***My frizzle Serama is sick***

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Charles, my GORGEOUS and super sweet frizzle Serama Roo seems to be feeling under the weather.

I have owned him for about a month.

Hatched: November 2010. He will either be a bigger B in class size or a C. I don't reallly care what size he gets. He is BEAUTIFUL!

Housing: has always lived in a cage inside the home. Not sure with his previous owners what the set up was like (but he did live in their house), but at my house he shares a nice sized cage with a smooth chocolate Serama hen. They get along WONDERFULLY. She seems fine/she is NOT sick. Bedding is pine shavings. I never allow the cage to get too dirty.

Feed: is fed DUMOR brand crumbles from TSC, and healthy tidbits, like a bit of scrambled egg.

Symptoms:
He doesn't crow anymore. Hasn't for about a week.

He still roosts at night and gets down in the morning.

He still eats and drinks (however he is not as hefty as the hen anymore. Still, he is not skinny skinny).

Poop looks healthy.

He doesn't hold his tail errect. He seems to "sit" on his bottom in the cage & his frizzle tail just lays down on the bedding.

He is *NOT* wheezing, sneezing. Eyes look normal, NO facial swelling.

His comb used to be BRIGHT RED and waxy. Now it is a medium red (not pink) but has definitly lost some of its color and no longer looks waxy and shiney.

He is very calm.

I have checked for lice/ mites. None were visible on the vent/under wings.

I started putting organic apple cider vinegar in his water. I started this TODAY.

As for medicines I have handy:
Duramyacin: an antibiotic from TSC
Selmet
Electrolytes
Some kind of poultry wormer, not sure of the brand name. It is a blue & white bottle that came from TSC. I have NEVER used it. All my birds seemed healthy before this. I am NOT sure if he was ever wormed by his previous owner. I doubt it, since her was a house chicken...

(***can I mix electrolytes in with apple cider vinegar?***)

Any other things that I have noted?

YES. Recently I posted the following thread on a sick QUAIL I keep as a pet:

"So... It is not a chicken. it's a SMALL Texas A&M quail. I only have one. She is my pet. she lives in a large bird cage in my home. Tame.

She typically lays one egg a day. Last egg was off color: just a basic brown shade and not speckled like normal. She has not laid any eggs at all for the last week. She is about 1/2 a year old (or just a little older).

With her feed I give her either crushed (and clean) chicken egg shells or her own crushed and clean shells. A couple time she has been given oyster shells. We stopped doing that about two weeks ago, per my judgment, because I just "felt" some of the pieces were to big for her since she is so tiny.

She occasionally gets snacks, rarely. Such as bits of wheat bread or a very very small tid-bit of cheese. No junk food.

Began having weird poos. poo section looks brown and more moist than normal, but not completely runny. however, ALOT of water seems to be excreted with this. The bedding becomes damp fast. This has been going on for ONE week.

Ruffled feathers. A little less activity than normal. Still eats and drinks like mad.

Two days ago I put organic apple cider vinegar in water in the morning. She loved this. On day two I started the antibiotics. (EDIT: as of TODAY 04-11-11 she is STILL on antibiotics and is the SAME. she hasn't gotten any better. Bedding still gets damp fast, still drinks more than normal. her poop still comes out in a very moist clump, and is surrounded by ALOT of water. Therefore she is the SAME as when I originally wrote the post).

From what I read on a google search, it sounds like watery diarrhea is bacterial in nature? Is this correct? If not, I also have sumet and electrolytes handy (a friend gave it to me but I did not want to stop giving the antibiotics until I received some advice from here.)"


***********************************************
No one responded to this post, which was written on 04-07-11. FURTHERMORE, CHARLES THE SERMAS CAGE SITS RIGHT NEXT TO THE PET QUAIL!***********************************************

ANY HELP WOULD BE APPRECIATED!
 
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Yes, you can mix electrolytes and ACV.
Have you wormed him? The paleness of his comb could indicate something like that. And you checked him for mites/lice at night with a flashlight? Sometimes that's the only way you can see them.
 
No I have never wormed him & I doubt the previous owner has either. I do have some type of broad spectrum wormer at home. I just clled TSC and found out that they carry corid poweder packets for Coccidiosis. I will definitly go home and see if the wormer I have would help in case it is cocciciosis. Even so, he has no blood in his poo. The quail doesnt either.

I will heck for mites with a bright flashlight that I have. I know they don't have lice though!
 
He is still not getting better... does anyone have any ideas?

I checked with a flashlight and he has NO mites or lice.

I started worming today with WAZINE 17, but he doesnt drink an awful lot.

But he does still eat and drink...
 
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if he's never been dusted for lice/mites either i would go ahead and dust him down..just because you cant see them doesnt mean they are not there. with his comb being paler i would suspect worms and/or lice and mites making him anemic. µhave a look at his vent...this is always a good indicator if your chicken is anemic or not...it should normally be a healthy pink/red colour..if its pale/white then theres a problem

another possibility...is he losing any feathers? could he be molting?
my chickens always act 'depressed' and calm and get a paler comb when they begin to moult.....

if you have no other symptoms to go on i would be hesitant to bring out the stronger meds...if you dont know what your treating how do you know what to treat for?
i wouldnt treat for cocci if theres no cocci symptoms there...them meds can be harsh on such a little chicken..and i wouldnt use anti b's if not really needed as they can build up a resistance to meds and next time perhaps when u do need anti b's, they wont work on him
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keep on with the acv inthe water for that extra boost (or electrolytes?) maybe try some baby vitamins (without iron) and feed some good healthy treats (chopped veg/fruit/scrambled egg.chopped hard boiled egg.



you say his poops normal...are you 100% positive? perhaps the normal poops your seeing are from the hen and his are so watery/runny they are absorbed by the wood shavings?

perhaps try keeping him apart for the day to observe him better....no wood shavings, just a white towel on thefloor (this will show up his poops better)
 

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