Hey, all! Just had a few questions for anyone who may know the answer. We've had some pretty cold and wet weather here where I live in North Carolina. Our chickens, though they have a sheltered coop to retreat to, have been silly enough to forage in the cold rain while the wind is blowing--a recipe for disaster, as I understand. Well, most of our chickens seem to take this kind of weather surprisingly well, but today we noticed that two of our cockerels--a Leghorn and a Buckeye of about eight months of age--were not acting up to par. They both used to be bold and arrogant, crowing defiantly at the world and trying to mate with our pullets. But today (the second of two actually nice days), they were lethargic, quiet, and uninterested in girls. The Buckeye acted this way towards the end of the bad weather season, but towards the end of the day today he seemed to perk up a bit. The Leghorn, however, has not improved. There's just a lack of that cocky behavior, if you know what I mean. Does anyone know if they have "caught" something? If so, how can I cure it? Would it spread to the rest of the flock? We have around fourteen chickens and every one of them outside the aforementioned two seems to be acting normally. What could be wrong with these two? As a minor detail, I might add that I have introduced a new rooster to my flock, and this new addition has picked on these two cockerels. However, they were defiant and perky despite his bullying them--that is, until the bad weather set in. Any help about this would be greatly appreciated. My chickens get a lot of outdoor exercise and do not like being inside their coop except in the evening, so I usually let them free-range regardless of weather. Normally, they are smart enough to retreat when it gets too bad. But these two appear to be on the dumb side Thanks, and God bless! ~Gresh~
Dr. Vetrx is good as both preventative and treat symptoms. However, being lethgaric can be a symptom of any number of ailments. Do they show any other symptoms? Are they eating, drinking? Do you here any wheezing, sneezing, runny poo....Ext? You may want to post under the Emergency section for more input. Include as much input as possible for all symptoms. Hope they get better for you.
Did you quarantine the new rooster before introduction to the flock? If not he may be the source of the problem. Chickens do not get colds. They are subject to several respiratory ailments after which (in many cases) they are carriers for life. Roaming around in chilly wet weather will NOT make them sick. If that were true I'd have no birds left. You should post in Emergencies with detailed symptoms of both to help determine the problem.
The first thing I would do is separate the one you thing that may be sick. I have a emergency hospital that is a large dog shipping crate that is used for a brooder and is for segregation of an injured bird. It is a extra large kennel with metal sides and I have a heater for it and a separate waterer and feeder. I would put liquid vitamin drops in the water like Vita-Sol and organic apple cider vinegar also poultry electrolytes plus some sugar will help . Another thing is feed them protein protein and more protein. Eggs hard boiled chopped up and flax seed with cottage cheese or rice which they will love. See if you can get them past this problem and reintroduce them back to the flock. Best of luck to you
