how to keep chicken stable until vet app? Tube feeding?

[FolkSonginC]

I have a vet appointment for my rooster herb tomorrow but he seems to be declining, he's lost a lot of weight even though he's eating which I read could be some sort of bacterial infection that stops him from processing food correctly? He has also had green droppings which I believe would indicate the same. He's been stable for the past week but he's started to decline despite my efforts, I got an appointment for him at the vet tomorrow to get some antibiotics but I'm wondering how I can keep him stable till then. He's been getting electrolytes which seem to help, but should I try tube feeding him? I'm making a trip into town to get whatever I need so if anyone has any suggestions at all that would be very helpful. I've also never tube fed before so if anyone has any advice on how to do it or what to get that would be great. He's having trouble standing up now but seems better after I've given him electrolytes. He's eating a bit but I'm wondering if there's anything I can give him to give him a temporary energy boost or keep his condition up while I wait.

 

[cherrynberry]

I have a vet appointment for my rooster herb tomorrow but he seems to be declining, he's lost a lot of weight even though he's eating which I read could be some sort of bacterial infection that stops him from processing food correctly? He has also had green droppings which I believe would indicate the same. He's been stable for the past week but he's started to decline despite my efforts, I got an appointment for him at the vet tomorrow to get some antibiotics but I'm wondering how I can keep him stable till then. He's been getting electrolytes which seem to help, but should I try tube feeding him? I'm making a trip into town to get whatever I need so if anyone has any suggestions at all that would be very helpful. I've also never tube fed before so if anyone has any advice on how to do it or what to get that would be great. He's having trouble standing up now but seems better after I've given him electrolytes. He's eating a bit but I'm wondering if there's anything I can give him to give him a temporary energy boost or keep his condition up while I wait.

You can try syringe feeding him raw eggs. They contain a lot of protein good luck!!!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I have a vet appointment for my rooster herb tomorrow but he seems to be declining, he's lost a lot of weight even though he's eating which I read could be some sort of bacterial infection that stops him from processing food correctly? He has also had green droppings which I believe would indicate the same. He's been stable for the past week but he's started to decline despite my efforts, I got an appointment for him at the vet tomorrow to get some antibiotics but I'm wondering how I can keep him stable till then. He's been getting electrolytes which seem to help, but should I try tube feeding him? I'm making a trip into town to get whatever I need so if anyone has any suggestions at all that would be very helpful. I've also never tube fed before so if anyone has any advice on how to do it or what to get that would be great. He's having trouble standing up now but seems better after I've given him electrolytes. He's eating a bit but I'm wondering if there's anything I can give him to give him a temporary energy boost or keep his condition up while I wait.

If your appt is tomorrow, then do your best to encourage him to drink and eat.
Have your vet show you how to crop feed him or you can read this https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/crop-feeding.75454/

 

[LaFleche]

How old is he (month, years)?

When did you last deworm him? As good roosters mostly feed the hens with their findings and only eat the leftovers after the hens are done, they are often more affected by worms and can emaciate quite quickly.

 

[LaFleche]

He's eating a bit but I'm wondering if there's anything I can give him to give him a temporary energy boost or keep his condition up while I wait.

Try some scrambled eggs with fine oatmeal.

 

[FolkSonginC]

How old is he (month, years)?

When did you last deworm him? As good roosters mostly feed the hens with their findings and only eat the leftovers after the hens are done, they are often more affected by worms and can emaciate quite quickly.

He is three years old roughly, and I doubt he would be eating leftovers because he only has one hen and they always have food available, when he was healthy I would see him eating a lot. I haven't dewormed any of my poultry before, I've never seen any worms or had any illnesses that seemed to be worm related. Could worms be causing his symptoms?

 

[FolkSonginC]

If your appt is tomorrow, then do your best to encourage him to drink and eat.
Have your vet show you how to crop feed him or you can read this https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/crop-feeding.75454/

Thanks for the link, I ended up reading a bunch of articles and watching some videos and I followed a guide I read on here and got some baby parrot formula and some nutridrench and ended up tubing him with the drench and then some of the parrot formula. It took a little bit to figure out but then I was able to do it pretty smoothly. I would have waited for the vet to show me but they are still doing covid precautions and not letting people in, so I figured there was no reason to wait especially as he seems to be getting worse. Fingers crossed for tomorrow.

 

[LaFleche]

So what did the vet say, was he able to help?

 

[FolkSonginC]

So what did the vet say, was he able to help?

Unfortunately she ended up strongly advising that we euthanize him, because he was so far gone and had lost so much weight, so we ended up putting him to sleep She also said that she thought it was mareks because he was starting to show some signs of numbness in his legs, but we decided not to get a necropsy because it would be a long drive to bring him up, so we're just going to treat everything as if it was mareks and hope for the best that it doesn't kill any more birds. We think the origin of the mareks is a used coop we bought several years ago, and looking back many of the birds that have been housed in that coop died mysteriously and I chalked it up to other things, but it was probably mareks. I've never had a bird die in my other chicken coop that we bought new, and a lot of the chickens in there are from a hatchery and vaccinated for mareks so it seems to make sense that the vet was right.

 

[LaFleche]

Unfortunately she ended up strongly advising that we euthanize him, because he was so far gone and had lost so much weight, so we ended up putting him to sleep She also said that she thought it was mareks because he was starting to show some signs of numbness in his legs, but we decided not to get a necropsy because it would be a long drive to bring him up, so we're just going to treat everything as if it was mareks and hope for the best that it doesn't kill any more birds. We think the origin of the mareks is a used coop we bought several years ago, and looking back many of the birds that have been housed in that coop died mysteriously and I chalked it up to other things, but it was probably mareks. I've never had a bird die in my other chicken coop that we bought new, and a lot of the chickens in there are from a hatchery and vaccinated for mareks so it seems to make sense that the vet was right.

I am sorry. The only thing you can do when dealing with Marek's is to breed for resistance and keep a closed flock.

De-worming on a regular basis from an early age helps to keep their intestines strong and prevents nutrient deficiencies, that can play a part in how susceptible they become.