My rooster is depressed, please help

[Shadrach]

Please help, my rooster is acting depressed. He had been acting normal in the past months but has recently been acting distant and sad. There are quite a few possible reasons. We have 3 other roosters, 1 of which picks on him occasionally. But nobody ever gets seriously injured. It is obvious that he is at the bottom of the rooster pecking order. He doesn’t have any girlfriends but it hasn’t seemed to really affected him. It is February currently and pretty cold here, his (small ) comb is kinda purple. But all of the other chickens seem perfectly fine?!?! He does still eat and drink with a little bit of prompting from me. His droppings are very liquidy. Most of the day he just stands inside by himself. I am worried and confused as to whether it is chicken depression, or illness. Please help me, he is a really sweet boy and I want to help him.

Can you post a good clear picture of his comb taken in daylight and another of his poop as above. Daylight picture only please.

 

[Romeo the Rooster]

We do not have an easily accessible vet. Must of the time we just try to troubleshoot our way through. He will still eat tomatoes and rice. We will treat him with Corid and see if that helps. And, I noticed you repeatedly mentioning checking to make sure his crop is emptying. What significance does that have?

 

[Bigtom Turkey]

Can you feel he under side if the bone is prominent then he is skinny. And if he is skinny the you need to get him on all flock or meat bird grower. Also it is not a bad idea to put a heat lamp in his pen.

 

[Romeo the Rooster]

bone is prominent

That’s really helpful, I did notice that his chest bone was prominent. Thank you.

 

[Cecisflock]

Yeah, that is the first way for me to check if they are sick, b/c, even if they don't act sick they will still be skinny.

poor thing

 

[Bigtom Turkey]

Try feeding him an cooked egg

 

[rayrose]

Roosters should not be fed layer feed. Too much calcium. Put
him on All Flock, and I'll bet you'll see a big improvement.

 

[Acre4Me]

The purple comb may indicate heart issues or other internal issues. The purple comb usually means not enough oxygen in the blood.

Use layer feed, mix with water to make a mash. Did you only have layer feed today, use it. Do you have dry cat food? If so, wet it down and use some of it too -a small amount, but dry cat food is higher in protein. Scrambled egg is great. Entice him to eat by sprinkling a few small seeds on top of the mash. Use some herbs if that’s all you have to sprinkle on top -it looks like bugs if the herbs are darker and chickens are hard wired to peck at bugs.

Good luck !

 

[Romeo the Rooster]

not-eating was at least part of his problem

That is currently what I am treating him for. I’m mostly just keeping him warm and making sure he eats and drinks.

 

[Acre4Me]

He is breathing with his mouth open and seems less interested in food.

I’m sorry.

We had a cockerel who was just under a year old, head of his little flock, healthy, eating well. Then breathing issue-almost like a throat issue/inflammation/obstruction but we could not see anything in his throat or any inflammation. His comb and wattles also turned purple. He was eating less as his comb turned purple. He ended up dying, but we did not do a necropsy nor did we send him to a lab, so we do not know what the actual issue was.

I am hopeful for your rooster, and I hope he is able to recover. In any event, you are trying your best to help him and to keep him comfortable.