My rooster is hunched over, not moving, not eating, and not drinking water - need help!

[SirCluckington]

UPDATE: Unfortunately, my rooster passed away a few hours after this post, I'll keep it open in case any one else has this problem, thanks for your time and help ;(
I have a Silkie rooster whose about 10 almost 11 months now, he was never a spunky guy but he moved around perfectly fine up until a few days ago. My dad noticed he may be under the weather, he assumed it would get better in the next couple of days, so he waited it out. It wasn't till today when the chicken completely stopped moving, he was sitting in the rain outside the coop, there was food no more than a foot away but he hadn't gone near it. That my dad decided to bring him inside where we attempted to warm him up by drying him off with a roll of paper towels and a hair dryer. He's breathing, but he's hunched over and hasn't lifted his head even after we dried him off completely we have him in a cardboard box right now which is propped next to our fire place, I have a small hand towel lying over him and a small tin of water and a hand full of food which he hasn't touched. He's in the same place we set him in the box and hasn't moved, I'm hoping he's just exhausted from the events that occurred but I'm very worried he's sick. My dad lives by the old fashion way of "only the strong will live," but I can't handle that, we can't afford to take him to a vet, if there's some remedies or something I can look for to diagnose the illness it would be extremely helpful. I've tried to do some research but everything I am finding with his symptoms are about hens having trouble laying eggs, and he's a rooster so... thanks for your time and if you know anything please help my flock won't be the same without him

 

[chicknmania]

WEll, you did right by bringing him in and warming him up, but he needs some help. Can you coax him to eat at all with maybe some minced grapes or applesauce mixed with crumbles?

Can you give some more information? Have you ever dewormed your chickens? Is your rooster sneezing or does he have a runny nose or swollen eyes, or are his eyes runny, does he have runny poo, has he lost weight? If I had to guess, I would say he has worms, but it might be too late to do anything.

You can try to tube feed him if you can get the materials to do it. You need a length of tubing like aquarium hose, and a syringe. Castcartpony is an excellent person to talk to about tube feeding. I personally don't like to tube feed except as a last resort, but the bird does have to eat (and drink, especially). I have sometimes had success in getting a bird to eat by gently opening the beak and ladling a little watered down applesauce into the bottom beak, only a little bit, so they won't inhale it. Sometimes you can coax them to eat on their own that way, but water is most important.

Sick birds always do better with moist food. Crumbles, or applesauce... small breadcrumbs soaked in buttermilk is one that our sick birds like. Maybe scrambled eggs or chopped hard boiled egg. Yogurt, baby food, or red Jello. Runny oatmeal. Anything soft and moist, that they like, is ok. Even canned catfood.

If you haven't dewormed him, you need to. look for Safeguard dewormer at your feed store, or you could probably get a little from your vet, and it isn't expensive. Any broad spectrum dewormer will do. All you chickens should probably be dewormed. You can ask your vet to do a fecal float for you, where you take them some fresh (less than a day old) poop, and they check for worms or other parasites. Most vets will do it for a small fee.

While he's sick, keep him warm as you have been, and away from the other chickens. They can die reallly easily of hypothermia when they are sick, even if you think it's not that cold out, when they are sick, it really is.

 

[SirCluckington]

Hello, thank you for responding. I attempted to feed him some applesauce with a small spoon, as well as doing the same with water, he downed a little of it, but not even half of the little portion I had. I haven't dewormed my chickens, I knew about it and I talked to my dad who is the one who tends the chickens while I'm out, he hadn't either. My rooster isn't sneezing, he's breathing very hard though, his beak is open, his head is down, and he's keeping his eyes shut, however I don't believe they are swollen unless I just cannot tell, I've had 3 flocks prior to this one and I've never had a chicken this sick before. He doesn't have a runny nose nor eyes, and his weight is normal. I may have a syringe somewhere if he doesn't eat anything, its too late over here to go out to buy anything, so all I have his chicken feed and apple sauce.

 

[Eggcessive]

Sorry for your loss. If you refrigerate his body in a plastic bag, you could contact your state vet or poultry lab to get a necropsy to look for a cause of death. Let us know if you need contact info.

 

[chicknmania]

I'm sorry too if you have actually lost him. Necropsy is a good idea. I don't see in your posts where you say that he did not make it. Please consider deworming your other birds, and the sooner the better.