chicks]

Well this is what I did....After researching and seeing there were several antibiotics to chose from I kept seeing Baytril and Tylan as being the most frequent ones being used for an URI. I went to both feed stores in my town and no Tylan....in fact they barely had anything worth buying. I use to be a vet tech for dogs and cats and realized I had some 136 mg Baytril pills left over from my dog one time. I know that is wwwayyyy to much so I cut them in 1/8ths which is approx 17 mg crushed them up into a power and mixed it with about 2 ml of water in a syringe. Forced it down the hatch slowly to make sure he swallowed it and didn't aspirate it. I figured at the rate he was going he would die without anything so this was better than nothing. He got two doses one in the am and one in the pm. He wouldn't eat all day nor did I see him drink any water and he basically slept all day and night. By this morning I heard him crowing.. Whoo hoo! He is still congested but eating now and drinking on his own and way more alert. I cut the meds down to once a day today and probably will continue to give him the Baytril for at least 10 days. So I think he is responding to the meds and hopefully we will just get better and better from here.

 

[groundpecker]

I'm glad your roo is doing well. Remember that even though you might heal him, whatever he had/has will infect the whole flock. My suggestion is to cull, before it's too late for the rest of your flock.

 

[Pip's chicks]

It will still be contagious even if he is completely over it? I understand being contagious for a certain period of time but for the rest of his life??? AAAgghhhhhhh this is not good.

 

[groundpecker]

Pip's chicks :

It will still be contagious even if he is completely over it? I understand being contagious for a certain period of time but for the rest of his life??? AAAgghhhhhhh this is not good.

If it is a respratory illness, he will have it the rest of his life. The signs of illness may diminish, but he will always carry the disease. The disease will show itself once in a while if he is stressed or while molting. For more information, look in the threads for CRD or other resperatory illness. Chickens can live with certain diseases the rest of their lives, but will infect all other chickens around.

If you decide to keep him, you should never sell or give away any bird from your flock.​

 

[Pip's chicks]

Well I just posted a new thread before I read this....I truely believe this is a bacterial pneumonia because he has no other signs of the upper respiratory infections that people are talking about..no watery eyes, nasal discharge, diarrhea....the only thing was rattles in his chest real bad. If he will be a carrier for the rest of his life.....this is very bad news. I will be down with a new coop this weekend and planned to have him share it with the 4 week old babies I have (of course when they got a little bigger that is)....but now...I don't know what to do!