lethargic peacock, help please!

[chicknmania]

Helllo all. Sapphire, our 5 year old peacock, is sick. He seemed fine two days ago. Yesterday I noticed that he stayed in the barn all day, up in the rafters. I looked at him up there with binoculars (this gives you an idea how high up it is) and he looked back at me seemed alert, no sneezing, swollen eyes, eyes were bright. I did notice him shaking his head quite a bit.

this morning he is lying on the barn floor, and did not get up for breakfast. He's very droopy. However, I can't catch him, he's still pretty alert and fast. There's just nothing to see. No sneezing, coughing, swollen eyes, runny nose, discharge, diarrhea. A little head shaking, is all. and the lethargy.

He will eat treats, so, because of the head shaking and the possibility he has an ear infection or something, I gave him a Baytril tab crushed up in grapes and bread. He ate all. Normally I would not start with antibiotics, but I don't know what else to do, until I can catch him.

I wonder if lice or mites could cause this? They have two baby pool (or equivalent size) dust baths, but I almost never see the peacocks dustbathe. The peahens do. Is there anything I can give him orally that might help fight lice or mites, like Ivermec maybe? What would the dose be?

I also considered the possibility of worms, due to the flock history in the past year or so, but I did deworm them with Levamisole in July, and Strike 3 in August through September. They had the Strike 3 in their feed for a month total, but hard to say how much he really got of that. They finished it a week ago.

We've had some problems in the past year with what I believe is Marek's, but I read somewhere that peafowl do not get this disease. (?)

What can I do for him until I can catch him? He's dropped his train of course, so very hard to catch. Any and all suggestions are welcome! Please hurry!

I'm also posting this in the emergencies section.

 

[casportpony]

I know you know this, but it's almost impossible to treat him if you can't catch him.

-Kathy

 

[chicknmania]

OK, so...I caught him tonight. Been treating him for the past few days with baytril and Canker meds too, and he is improving, but slowly. I'm concerned though because he has white diarrhea, iwith just a slight tinge of blood. Cocci??? Thoughts???? Plan is to treat him with Amprol, jic. Appetite is still way off, but he's a lot more active. Only other symptom is the blood tinged diarrhea.

 

[Dany12]

5 years old peacock whith cocci ... i never heard of that !
Of course the list of diseases is long but there are so rare diseases that does not count!

For me an adult peacock who's lethargic and have diarrhea ... it's HISTOMONIASIS !

 

[chicknmania]

Well, I have no idea what that is, so fill me in? And as far as an older bird getting cocci (he's actually six) any bird can get coccidiosis at any time, and especially if their immune system is depressed for another reason, which his probably is. And since cocci is species specific, he can get it whereas the chickens may not have it

 

[chicknmania]

I'm very unhappy about having to confine him, and he is too of course. I was just winning his trust and now that is all destroyed. I'm afraid the stress of being confined will not do him much good either. And the other peas are very stressed out about it, too. Not a good situation at all.

 

[chicknmania]

OK, so HISTOMONIASIS is Blackhead. And we have already pretty much ruled that out. If you read my original post you will see that I said that our flock is on a regular deworming schedule. I have already discussed this with someone who is familiar with poultry and his opinion based on our deworming schedule this past year, Blackhead in the bird is extremely unlikely.

 

[chicknmania]

ALSO (and this is just for anyone's benefit who might actually be interested and not know) Blackhead is usually found in young birds. It's extremely contagious to other peafowl. AND it's treated with Metronidozole which he's already on!!! He IS showing some improvement with that med, and also the Baytrll, but we don't know which one is helping him. And lastly, the symptoms of Blackhead include SULFUR colored diarrhea (not white) and there's no mention of blood tinge in the feces as a symptom, either, although there certainly could be. Although they certainly could get sick still, currently, our remaining peafowl appear to be healthy, and it's been almost a week since we noticed Sapphire's symptoms.

Still think it's Blackhead??

 

[casportpony]

Not all blackhead poop will be yellow, some will be runny, some will have blood. Unless you deworm often, they can still get blackhead. It's not as common in older birds, but older birds still get it. Another important fact is that almost all birds with advanced blackhead will also have E. coli, and those poops can be many colors, too.

White poop with mine usually means dehydration and/or coccidiosis.

Then there's necrotic enteritis, which is often secondary to coccidiosis. Metronidazole will treat that, but it should be given twice a day for at least two weeks. Dose is 50mg/kg twice a day for 14 or more days (my vet had me give it for one month).

I think he has one or more of the following:
Coccidiosis
Necrotic Enteritis
Blackhead
Dehydration
E. coli
Capillary worms

-Kathy

 

[chicknmania]

I don't see how he could possibly have worms, but if I can get a fecal I will send it off to the vet, because then I can identify cocci, also.. I do deworm them often, but we have had problems with worms in the past year because it has been extremely wet and cool for the past year and half, up until mid summer. That was why I dewormed them twice this past summer. But I also dewormed them late last fall. The last multi-fecal check we did recently tested negative for everything. Anyway, we'll see. Thanks for the input. He is still lying down but he did eat all his dinner last night, and most of his breakfast.